Feb 5 2015

Transformers Combiner Wars: Legends Class Windcharger by Hasbro

I’m past the halfway point in checking out Hasbro’s first wave of Combiner Wars Legends Class figures. I’ve already looked at Bombshell and Powerglide, both superb figures, and today it’s Windcharger’s turn. This figure has an uphill battle to win the approval of a lot of collectors because his predecessor, Reveal the Shield Windcharger, was such a damn nice figure. I, however, don’t have that one in my collection, so maybe this guy will have a fighting chance with me. Let’s open him up and find out.

The new CW packaging still feels strange to me, but since I’ll be buying very few Hasbro releases in this line, I’m not going to bother to try to get used to it. Windcharger comes packaged in his robot mode and comes with a collectible art card. The character art has been pretty good so far, although I’m not digging ‘Chargers all that much. Why does his head look so much like Megatron? Is it just me? Is that some wacky and bizarre thing from the comics that I missed or is it just a coincidence? Also, my package has cello tape across the top of the bubble as if the factory was having more problems getting the bubbles to stick to the cards. Why does it feel like so much of Hasbro’s stuff is being made out of someone’s garage these days? Those new 3 3/4” Avengers figures look like they came out of a .25 cent gumball machine. Anyway, I digress… let’s kick it off with Windcharger’s alt mode.

‘Charger is a pretty bitchin’ low-profile sports car. He’s got a bit of modern Camero vibe to him and overall I like it a lot. You get some nice sculpted contours to the hood and sides, an integral spoiler, exhaust pipes sticking out the back, and there’s even a peg hole in the hood if you want to steal a Targetmaster Mini-Con from one of the Generations Legends and let him borrow it. The coloring is mostly red plastic, and while it does have some of that swirly nonsense going on, I don’t mind it so much in a toy this small. Some black paint on the windows and silver on the headlamps, grill and hood round out a simple but effective deco. All in all, this car is tight, holds together well, and rolls great.

If you pick up Windhcharger and turn him over you can see most of what’s going on with his engineering. Getting him into robot mode is as simple as unfolding him and straightening everything out. Getting him back into auto mode is mostly about packing the legs underneath and the arms at their sides. He’s mostly ball joints, so you don’t have to worry about anything pulling out that won’t go back in, although one of the rear tires keep popping off when I’m changing him. It makes the toy feel rather cheap, but it does go back on without a fuss.

Alright, so the biggest problem I have with this guy is his wonky proportions. The shoulders actually remind me of Armada Prime’s shoulders and that shouldn’t be a bad thing because I still adore that version of Prime, but they don’t work quite as well on ‘Charger here. The design seems confused over whether it was going for a bulky or lean robot and so we get the hulked out shoulders and spindly legs that don’t go well together. The car plates on his thighs help to balance things out a little, but not enough for it to really work for me. I think he can be made to look better in wide stances, but when you compare him to some of the other robot modes we’ve seen in the Legends Class lately, Windcharger feels like a stutter-step.

That’s not to say it’s all bad. The head sculpt is on par with the excellent portraits we’ve been seeing in this line. There’s a lot of detail and neat paintwork packed into that tiny noggin. I also like how the front plates on his legs are faked out to look like the shuttered back of the original G1 Windcharger’s car mode. The coloring here is also quite good. You get a lot of the same red plastic from the car mode with some dark and light grey thrown in on the torso and limbs. It’s also worth noting that the side panels on his thighs can be displayed with the wheels front or back. The difference doesn’t really help the proportions, but I prefer them with the wheels facing front and that seems to be the official transformation.

Windcharger does sport some good articulation. The shoulders are mounted on ball joints and attached to hinged arms and the elbows are also ball jointed. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and knees, and the ankles are hinged as part of the transformation. Also, despite his bulky top and demure lower half, he’s a fairly well balanced figure. As with most of these Legends figures, he’s a lot of fun to throw in my pocket and play around with during the day, especially when trying to get through those boring meetings at work. Just don’t let anyone catch you. Seriously, it’s embarrassing.

Where to come down on Windcharger? I love his car mode, but I’ve got mixed feelings about the robot mode. The consensus among collectors seems to weigh heavily against this guy, but I can’t summon up any hatred for him. It’s not the best robot mode, but I’ve certainly seen a lot worse and in toys bigger and more complex than this guy. Hell, I’ve mailed about a dozen Transformers to my nephew in the last month or so that wished they looked this good. He’s a far cry from the sexiness that was the Reveal the Shield version, but taken on his own I don’t think he’s all bad and he scales really nicely next to the Generations Legend Bumblebee. Maybe this is a case of me being more forgiving of the Legends Class figures, but I’ve been far more disappointed with some Deluxe Class figures than I could ever be with this little guy. Indeed, I’d say that if this is the worst that Legends Class has given us lately, it’s a sub-line that’s doing pretty damn great.

Jan 29 2015

Transformers Combiner Wars: Legends Class Powerglide by Hasbro

On the last Transformers Thursday I made a much deserved detour to take a look at MP-22 Ultra Magnus, but now I’m back on track to checking out the first Wave of Legends Class Combiner Wars figures. The line had a strong start with Bombshell and today I’m opening what is actually my most anticipated figure in this assortment: Powerglide. And away we go!

Here’s the new Legends Class packaging. I can’t say I love it, but I don’t hate it. It’s just different. You do get some very nice character art, which is also included inside as a trading card. Hasbro has taken a few stabs at doing Powerglide in recent years, but never quite with lasting results. The Universe Ultra Class release was an interesting figure with a good sculpt, but the size was all wrong and it always baffled me as to why Hasbro decided to color it white. Back in 2011 we got a Cyberverse version, which at the time I was rather smitten with, but I can’t say as that figure has aged all that well. So, here we go again, but there’s something about just looking at the packaged toy that tells me that Hasbro might have done it right this time. Powerglide is packaged in his robot mode, but we’re going to start with his alt mode.

Ah, the A-10 Warthog! It’s design inspired both the Cobra Rattler and the alt mode of good old Powerglide here. This version hits all the right points, but it does suffer from a few issues. The profile is there and the deep red plastic drives the G1 homage home. On the other hand, there is a lot of ugly jointing on the top and the gray plastic in the middle of the body looks rather out of place. The hinged rear stabilizers don’t lock in so they have a habit of getting knocked out of alignment, and you can clearly see his hands peeking out under the fronts of the wings. Jets with hands seems like a recurring theme in the Combiner Wars. I realize I just nitpicked a lot of stuff on this little jet, but this is a Legends Class figure, so I’m willing to cut it a lot more slack than I would a Deluxe or Voyager. Especially when the robot mode looks like…

THIS! Awww, yeah! Slap a dress on me and call me the girl who loved Powerglide, because this is one awesome homage! The transformation is quick and easy, and yet if still features some clever moves and the robot mode’s proportions are fantastic. He’s got a nice broad, barrel chest and I really dig how well the wings peg into his shoulders so securely. The arms look really close to the Sunbow animated design as does the magnificent head sculpt. There’s not a lot of paint work on this figure, and that usually bugs me, but in this case the red and gray plastic is really all it needs, plus the blue eyes and the little bit of black here and there. Also, that huge Autobot emblem on his chest is gorgeous. I have to imagine that this is about as close as we’re going to get to the Sunbow design in action figure form, unless Hasbro actually learns how to do mass-shifting and get rid of those big engines on his legs.

Speaking of the engines, the official robot mode has the engine pods shifted upward so the stabilizers can swing back behind his feet. I like it, but I think I like leaving them down even better. It adds a little more bulk to his lower legs and a cleaner profile above the knee.

Even the articulation on this guy makes for a really fun action figure. You get ball joints in the shoulders, hips, and knees, and hinges in the elbows and ankles. The head can also turn as part of the transformation.

It sounds crazy to say it, but this little Powerglide figure is possibly one of the best G1 updates Hasbro has done in a long time. Yes, the jet mode lacks some of the polish that the robot mode has, but when the robot mode looks this good, I would have it no other way. The only stumbling point here is that he doesn’t scale all that well with other lines. As one of the original Mini-bots, I can make Powerglide with some of my Classics figures, but not so much with the other G1 Mini-bots, like Bumblebee or Warpath, that got proper Deluxe Class upgrades. It’s a tad frustrating, since I think this figure could have been up-scaled to work as a Deluxe with very little tweaking. Nonetheless, as a stand-alone figure, this little guy simply can’t be beat and Hasbro seems to be channeling some of their best work into this Legends Class sub-line. Had I featured him last year, he probably would have found his way onto my Favorites of 2014 list.

Jan 27 2015

Marvel Universe Infinite: Valkyrie by Hasbro

I wasn’t planning on looking at Valkyrie this week, but two things brought me around. First, I’m on a big kick to get through a lot of unfinished business from 2014 and Valkyrie is the last Infinite Series figure that I have still waiting to be opened. Second, we’ve seen a lot of stuff from Hasbro of late suggesting that the 4-inch line of Marvel figures is going to be around for at least a little longer and that’s got me rather excited. It’s worth noting that Ares, a related figure in this Wave, was one of my favorite 4-inch figures from the entire year, so I have high hopes for Valykrie too.

Here’s the packaging. BLAH! Hasbro, please change the packaging in 2015. Actually, don’t even worry about it. Just keep making the figures. I toss the packages anyway so I don’t even know why I care. I count myself as a fairly prolific reader of all things Marvel, but I have so few experiences meeting Valkyrie in my travels through my funnybooks. I must just not be reading the right books. The most lasting impression this character has made on me goes all the way back to her self-titled one-shot that was published in 1990-something. And honestly, the only reason I probably picked up that book was because it had a hot, scantily-clad blonde chick by Pablo Raimondi on the cover. Needless to say I’ll mostly be judging this figure on her own merits and not making a lot of comparison’s to the character.

Here she is out of the package and the part of me that leans toward being a sexist pig kind of digs her revealing 90’s outfit a lot more. Fortunately, that’s only a little part of me so I can still find a lot to love about this more traditional Asgardian style of armor. Valkyrie’s buck gets by with very little sculpted detail, as the costume is entirely achieved by paintwork alone. That’s OK, though, as the paintwork here is particularly clean and crisp, especially on the circular points of her torso armor and her wrist bracers. The only other aspect of her costume is the belt that hangs loose on her hips.

The head sculpt here is good, but the paint doesn’t back it up. Hasbro put in a lot of effort on her hair, including the two long braids, with one falling down her front and one down her back when her head is faced forward. The face is also clean and pretty. On the downside, the eyes are a far cry from what’s seen on the package. It almost looks like she’s looking up. It’s not a deal breaker for me, but it does represent a major stumble on what could have been another homerun figure in this Wave.

While Valkyrie does suffer from some slightly mushy knee hinges, the articulation here is otherwise solid and stable and there’s a lot of useful points. The arms have rotating hinges at the shoulders, double hinges in the elbows and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and double hinged at the knees. There are swivels in both the thighs and again just below the knees. The ankles are hinged and also feature lateral rockers. There’s no waist articulation, but she does have a ball joint just under her chest and both a ball joint and hinge in her neck.

Valkyrie includes one accessory, her enchanted blade, Dragonfang. While it doesn’t quite live up to the amazing detail Hasbro put into Ares’ axe it’s not at all a bad looking sword. You can even make out the tiny dragonhead sculpted into the pommel. The sword features a two-handed blade and, thanks to Val’s excellent articulation, she can easily wield it in one or both hands. There’s no specific way to secure it to her person, although you can pass it through her belt if you want her to wear it.

Valkyrie is every bit a solid figure, although she doesn’t pack the “wow factor” that I got from Ares. And speaking of other figures from this Wave, if you lost track, it included Ares, Ant-Man, Deathlok, and Omega Red, all of which I would count as exceptional figures, and one dud: Cyclops. Leave it to Scott Summers to douche everything up, eh? That’s still a pretty good record and it made the subsequent Wave of mostly repacks pretty disappointing. Fortunately, we’ve seen some excellent looking figures teased for the line in 2015, which gives me some much needed hope after seeing the shitty looking toys Hasbro has planned for the Age of Ultron film.

Jan 20 2015

Star Wars Black: Tie Fighter Pilot by Hasbro

The 6-inch line of Star Wars Black has been with us now for about a year and a half and it’s been a pretty bumpy ride. I think it started really strong and while we continue to get some really solid figures out of the line, there are a number of releases that haven’t been all they could (or should) have been. Case in point, the most recent Wave of four figures has put me off enough that I was willing to pay a premium for the one figure I really wanted and take a pass on the other two (one of them is another repack from a previous Wave). So, let’s check out the Imperial Tie Fighter Pilot.

There he is in what’s become the new standard box for the line. It’s black, it’s minimalist, it shows off the figure pretty well, and I have no regrets about shredding it to get to the goods inside. And if you read the back, they actually attributed a quote to this guy, “Look Out!” I’m not sure if it was intended, but it got a chuckle out of me nonetheless. I remember way back in 2013 a lot of people questioning the point of an X-Wing Pilot Luke in this line when there will likely never be an X-Wing for him to pilot (ironic, since I think that is one of the best figures in the line so far). Funny enough, I haven’t heard the same grousing about the release of a Tie Fighter Pilot. People just seem to love their Imperials, and I don’t blame them.

I’ve always loved the designs of these guys because they look so sinister. The Tie Pilot features a sculpted black flight suit with all the appropriate stitching and rumples. The breathing apparatus mounted to the front of his vest includes two flexible tubes that run into his mask, which resembles a Stormtrooper wearing a flight helmet. I think Hasbro did a great job on the helmet sculpt. It looks spot-on perfect to me. The tubes are removable from the helmet, but thankfully don’t pop out too easily when I’m posing him. The detailing on the life support panel is well done and features some very clean paintwork.

Speaking of paintwork, there isn’t much more of it to be found on this guy, which is understandable. He’s black on black on black. You do get the silver Imperial emblems tampo’d on his helmet and shoulders and a silver belt buckle. There’s also a keypad on his left forearm. I can detect a bit of difference in the black plastic with the boots and gauntlets and helmet being a bit more glossy than the suit itself, but it’s a very subtle difference.

Tie Pilot features a functional holster on his left hip to hold his only accessory: An E-11 Blaster. It seems to be the same weapon that was bundled with the Stormtroopers. The blaster fits nicely in the holster and he can also wield it in either hand.

For a guy who spends most of his time sitting in a cockpit, this figure sports some mighty fine articulation. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels in the thighs. The ankles feature both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the neck and a swivel in the waist. It feels like he’s got some torso articulation, possibly being blocked by the vest.

Besides being a genuinely solid figure, the release of the Tie Pilot makes it all but certain we’ll be seeing a 6-inch AT-AT Driver at some point down the road. You know, to go with that 6-inch scale AT-AT we’ll be getting. I jest, but I’m actually looking forward to the inevitable repaint and remold of this guy because like a lot of people, I just love my Imperials! Alas, I had to plunk down $25 for this guy, which is pretty steep, but when I consider the alternative of paying for a mediocre Yoda and Clone Trooper and suck down a second Prequel Obi-Wan, it’s a price I can live with.

Jan 1 2015

Transformers Generations: Roadbuster by Hasbro

It’s New Year’s Day and a lot of y’all probably have hangovers. Well, welcome to what I like to call… “every single morning, ever!” It just so happens that the first day of 2015 lands on a Thursday and, unlike Thanksgiving and Christmas, this time I’m not bumping Transformers Thursday. Instead, let’s look at something else I got for Christmas… Roadbuster! This is a momentous occasion for me, as I have been collecting Transformers since 1984 and yet this is my very first Roadbuster figure [No it isn’t, you idiot, you got the one from Dark of the Moon!]. In fairness, I can’t recall there being too many of them since the original. And that original figure, paired with Whirl, was one of them weird Transformers that didn’t seem to quite fit with the others so as a kid I stayed away from it. This is also a bit of a sad occasion too, as 2015 will see the end of the excellent 30th Anniversary “Thrilling Thirty” releases and move on to that whole Combiners Wars thing, a line that I will be really selective about buying.

Sigh… There it is, the 30th Anniversary packaging. Aside from that nonsensical angled corner on the bottom, I really liked this stuff. Granted, these Voyagers didn’t come with a free comic book like the Deluxe packs, but I’m still going to be sad to see this line go. The box features that familiar G1-style grid pattern and some rather nice character art along with a window to show off the figure and some of his goodies.

The back of the package shows off the toy in both modes and has a little bio blurb about how Roadbuster loves murdering Decepticons more than anything else, including eating chocolate ice cream. OK, I made up that last part, but I bet it’s true! Theoretically this box is collector friendly, but between the tray and the twisty ties and all the other nonsense, I haven’t gotten one of these Voyager Class figures out without shredding the packaging to all hell. That’s alright, though, because I gave up keeping Transformers boxes back when I opened one of my closets and got buried in an avalanche of empty Transformers Armada packages. That, I didn’t make up! Let’s start with Roadbuster’s alt mode.

The official name for Roadbuster’s alt mode is a Combat 4×4 and that’s a pretty apt discription. It’s also a pretty good homage to the original G1 toy. Stripped down to its basest form, Roadbuster looks like an armored off-road vehicle bristling with connection ports just begging to be customized with his inventory of weapons. Load him up with his ordinance and he looks like something that should be patroling the deserts in a Mad Max film. The green, brown, and orange paintjob is ugly as sin, which matches the design of the vehicle as well. But, what Roadbuster lacks in aesthetics he does make up for with playability and swapping around the weapons can be rather fun.

It’s also worth noting at this point that Roadbuster comes with a sticker sheet. They’re totally optional, but if you want to get a look approximating what’s shown on the box, you’ll have to have a little patience and slap some of these things onto the toy. Actually, better make that, carefully place them onto the toy. It is indeed an odd thing to get stickers with Transformers these days, although Metroplex came with them and as I understand it so does Whirl. Overall, I think the stickers are value added, although I was a bit choosey over which ones I put on and which I left off. Some just don’t fit in the proscribed area. I also got a good chuckle out of the “Do Not Paint” stickers and the irony about how few paint apps appear to be on the 2015 figures. It looks like someone at Hasbro is taking that idea rather literally. Anyway, the point here is that even if you aren’t into stickers, you might want to consider applying at least a few of these, because he looks rather barren without them.

Transforming Roadbuster is relatively simple and satisfying, but it’s here where I really felt that the odd quality of this figure starts to show itself. It feels a little cheap and hollow and a lot of the moving parts, thankfully the ones that aren’t the robot’s joints, feel rather loose and floppy. It’s hard to explain but this just doesn’t feel like a Generations figure to me. In fact, it kind of feels like a knock off. Once in robot mode things are on the upturn. I absolutely love Roadbuster’s robot design. It takes everything about the original G1 design and makes it modern and better proportioned and actually articulated. Like his alt mode, he’s ugly and raw and clearly built for one thing… battle. Even when he’s just standing on the shelf at attention, this guy looks still looks like badass personified.

Yeah, look at that mug. It’s cold and completely void of emotion. Take a good look, Decepticons, it’s the last thing you’re going to see before he rips your energon pump from your chest and drinks from it. Yeah, I realize he doesn’t have a mouth, but it still sounded cool. He has a clear plate on the back of his noggin for light piping, but it seems like they painted over the visor, because I can’t really get any light out of it.

Roadbuster features some solid articulation and thankfully lots of ratchet joints to keep his general floppiness from effecting the important joints. The shoulders have swivel hinges, the elbow had double hinges and there are swivels in the biceps. The legs have universal movement in the hips, double hinges in the knees and hinges in the ankles. The ankles also feature rockers as a side effect of the transformation and the neck is on a ball joint. My one complaint here is that the lateral movement in the hips is not ratcheting and my Roadbuster has a habit of doing the splits if you make his stance too wide.

As with his vehicle mode, you can go crazy customizing the weapons on Roadbuster’s robot mode. He has pegs on the tops of his shoulders, sides of the shoulders and he can hold them in his hands. It all makes for some good fun… except for that little rocket pack piece. That piece can go to hell, as it doesn’t seem to want to fit anywhere without excessive force. Best I could do was get it into one of his shoulders.

I seem to recall a lot of fans losing it when this guy was announced and when you add that to the fact that Fansproject’s version before this sold quite briskly and for a lot of money, I come to the conclusion that this is a character that is really popular with the fans. I’ve already indicated, however, I’m not a huge Roadbuster fan, but I’ve got nothing against him, nor do I have a lot against this figure. Like the original G1 toy, it’s rather odd, it feels different, and the stickers and customizable weapons make him a bit of an anomaly. On the other hand, he looks great and he is rather fun to play around with, so I will happily find him a place on my Wreckers shelf. I’ll also add that he was a great gift, because I probably would have never bought him myself and I would have been missing out on a rather cool figure like I probably did with the original toy back when I was a kid.

Dec 29 2014

Marvel Universe Infinite: Deathlok by Hasbro

[Sorry for the technical difficulties this morning. This is my second crack at today’s feature as I had a problem with the original upload and the first completed draft was lost to the farthest reaches of the Interwebs. I’ve done a speedy re-write in a coffee and donut fueled rage, so let’s try this again… ]

Well, Christmas if finally behind us and I’m anxious to get back to business as usual. Sometime last week I was cleaning out the Toy Closet and I happened upon a couple of unopened Marvel Infinite Series figures, Deathlok and Valkyrie, that had fallen behind the shelving. It’s always fun to find unopened toys that I forgot I had, so let’s tear one of these babies open! I’m going with Deathlok because if I had remembered that I had him I would have opened him up along time ago. No offence, Valkyrie, but it’s Deathlok!

Ah, there’s the bleak and ugly Infinite Series packaging. It’s black and boring and everything a comic book action figure package should not be. The back of the package points out that this is the Luther Manning version of the character, but apart from that I don’t have much more to say about the card. I haven’t heard much about the Infinite Series since the last wave when Hasbro made the mistake of re-releasing the Guardians of the Galaxy figures on single cards. They were great figures and all, but it was a poor choice considering that boxed set was still sitting on the toy shelves of many big box retailers. At least that Wave did give us a powered up version of Wonder Man. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Deathlok…

I have a strange affinity for people who are mortally injured and saved by cybernetic enhancements. It’s a cool compromise in that you’re still alive, but not quite the person you used to be. That’s why I love Robocop so much, and Deathlok too. Of course, Deathlok takes it to a whole new level with dimension hopping and fighting demons and all sorts of crazy Marvel shit. I think Hasbro did a really nice job on the figure, even though it’s obvious they did some parts shopping from other figures to build him. The limbs are almost definitely off of Marvel Universe Colossus and we saw them again as recently as Wave 2 of Infinite Series with Death’s Head. I’m not complaining though, the parts reused make sense and there’s enough new stuff here to make the figure work. The paint is quite well done as the yellow striping on his costume and the American Flag tampo on his chest are both clean and precise. Most of the sculpted detail on the body comes from the segmented design of the cybernetic limbs.

The portrait here is really good. The organic part of the head looks grisly and zombie-esque and contrasts beautifully with the sterile and almost featureless cybernetic half. Hasbro has introduced some pretty great sculpts into this line since the Marvel Universe days and I’d dare say that Deathlok’s is among the better ones.

In addition to borrowing some parts for the figure, Hasbro also raided the Marvel Universe Cable figure for Deathlok’s arsenal. The gun belt is the same, only repainted brown and both the pistol and rifle are the same, just cast in a different color of plastic. I suppose that the pistol could pass for Deathlok’s helium neon laser pistol and as for the rifle, well that’s one of my favorite weapons in the line so I don’t mind getting it again.

Unfortunately, Deathlok has some issues with articulation. The points are all there with everything I’ve come to expect from the modern Marvel Universe buck, but his leg joints came out of the package a bit warped. He still works OK for action poses, but I can’t get him into a regular, standing at attention pose because the legs just want to be splayed outward. Also, the ball joint in his torso is really loose and floppy. It feels like an old GI JOE figure when the O-ring was going bad. I’m not sure if it’s a problem with my specific figure or one that is common to the whole run, but I like this guy enough that I may pick up another to see if I make out any better.

Don’t let my talk about parts re-use fool you, I really dig this figure a lot and I’m kind of surprised that it took Hasbro this long to get us this character in their expansive 3 3/4” line. I am a bit surprised they went with the more classic look over Deathlok’s most recent appearance, but I’m not disappointed. I like the classic look a lot better and despite all my efforts, I haven’t been able to get more than a few issues into v5 of Deathlok before wandering away from the book to read other things. Next time we revisit the Infinite Series, I’ll check out Valkyrie and that should just about bring me up to date on Hasbro’s 3 3/4″ Marvel offerings.

Dec 26 2014

Transformers Generations: Crosscut (IDW Comic Pack) by Hasbro

Well, I hope you all had a great Christmas, Toyhounds. I don’t want to be a scrooge, but I’m glad it’s over and I’m anxious for things to start returning to normal. Since I took the day off yesterday, I decided to bump Transformers Thursday to today and we are going to be opening up a certain Autobot that Santa Primus left for me under the tree. It’s Crosscut and he’s a repaint of Skids. Ho Ho Ho!

Is there a more beautiful sight to behold than an action figure packaged with a comic book? I think not. If this had been a thing back when I was a kid, I might have grown up with a better outlook on the world and life in general. I’m just glad I lived to see it happen. Crosscut is one of Hasbro’s “Thrilling Thirty” to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Transformers. I’ve lost track of where they are with these, but 2014 is just about gone so there can’t be too many more of these left for me to open. I’m a little apprehensive about what 2015 holds for Tranformers. I don’t see myself buying many of the Combiner Wars stuff, other than the Legends Class figures, so I’m going to be sad to see all this IDW stuff disappear from the pegs. But I digress… he comes packaged in robot mode, but let’s start with his car mode.

If you missed my review of Skids, you should know that I really liked that figure a lot and so I was eager to pick up this remold-repaint. The car mode is an adorable and unassuming little compact that in no way suggests the kick-ass looking warrior bot that you’re going to get out of it. Still, as much as I still dig this mold, the Crosscut version is pretty bland when compared to the original Skids release. Gone is that beautiful blue plastic and in its place is this swirly gray crap that Hasbro likes to use. Cars are meant to be shiny and this bare plastic just doesn’t work that well for the alt mode. The red and white striping on Skids’ sides is replaced by a black stripe and some red scoops. There’s also a lot of new paint to be found on the grill, but I’ll deal with that after we get him transformed.

Crosscut features the same ports on his sides, just in front of the rear wheels, so you can attach his weapons to his car mode. All in all, this isn’t a terrible looking car. If I try hard enough I can get a little G1 Camshaft vibe off of him, but based on coloring alone, I much prefer the Skids release.

Transforming Crosscut into robot mode isn’t too bad, it’s getting him back into car mode that I find a little daunting. Nonetheless, the robot mode on this guy is just a thing of beauty. I love the proportions, particularly since the transformation is so well engineered that it almost looks like the toy uses mass shifting to get such a long and lean bot mode out of such a compact little car. You also have some very classic Autobot design elements at work here, what with the front of the car forming the chest, the wheels on the shoulders, and the door wings angling up from the back. Of course, the mold is still not without some issues. The car kibble on the sides of the legs is rather ungainly and the figure does have a habit of falling backwards if you don’t get his stance just right. This is one Transformer that is sorely in need of some heel spurs.

Like Skids, Crosscut is bristling with weaponry. You get those awesome rocket packs on his shoulders and a pair of shoulder cannon reminiscent of the old G1 Datsuns. He also has dual cannon slung under each of his forearms and these can be angled up for firing, but I prefer them positioned under his arms. It’s odd that his bio should call out that this guy isn’t known for his accomplishments in battle, seeing as how he looks like a walking death machine.

So what’s new? Well, Crosscut does feature a brand new head sculpt, complete with mouth plate and a cool “helmet.” Other than that, the new deco features the same gray plastic we saw in car mode with some snazzy metallic gold paint on his feet, hands, helmet, and shoulders. The gray plastic works for me much better in robot mode than in car mode. The front grill and bumper is now black with some more metallic red and yellow headlamps, which goes a long way to differentiate him from Skids. Honestly, the only issue I have with his deco in bot mode is that the head sculpt uses the bare gray plastic for his face and part of his helmet. I really wish these parts had been painted, especially the mouth plate.

Crosscut’s articulation looks good on paper, but like Skids, he doesn’t feature a lot of mobility in the shoulders. The jointing is there, but the sculpt does its best to interfere. Conversely, his leg articulation is great, but it’s hard to make use of it without Crosscut toppling backwards. The end result is a figure that looks really good standing on the shelf, and can be really frustrating when trying to get great poses out of him.

Crosscut comes with black versions of Skids two weapons. One is a rifle, the other looks like a beefy pistol with a drum magazine and they can be combined into one big gun. Taken together, this is one of my favorite Transformers weapons in recent memory, so I don’t mind getting another, but it’s also very character specific for Skids, so it feels rather out of place getting it again for another character.

All in all, Crosscut is a nice second run at a mold that is admittedly problematic, but one that I love nonetheless. The aesthetics here just scream classic Autobot sexiness to me and I can’t get over how much I dig those rocket packs in the shoulders. The deco works better for me in robot mode than it does in car mode, but I don’t think either are necessarily better than what we got with Skids. I don’t know that Crosscut is a “must-have” figure, especially for collectors that already own the mold, but he is the only one in this wave that I sought out to buy and that’s just because I dig Skids so much.

Dec 25 2014

Star Wars Original Trilogy Collection: “Large Size” Boba Fett by Hasbro

Merry Christmas, Toyhounds! I wasn’t planning on doing a feature today, but I was working on cleaning out the Toy Closet earlier this week and I found something that had a tenuous Christmas tie-in, so I thought I’d go ahead and take a look at it before I ship it off to my nephew. Journey back with me to ten years ago, Hasbro got the wonderful idea to release a bunch of Star Wars toys in packaging that was reminiscent of the stuff we got in the late 70’s and early 80s. It was a brilliant marketing idea, as it got middle aged people like me to buy questionable toys just because they were in packaging that tugged on our nostalgia strings. While most of this stuff catered to the 3 3/4” action figure range, they did release a few figures based off the vintage Kenner “large size” action figures. Today we’re checking out one of those… It’s Boba Fett!

There he is in the packaging. Well, partial packaging. This box actually came in a larger tray with the OTC logo on it, but I don’t have the outer packaging anymore. This box is pretty damn close to what the big Kenner figures came in, right down to that awkward flap that juts out of the side and seems to serve no purpose other than to get inadvertently bent. It has the great vintage Star Wars logo and even sports the Kenner logo too! There’s also a window to show the figure inside, which in this case might not have been the best idea. The rest of the package is loaded with awesome shots of Boba Fett in action, including one where he’s lighting you on fire with his flamethrower. Cool!

So, here’s the Christmas tie-in: When my brother and I were little we used to put up little “Charlie Brown” trees in our bedrooms at Christmas time. My parents would wait until we were asleep on Christmas Eve and put one present under each of these trees. They were smart, because it meant that when we woke up at 5am, we had something to open and keep us busy and they could sleep a little longer. One Christmas, the present under my tree was the Kenner “large size” Boba Fett and this thing was absolutely brilliant. By today’s standards it looks really lanky and it has a crazy giraffe neck, but it sported some wonderfully forward-thinking articulation that set it apart from the other five POA large size Star Wars figures. Plus he had that Six Million Dollar Man viewing lens in his head and a grapple hook and a removable jet backpack and all sorts of cool stuff. I had so much fun with that toy all by itself. I don’t think he ever even interacted with the other “large size” figures. He just went on his own adventures. When I saw this new figure in the same packaging, there was no way I wasn’t going to buy it. Unfortunately, once you look beyond the great box, the figure inside is a real mixed bag.

The biggest controversy over this release among collectors was the color of the jumpsuit. It was originally released with a blue jumpsuit and the later ones had a gray one. Some argued that the reason was to reflect the different color suits used between Empire and Return of the Jedi. The problem is that the blue jumpsuit is so damn blue that it looks nothing like the one worn in Jedi. Seriously, Hasbro might as well went with pink or plaid. It would have been just as inaccurate and awkward looking. Naturally, mine is the blue jumpsuited figure. At one point I was going to hunt down a gray one, but at the time they were selling for crazy money on the secondary market and I decided that even with the proper colored garment, I didn’t like the figure enough to throw good money after bad.

So apart from the obvious coloring of the costume, what’s wrong with this figure? Well, he has absolutely no neck, which is kind of ironic since the vintage Kenner one had way too much neck. Also, the range finder on his helmet is made out of rubbery plastic and came straight out of the box all warped and messed up. It’s such a prominent feature on the figure and it looks terrible. In fact, I think the figure would actually look better if I just ripped it off completely. Lastly, Boba has some serious problems standing up. His ankle joints are really weak and even when I can get him to stand, he just flops over a few moments later. Last, but not least, it’s almost impossible to get him to hold his rifle correctly. The stock just isn’t designed to fit his grip and into the crook of his arm. I can get it to look right in a couple of positions, but the gun is really just resting on top of his arm and not in his grip.

That’s not to say that Hasbro didn’t put some admirable work into this figure. The jumpsuit actually features working pouches with velcro flaps, which I still think is a nice detail. You even get plastic tools to slip into the pockets on his legs. The weathering on his sash looks nice and the Wookie braids are also incredibly well done. Indeed, the weathering on the armor isn’t bad either and I like the worn look of the Mandalorian emblem on his shoulder. Even the rocket sculpted into his gauntlet looks good. Boba Fett is also built on a pretty good Sixth-Scale body with lots of useful articulation, providing you can get him to stand with those week ankles.

Mr. Fett comes with his trademark carbine, which is a decent sculpt and cast entirely in black plastic with no paint apps at all. His jetpack is also removable, but it’s just a static piece of plastic. The thrust nozzles on the bottom aren’t articulated and the rocket doesn’t come out. It also feels like it’s missing paint apps. The coloring on the rest of Fett’s armor looks about right, but the jetpack needs more red.

At about $30 when it was first released, this guy was probably priced about right. I believe Hasbro had some 12-inch Joes on the shelves around that time closer to the $20 mark, but I’m not sure that they featured the same level of complexity to the costume. Plus, Hasbro was clearly marketing these figures as premium collectibles. Honestly, if my Fett had the gray jumpsuit and his range finder wasn’t warped beyond help, I would probably be keeping this figure and possibly even displaying him, but as he is I really have no use for him. While he may fail as a collectible, I think he would make for a pretty fun toy for kids, so hopefully my nephew can get some enjoyment out of him. I didn’t buy a lot of these “large size” OTC figures, but I do have one more that I will likely be looking at next week. Also, if you stopped by today expecting to find Transformers Thursday, fear not, I just bumped it to tomorrow. Hope you all have a great Christmas and I’ll see you on the flipside!

Dec 11 2014

Transformers Classics: Mirage by Hasbro

It seems like forever since my last Transformers Thursday and that’s because holidays and other real life nonsense got in the way the last couple of weeks. Today I’m trying to get things back on track and I decided to dig deep into the glorious TOTE OF C.H.U.G. to see what I could draw forth. After a couple of tries getting figures I already covered, I finally wound up with Classics Mirage. Excellent! The packaging was thrown away sometime back in 2006, so let’s get started with his alt mode!

I have a special fondness in my heart for the original Hasbro toy. For some reason I could never get him in the stores, but my friend had him and I worked out a trade for some odds and ends from my own toys. I think he got my Clash of the Titans Perseus and Pegasus out of the deal. I loved Mirage in the cartoon and I thought the vintage toy was fantastic, so I was willing to do whatever needed to be done to get him. Keeping true to his G1 origins, Classics Mirage is a blue and white Formula-1 racer and a pretty good one at that. He’s sleeker than the original car mode with better contours and he’s just all around less stocky. He also has a fully enclosed translucent blue canopy.

While the sculpt is certainly detailed enough, it’s all the paint and tampos that make this car really shine in my eyes. Mirage is sporting his familiar racing number “26” on the front and sides as well as other markings like, “F.P. Racing” and the lovely “Whitwicky Sparkplugs” on the spoiler. The blue and white deco looks great and there’s a little silver paint thrown in on the front axle and suspension. And you also get that rub sign with the retro goodness baked right in.

Mirage has one of the more unique transformations of the Classics line and it results in what is easily the most creative re-imagining of a G1 character in Classics. Some may take issue with the fact that the front of the car is removed and re-purposed as a gun, but I’d hardly call it parts-forming. I’ll be honest, I hated this figure when I first got it all those years ago and I regarded it as the black sheep of my Classics collection. But, I chalk that up to being younger and foolish. Sure, I do wish the designers could have bulked out the torso a little bit more, but either way when I pick up this figure today I find myself having a whole lot of affection for it. Maybe a hinge and swivel to move those wheels from behind his head and relocate them to bulk out his torso would have been cool, but as it stands, I’ve certainly grown to love him.

Classics Mirage is lanky and possibly a wee bit creepy in his proportions and I think that’s kind of neat. He served the Autobots in the capacity of spy, so it seems appropriate that he should be slight of build and super agile looking. I can still understand my reluctance to embrace this guy. He’s a far cry from the boxy G1 Transformers we all know and love, and Classics was, after all, meant to be a love letter to the fans of those days. Had the engineering focused more on tweaking what the original toy offered, I think we could have gotten something more familiar, but then we would have also lost this really distinctive looking robot. The head sculpt, as tiny as it is, is pretty fantastic. They definitely nailed Mirage’s G1 look and even though the head sits in the middle of the torso it still features a nice degree of articulation.

Speaking of articulation… what’s also cool about Mirage is that despite his weird proportions, he’s wonderfully solid action figure and tons of fun to play with. The arms feature ball jointed shoulders and double hinged elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and the feet are ball jointed. He has a ball joint in his neck and he can even swivel at that tiny waist of his.

Mirage’s gun is possibly a bit of a reach. It’s pretty obvious that it’s the front of the car and there’s nothing about it that harkens back to the original toy’s gun, which is a shame, but it still works fine to me. Honestly, I find the absence of his shoulder rocket a lot more conspicuous than the new gun design.

I have no memory of how this figure was received back in the day, but I can remember being tempted to unload mine on Ebay a few times and I’m sure glad I didn’t as he’s become one of my favorite figures in the Classics line. He’s certainly aged better than the Classics Datsun mold. This guy has been repainted by both Hasbro and Takara more than a few times, and it still bugs me that I don’t own the Dragstrip version because I think it works really well as that character. In the meantime, playing around with Classics Mirage made me realize how badly I want a Masterpiece version of this guy, but I reckon Hound is still number one on my MP want list.

Dec 8 2014

Star Wars Black: Imperial Sandtrooper (Black Paldron) by Hasbro

Alrighty Toyhounds, last week was a rough one for me, but I’m back in the saddle and ready to start churning out the daily content again. Today’s agenda? Some unfinished business… namely the final figure in the most recent wave of Hasbro’s Star Wars 6-inch Black line. Yup, it’s a second version of the Sandtrooper we got way back in the first wave. Sure, some may balk at the fact that this is just a repack of that first Sandtrooper with the paldron painted black, but I’m pretty OK with variants of troop builders, especially when you consider that the next upcoming wave features a straight repack of that terrible Prequel Obi-Wan figure. Anyway, this is a good figure for me to ease myself back into the swing of things because I’ve already looked at the original HERE, and I’m just going to do some comparisons, rather than a full write-up.

But first… there he is in the package. We’ve now seen the slightly tweaked packaging for a full wave now so it isn’t really new anymore. The tray inside is packed with extras. I remember seeing the original Wave 1 Sandtrooper and thinking how great it was that Hasbro was going to be accessorizing the hell out of these 6-inch figures. Yeah, that hasn’t really been the case since. Anyway, there are some clear rubber bands to deal with, otherwise the Sandtrooper is fairly easy to get out and the box is collector friendly.

This new release features the exact same sculpt as the previous Sandtrooper, and it should once again be noted that there are a few differences between this mold and the regular flavor Stormtrooper. It’s a fantastic sculpt and while the articulation does run at odds with the armor in a few places, it’s still a fun figure to play around with. The weathering is different between the two figures, which certainly makes it look more credible when displaying the figures side by side. Orange Paldron Trooper has a lot more of it, although my Black Paldron Trooper has a black dot on his helmet.

The backpacks are identical in both sculpt and paint. You get the same ammo pouch that slings over the left shoulder and the backpack pegs right into the back of the figure. Damn, those things look heavy.

Weapons include the standard E-11 Blaster. Sadly there’s still no holster for it like there is with the regular Stormtroopers. I won’t complain too much about that because it might be that the Sandtroopers didn’t have them? I’m sure someone can enlighten me on that one.

Next, you get the same bipod rifle that came with the original Sandtrooper. I like the paint job on this a lot. It has a nice weathered metal look to it.

Lastly, you get the chunkier rifle with the shoulder strap. Yeah, I’m using official Star Wars weapon nomenclature there! This is probably my favorite of the weapons as it slings onto the shoulder quite well and it just looks more intimidating than the leaner rifle.

And so, this variant Sandtrooper holds no surprises. He was a great figure the first time around and he’s still just as good here. I tend to prefer the orange paldron version, just because that’s the one prominently in view in “A New Hope” when they stop Luke and Obi-Wan at the checkpoint, but I wouldn’t be picky about getting another black paldron figure if I come across him in the wild. I have three regular 6-inch Stormtroopers and that seems like a good number to shoot for.

The next wave of Star Wars Black consists of a Clone Commander, Yoda, a Tie Fighter Pilot, and a repack of that awful Prequel Obi-Wan figure. I’d be perfectly fine getting the three new figures, but I’ve decided that there’s no way in hell I’m going to reward Hasbro’s practice of forcing collectors to buy a double of a terrible figure for the convenience of getting the rest of the wave without having to hunt for it. So, I’ll likely wind up paying a premium for the Tie Fighter Pilot, maybe picking up Yoda when he goes on clearance, and the Clone Commander can go to hell.

FigureFan Zero

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