Oct 3 2013

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen: Leader Class Optimus Prime by Hasbro

Welcome to another Transformers Thursday, where I dig my mitts into a random drawer and pull out a Transformer figure from days gone past. Actually, if you want to know a secret, lately it hasn’t been very random! Today, I was going through some of my Optimus Primseses and I realized that I had yet to give this particular toy his due here on FigureFan Zero. Love them or hate them, the Michael Bay movies are part of the Transformers Universe, and while I’m not here to debate the merits (or lack thereof) of the movies, I can’t deny that at least some good toys have come out of the franchise. There were a ton of different versions of Optimus released in various scales for each of the three movies, but I only ever picked up one of them and that’s the toy we’re looking at today. I’ve had him for a while, there’s no in-package shot, so let’s just jump right in and look at his alt mode.

The movies saw Optimus’ alt mode revamped into a modern day extended cab. I hated it the first time I saw it. I thought the colors were all wrong, the flames were tacky, and he shouldn’t be an extended cab. You can probably only imagine how I feel about this toy. Actually… I freaking love it! It was this toy that eventually sold me on Prime’s new alt mode because it’s just so big and beautiful and majestic. It’s a beast of a vehicle mode, and I can only imagine how incredible it would look with a trailer, but then I remember he didn’t have a trailer until Dark of the Moon. Anyway, the sculpt here is excellent, right down to the little rivets! You get rubber tires and even the tiny Autobot insignia on his hood ornament. It’s a solid truck toy, that dominates the shelf and rolls along great.

I’m still not sold on the flames, but I can’t deny that the paint and deco is beautifully reproduced here. Sure, some vac-metal silver would have looked a lot better than the matte grey plastic, but in the long run, this stuff will last longer without getting chipped and worn. I need only look at my MASK Rhino for proof of that.

Yes! There are even electronics! I was surprised to find that they still work, as most of my electronic Transformers have drained the batteries long ago and I can never be bothered to replace them. There’s a button on the roof, which when depressed lights up the windshields and sounds Optimus’ air horn. I approve! This is a fun and great looking vehicle and one of the few Transformers that I am tempted to always display in his alt mode just because I love it that much. Can the robot mode possibly stack up? Well that depends…

Transforming Prime is rather fidgety, but you would expect that for a Leader Class toy. I used to have a big problem with it, but these days I can switch him back and forth relatively quickly without consulting any instructions, so it’s not too bad. There’s a lot of clever things at work here, like the way the feet auto-morph, the way the back wheels pack onto the legs with additional hinges so you can still pose him, and the way all the rest of the crap packs away on his back to form a backpack. And then there’s the electronic head reveal. Unclip the thing on the bottom of his torso and his chest auto-morphs, his head pops up, the windshields light up, and it plays some cool sounds. It just has that great gee-whiz quality that brings out the kid in me.

So, earlier I said his robot mode demands some qualification. If you’re looking for a great match to the move version of Prime, this isn’t really it. On the other hand, I find it to be an awesome amalgam of G1 and Bayformer characteristics. You can see how they tried to base it on the movie version, but the boxy torso and the bulky arms and legs, give him more of a shoebox G1 design. What some may call this toy’s failing, I celebrate as an amazingly original look that does away with much of that “bionical” feel in favor of something more substantial and familiar. Yes, the deco still shows too many flames for my taste, and yes, vac-metal in place of the grey would have made this guy look even more amazing. But still, I just adore the way this figure looks on my shelf.

Even the head sculpt on this guy strikes me as a more generic Prime than a really good approximation of the movie portrait, and that works for me too. I will say that the absence of any light piping for the eyes seems rather conspicuous. In a Transformer this size, I tend to take that feature for granted, and I think it would have looked great.

That’s not to say he doesn’t have some issues. A lot of stuff wants to come unclipped when you handle him. His hinged shoulders will sometimes open up, the backpack sometimes unpacks, and despite his heavy ratchet joints, his ankles still aren’t always up to the task of holding his great bulk. I’m not entirely sold on the way the knees hover too far out, and you can see in a couple of pictures where his right knee just kept wanting to flop down. You have to flip the knees back into place almost every time you reposition his legs. And while the back wheel assemblies are hinged to allow the knees to bend, you have to fiddle with them separately to make that happen. All gripes aside, though, I still love this guy!

Prime doesn’t have a traditional rifle, but he does have one that folds out and attaches to his right hand. It will deploy automatically as you push the sliding lever on the bottom of his forearm. The gun will fire a missile, but I have no idea what happened to mine. It’s probably become feline contraband behind the sofa in what I like to call The Cat’s Lair.

Hasbro released a new Leader Class version of Prime for Dark of the Moon and as many will point out it looks a lot more like the movie version of Prime than this one does. But then that’s why I never bought it. The truth is, I love this toy as a stand-alone piece, and I would have been a lot happier if Optimus Prime in the movies, and all the Transformers for that matter, looked more like this clunkier beauty than how they turned out. Hasbro certainly never intended it this way, and I’m sure they did the best they could, but I’m glad they weren’t able to nail the likeness, because this figure is awesome and as far as I’m concerned what we got here is so much better than what could have been.

Sep 30 2013

Transformers Generations: Trailcutter (IDW Comic Pack) by Hasbro

It seems like forever ago that I got Hasbro’s wave of IDW Deluxes and yet I’m still working my way through them. Today we’re going to check out Trailcutter, better known to some of us old GeeWunners as Trailbreaker. This release is a double payoff for me because a) We never got Trailbreaker in the Classics format and b) He’s a Hasbro release based on a Transformer as he appears in a comic that I’m actually reading!

I’ve spilled a ton of electric ink on how much I love the idea of comic packs, so I’ll try not to waste a lot more time doing it here. Suffice it to say the packaging on this guy is fantastic. Trailcutter comes packaged in his robot mode in front of a spotlight comic and on a very G1-inspired cardback. An action figure and a comic… how can you go wrong? I’ve been no stranger to Transformers comics off and on over the decades. I was a faithful reader of the original Marvel book right up until the end… more or less. I dabbled in some of the stuff that followed and even found that old Armada comic to be surprisingly good. I enjoyed The War Within and I loved The Last Stand of the Wreckers. But it wasn’t until More Than Meets The Eye that I once again went all in on a Transformers title. MTMTE isn’t just a great Transformers comic, it’s one of the best comics I’ve ever read… and I’ve read a lot of comics in my 40+ years on this planet. On paper it sounds like the dumbest idea for a TF comic ever and yet in execution, every panel is like gold. This included issue, a Spotlight on Trailcutter, gives you just a mere morsel of that book’s awesomeness. Trust me, if you aren’t reading MTMTE go read it and come back. The first four volumes are available already in TPB. Go now… I’ll wait!

Oh shit, I forgot. We’re here to talk about a toy. So… moving on to the figure itself, let’s start with Trailcutter’s vehicle mode. In keeping with tradition, he’s still a black SUV. For some reason this guy reminds me a lot of Generations Perceptor, although Trailcutter has four wheels and isn’t a halftrack. I dig the countours of the front of the vehicle and the sculpted winch on the bumper. Also, the striping on the sides and the bold Autobot emblem on the hood all give the eye something a little more than just black to look at. Trailcutter isn’t your typical SUV out to bring the kids to a soccer match either. Nope, he’s got his big forcefield emitter sticking up off the top of the roof and two guns facing forward. If you want to make him a little less threatening and more street accessible, you can take the cap off the back of the SUV and remove his guns, but the emitter remains. He’s a nice looking vehicle, but he does share a common problem with many Deluxe Transformers these days… he’s kind of small. He’s close to the same size as many of the Classic/Universe/Generations cars of yesteryear, but he’s an SUV, so he should be bigger.

Transforming Trailcutter into his vehicle mode is a little fidgety. He’s one of those figures where everything needs to be just perfect to get him to fit together in alt mode and even then, it’s a little tough to close all the gaps. Getting him into robot mode, on the other hand, is pretty easy. The result is overall good, but I he’s not getting away from me without getting a few nits picked. Let’s deal with those first. He doesn’t have an Autobot symbol on him in robot mode. It’s a tiny oversight that just bugs me a bit, so let’s let it go because the bigger issue is size. Just like his vehicle mode, his robot mode is small. Yes, it’s been an ongoing issue with Deluxes ever since TF: Prime rolled onto the scene. It doesn’t always bother me, but Trailcutter should be at least as big as most of his Autobot peers. He stands just as tall as your average Classic Deluxe, but that’s including his forcefield emitter. In reality his head comes up to the shoulders of most of his peers. He still displays just fine with my Classics figures, but in perfect world he would have been bigger.

All that aside, I really dig Trailcutter’s robot mode. He has a nice and powerful broad-shouldered look that doesn’t come away as being stocky despite his relatively shorter height. The way the front of the vehicle forms his chest is just the kind of classic Autobot design that I can never get enough of. And the headsculpt is a home run, which I’m happy to say homages the G1 style a little more than the comic style. As much as I love the current crop of Nick Roche IDW art, I’m not always so enamored with the organic quality of the faces. I know why they do it, to make the characters more expressive and easier to relate to, but I prefer something more mechanical and G1 in my figures’ portraits. The deco here is phenomenal and driven mostly by the color of the plastic over actual paint apps. You still get plenty of the black from the SUV showing up, but it’s now mixed with some beautiful red and grey accents and just a smidgen of blue.

Trailcutter comes with a shield-gun thingy that basically forms the cap of his SUV mode. Some of you might have thought I was going to call him out on this piece, but, I don’t have a big issue with it. It’s not integrated into the robot mode, so you can set it aside if you want. There are also a couple of different ways you can peg it onto his back if you want to store it.

So, yeah, Trailcutter has his shortcomings… see what I did there? But I still like him a lot. In fact, he’s definitely my favorite of the IDW Comic Pack wave so far. He has a great design in both modes and Hasbro’s team did a phenomenal job reverse engineering this guy from the IDW artwork and making him into a great looking and ultimately fun figure to play with. He’s already got a spot on my Classics shelf, filling a hole that has been vacant for far too long. Now I’m chomping at the bit to find Hoist, so my original Autobot updates can be yet one more step closer to being completed.

That’s three down, and one more IDW Comic Pack from the intiial assotment to go. Next week, we’ll check out Orion Pax!

Sep 28 2013

Marvel Legends: Hawkeye and Rocket Raccoon by Hasbro

I started this week with Marvel Legends, so I might as well end it that way. Hawkeye is the last carded figure in this wave that I have yet to cover, and I’m long overdue putting this assortment to bed. I usually look at the Build-A-Figures in a separate feature, but Rocket Raccoon is a pretty small and simple figure, so I’ll tack him on at the end.

Here’s the Marvel Legend’s packaging. Hard to believe this stuff has been out for so long already. I still dig the presentation here a lot, but the character art seems to be taking a dive on the recent release. The art for Hawkeye makes him look more like a Sigma Six character to me, rather than Marvel’s famous master archer. Oh well, it’s all getting chucked in the garbage anyway. Hawkeye fills out his bubble quite nicely, particularly with his compound bow and quiver situated on either side of him. You’ll note that he comes with no raccoon parts.

Obviously, this figure references the modern version of Hawkeye. I’ve seen a lot of hating on this design, but I have absolutely no problem with it at all. It definitely leans more toward the feature film Hawkeye than the Classic version of the character we all know and love, but change isn’t always a bad thing. Hawkeye is built on a slight muscular buck, which gets by mostly using the paintwork in order to define his costume. In fact, apart from the new head sculpt, the only new sculpting here is in the belt and shoulder harness, which are separate pieces. The bulk of the buck is black with some really snappy metallic purple paint for the chest and boots. His gloves and arm bracers are painted on as well.

As for the head sculpt, I really like the portrait on this figure. Maybe there’s a little Jeremy Renner in there, and maybe it’s intentional. Either way, I just dig the quality of what Hasbro did here. The hair and glasses are particularly well done. Why does an archer wear sunglasses? Duh! They’re special anti-glare specs with a built in LCD display by developed by Stark Industries to further enhance his already uncanny marksmanship skills. All that was complete bullshit, but I like the sound of it!

Hawkeye features a great level of articulation. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, double hinged at the elbows, swivel at the biceps and have both hinges and swivels in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs and boots, double hinges in the knees, and the ankles are hinged and have slight rockers. His torso features an ab crunch hinge, a swivel at the waist, and his neck is both hinged and ball jointed. The figure does suffer a bit from soft hinges in the elbows and knees, making posing him feel tad mushy at times.

Obviously, Hawkeye comes with his bow and quiver. The quiver pegs into the hole on his back. The bow is my only real issue with this figure. It looks great, but it’s kind of hard to get him to grip it well. It doesn’t look like there’s any specific area where he is supposed to grip it. Obviously, I know jack shit about compound bows, so I’m sure it’s just my ignorance at work here. I’m just glad they didn’t sculpt it with an arrow already nocked.

Soft joints aside, Hawkeye is probably my second favorite figure out of this batch, right behind Wrecker. I don’t mind the modern look of the character and I think this figure pulls it off brilliantly. What’s more he is lots of fun to play around with and I think he looks great posed alongside Steve Rogers, Black Panther and Modern Age Thor. Hopefully we’ll get that Legends scale Black Widow soon.

And, as promised, here’s a quick look at the BAF, Rocket Raccoon. You only needed to buy three figures (Jean Grey, Black Panther, and Wrecker) in this wave to build him. His parts consist of a head, two arms, a body, a tail, and his gun. The figure is quite similar to the tiny Rocket that came with the Marvel Universe Guardians of the Galaxy boxed set. His articulation is limited to ball joints at the shoulders, neck, and tail… and a hinged mouth!!! All in all, he’s very well sculpted and a nice looking piece. He also displays quite well next to Drax, but in the end he just makes me want a comic accurate Legends scale Star-Lord all the more.

Phew, and that finally puts an end to this wave of Marvel Legends. All in all, I think this was a solid wave. Even Scarlet Spider, my least favorite in the bunch isn’t a bad figure if you take away the scaling issues. Anyway, with these guys behind me, now I can start going back and picking up the rest of the Hit Monkey wave. I’ll likely be doing that one figure at a time, so it may take a while.

Sep 26 2013

Transformers Universe: Tankor by Hasbro

I had planned on keeping the Robots in Disguise thing going for Transformers Thursday, but I ran a little light on time this week, so instead I dug around in one of my drawers for a ~~quick~~ suitable substitute. Today we’re revisiting Hasbro’s Universe line. Not Universe 2.0, mind you, but the one that came before that. The one that consisted mostly of questionable repaints of a lot of toys few collectors ever wanted to see again. One of those releases came to us from the pages of Beast Machines and it was a boxed set of Tankor and Obsidian repaints. I have no idea what happened to the Obsidian figure (no great loss!) but the Tankor mold has always been one of my favorites. I looked at the Beast Machines version on FFZ a long while ago, so let’s see how Universe treated him.

Why do I love Tankor so much? Because he’s a kick ass Cybertronian tank and for unknown reasons that may have little to do with his configuration, his turret and cannon remind me of the tanks from the original Tron. I dig his four sets of treads, all brimming with sculpted detail, his front capture claw, and the Cylon-like visor and grill on the front of the turret. He just looks all sorts of mean and nasty. It’s a fantastic design, which was obviously the result of a lot of love. Of course, the turret turns and the cannon can raise and lower and it also fires a missile that is sculpted to look like an energy blast.

Tankor had a pretty wild paint scheme to begin with, so his Universe counterpart isn’t too bad off. The green is a slightly different shade, the grey and red has been replaced with a weird tan, and he has some crazy purple and silver splotches that I like to think of as some kind of energon damage. All the great striping and chevrons that were on the original toy’s fenders are still here, the pallet has just been changed up a bit. And yes, if you’re wondering, the hatch that opened to reveal his Predacon spark crystal on the original toy, now opens to reveal a painted Decepticon insignia. Cool!

Transforming Tankor into robot mode is both simple and clever. His legs do a cool flip to wind up on the other side of his torso and the translucent red plates wind up as armor for his arms and shoulders. As a robot, Tankor’s design is just as grizzly and warlike. His huge, bulky arms have built in saw blades and his hands are serrated lobster claws of death. You do not want a hug from Tankor. It’ll f’ck you up! The deco remains about the same as when he’s in tank mode with the tan replacing the grey and some gold detailing on his chest rather than the yellow from the Beast Machines figure. I can’t say I like it better than the original toy, but it’s cool that it makes him unique amidst my little army of Tankors.

The head sculpt is fantastic! Tankor sports a deep set visor with light piping that reveals a single Cylon eye and if you move his head it seems to travel from one side to the other. He also has a giant bear trap of a jaw that is articulated. Mounted on his left shoulder is his enormous cannon, proving that he doesn’t lose any firepower no matter which mode you find him in.

And so in the end, Tankor didn’t do too badly at the hands of the crazed colorists in charge of the Universe line. It’s not an improvement, but like I said, having one uniquely colored Tankor gives me a commander for my drones, and that’s cool. I will, however, concede that this release was a wasted opportunity for a better repaint. I would absolutely love to get this guy in traditional black and purple Decepticon colors, or maybe just black and steel grey. But truth be told, I love Tankor no matter what color he is, and I try not to think about how sad it is that he’s a perverted reincarnation of poor, noble Rhinox.

Sep 23 2013

Marvel Legends: Jean Grey by Hasbro

I’m pressing on with my look at the Rocket Raccoon wave of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends. Today it’s all about Jean Grey. Back in the 90’s when I was an X-Men whore, I couldn’t get enough of this character. That fondness has dulled a bit, along with my X-Men fetish, but that doesn’t mean I’m not happy to add her to my Legends shelf… especially since this is the long awaited Jim Lee version. Forgive me if today is brief and incoherent, but I’m coming to you all with absolutely no sleep in the last 28 hours… Yay!

Here’s the Marvel Legends packaging and I don’t have a lot new to say about it. Word is that Hasbro was planning three variants as running changes for this figure, but only the one version of Jean appears on the card art. Jean comes packaged beside a raccoon body and tail! Let’s get Jean out of the package and we’ll set the raccoon parts aside for a later feature…

Wow, am I torn on this figure so let me start there. When I first got her open, I went round and round in my head over the buck used here. After seeing the magnificent female buck used for the Thunderbolts ladies, this one seems scrawny and ill-proportioned by comparison. But then I flipped through some of my old X-Men comics and I’m thinking… No, if we’re going by the art, the body used here actually works. I’ll come back to some of my issues with the buck when I talk articulation.

Jean looks pretty good. There isn’t a ton of original sculpting here. You get pouches sculpted into her thighs, bracers on her wrists, and the shoulder pads, all of which look fine. The combination of yellow plastic and yellow paint looks great. Hasbro, why can’t you use this yellow plastic for your Bumblebee figures? And the pearlescent blue used for the other half of her deco really makes the figure pop. It just goes to show you there’s a right time and place for this swirly plastic. I hated it on Ultron, but I loved it on Iron Monger, and I love it here too. The subtle metallic paint on the thigh pouches is a pretty nice little touch.

The head sculpt is OK. I am not crazy about her eyes. They’re narrow and they look like she just woke up. The rest of it, however, is fine. The copious hair looks great and I dig the way her hood is executed. It all conspires with the long neck to make for a very iconic looking figure. Her hands are sculpted with one in a fist and one in a “I’m using telekinesis on you” manner. The open hand seems a tad big, but it’s not something that ruins the figure for me.

Ok, so here’s the breakdown on articulation. The arms have ball joints in the shoulders, hinges in the knees, and swivels in the wrists. The legs feature those crazy ball joints in the hips, swivels at the hips, double hinged knees, and hinges and rockers in the ankles. Her torso features a ball joint and her neck is ball jointed. There’s obviously some stuff missing here, and the biggest offender for me is the lack of bicep swivels. Hasbro, bicep swivels in a six-inch scale figure should be mandatory now… even if it is a female! I also find the lack of hinge in the neck rather conspicuous. She’s also very top heavy, which makes her not a lot of fun to play around with because she just keeps falling over. Thankfully, I have a lot of stands from a previous Legends wave.

It may not sound like it, but I dig this figure well enough. Since it’s rebirth, Legends for me has had three main categories. There have been a good number of Triple-A releases, there have been a larger number of adequate releases, and just a few total duds. Jean falls squarely in the adequate releases. She looks fine standing on my shelf amidst the other figures, but unlike the top tier releases, I don’t want to have her on my desk to play with. If I was still a huge fan of the character, I suppose I would be a tad disappointed, but there’s nothing terribly wrong with her either.

Sep 19 2013

Transformers Robots in Disguise: Prowl by Hasbro

I know, we just looked at a Transformer figure yesterday, but he was new and Transformers Thursday is all about the figures of yesteryear. This week we’re wrapping up the Autobot Car Brothers with Prowl. I saved him for last because I recall him being my favorite. It’s been a year or so since I’ve had him out, so let’s see if that holds up! Like the others, he was released in two versions during the Robots in Disguise run and it looks like I kept the original, which is odd because I recall liking the deco on the second version better. Sometimes I don’t even understand myself.

In alt mode, Prowl is a Lamborghini police car, which is only odd if you have problems accepting G1 Red Alert as a Lamborghini Fire vehicle. Like his brothers, Prowl features a pretty realistic looking car mode, complete with clear windows, chromed out wheels, and real rubber tires, which are stamped “Transformers” on the sides. If you look inside the car, you can see that even his robot feet are sculpted to look like carseats. I love that! He has a rear spoiler and a police-style lightbar on the roof.

Prowl has a similar deco to the G1 Datsun version of the character, as he’s mostly white with a little black around the bottom. He also has Japanese lettering on the doors, which I was never all that keen on. Now, if he had the markings from G1 Prowl’s doors, I would have lost my shit with delight. Other than an Autobot insignia stamped on the hood, there isn’t much else to the deco here. Prowl comes with two missile launchers and you can clip these onto the spoiler to give him some added firepower in vehicle mode.

And there he is in robot mode… Wow, do I remember this guy differently. He’s still got a lot going for him, but for some reason I recalled him being the least kibbly of the trio, but my memory was being rather generous. Let’s look at the good stuff first. I like his torso, particularly the way the two tailpipes slant back and the way his chest looks like a giant engine block with an Autobot emblem on it. That’s classy. The shoulders are pretty cool. They’re stylish and there’s a lot of great sculpted detail in them. The legs might be a little scrawny for that big torso, but other than that they’re fine.

Yes, Prowl wears part of his car as a shield. All three of the Car Brothers seem to have been born with deformed left arms. In this case, it’s not so bad. It actually looks like shield being worn on his arm, and not like poor X-Brawn, where it looks like his arm is a snake digesting the front of an SUV. Surprisingly, my biggest issues with this figure are the doors and the way they hang off his hips. They’re on double ball joints, so you can move them all over the place, but nothing really seems to get them out of the goddamn way.

Prowl’s missile launchers can both be clipped to his right arm and they look good there and do a nice job complementing the shield. However, you can also clip them to the spoiler on the shield and give him one giant double barreled super weapon. Both ways have their merits, I suppose.

As with his brothers, Prowl features a lot of ball joints, which makes him a fun figure to pose, at least in theory. In practice, I find his kibble interferes a lot with what he can do. Again, it’s mainly the fault of those damn door hips. CURSE YOU DOOR HIPS!!!

Obviously, hindsight in this case wasn’t 20-20. I was blinded by a lot of nostalgia and Prowl isn’t quite the amazing figure I remembered him to be. In fact, I don’t even think he’s my favorite of the three anymore. On the other hand, it’s hard to pick from this kibbletastic trio. I can’t hate on any one of them, but Prowl disappointed me the most and that’s probably because I remembered having such low opinions of Side Burn and X-Brawn. These figures each still have some charm for me nowadays, but I guess I’m glad this chapter in Transformers history was a short lived one.

I’m not done with Robots in Disguise yet… next week we’ll take a look at some Decepticons from the line.

Sep 18 2013

Transformers Generations: Bumblebee (IDW Comic Pack) by Hasbro

You know it’s been a busy couple of weeks here at FigureFan Central when I let a bunch of Transformers comic packs sit around unopened. Yes, I’ve had a lot of stuff rolling in and I’m trying to get to everything in a reasonable amount of time. Well, I’m starting to catch up a bit so let’s tear open another one of these today… hey, look it’s Bumblebee!

Wow, this is an impressive piece of packaging. Bumblebee is carded in robot mode and between him and his weapons, he fills out the bubble admirably. You also get the comic book behind him with the exclusive Hasbro cover. This is award winning packaging. When I see it on the pegs, I want to buy it, even though I already have own it. I’m extra pleased to get the comic, because I wasn’t following this run when it was out. Bumblebee isn’t really in More Than Meets The Eye much, and I’ve only started reading Robots In Disguise where he’s been reformatted into a different body back on Cybertron. The comic is decent enough. It’s been tough for me to adopt the idea of Bumblebee as Autobot leader, and this issue addresses some of that a bit. On the other hand, it features two of my favorite Transformers, Thundercracker and Prowl, so I found it to be a good read even though it didn’t send me scrambling to Comixology to download more. Let’s start with Bumblebee’s alt mode.

Drawing from the comic design, which makes some nods to the Bayformer design, Bumblebee is for all intents and purposes a concept Chevy Camero. The design certainly has some cool features, like the split spoiler in the back and the flared hood, which makes it look like a powerful machine. Little touches include the dual tailpipes, detailed headlights, and the rather nicely sculpted wheels. The clear windows and windshield are always a plus in my book, even if the rear window is painted on. I’ll also point out that Bumblebee is a nicely sized vehicle for a Deluxe. While he doesn’t dwarf any of the TF: Prime Deluxes, if you put him next to a figure like Cliffjumper or Bumblebee, he is noticeably bigger.

While size has improved, I’m still not completely satisfied with the deco, or to be more accurate, the plastic. There’s something about the yellow plastic used here that doesn’t do it for me. It’s similar to the stuff used for Prime Bumblebee, but in this case it’s lighter and looks a little worse. It doesn’t feel cheap, but it kind of looks like it. More paint apps would have probably helped, and while this vehicle makes out a little better than Prime Bumblebee in that department, it still feels like it could have used a little more something in the deco.

Bumblebee’s weapons can peg into the ports located on each side near his spoiler giving him some firepower while in his alt mode. I approve, but then I’m a pretty big fan of cars loaded out to deal damage. Your mileage may vary.

Transforming Bumblebee to robot mode is easy. Getting him back into vehicle mode is a pain in the ass because of some subtle shifting that occurs with his rear window. Nonetheless, once in robot mode Bumblebee has his ups and his downs. Hasbro certainly did a nice job converting the comic design into a working Transformer. Yes, Bee uses some trickery. The chest, which is obviously supposed to be the hood is faked out, but I’m willing to cut them some slack for having to reverse engineer this guy. I like the proportions a lot. He’s a pretty clean looking robot. The head sculpt is very cool and very G1 inspired.

My biggest issue here is the shoulders, in that I wish they were stationary. When you move Bee’s arms, the whole shoulder assembly moves with them and it’s kind of awkward. The way the doors become wings is a nice homage to the Bayformer design and to some extent classic Autobot design as well, but if the shoulders were fixed, this figure would have turned out a lot better for me. I’ve had a lot of fun playing with and posing most of the recent Transformers releases, but Bee here just isn’t one of them. On a brighter note, a lot of the deco issues I have with Bee’s alt mode are toned down in his robot mode. He has more black showing and grey thighs. It helps to break up the shabby looking yellow plastic a bit and make him a lot more interesting.

Bumblebee’s weapons can be wielded in either of his hands, or you can clip them together to make one really cool looking cannon. Peg ports on the forearms would have been a nice option, but that’s OK, because I’d still probably prefer to display him with the big cannon.

I’ve been up and down on this figure. When I saw the first official pictures of him, I thought I was going to love him. When I had the package in hand, I waffled a bit. Now that I’ve had him out and played with him a bit, I’m happy to say I’m a fan. The shoulders aren’t technical issues; they’re intentionally designed that way, so my attitude toward them is just a personal preference and not a flaw in the figure’s design. The plastic is what it is. Like I said, it doesn’t feel cheap, it just looks kind of cheap. But again, maybe that’s just me.

Sep 17 2013

Marvel Legends: Scarlet Spider by Hasbro

Last time I had to deal with Scarlet Spider, it was his Marvel Universe release. I seem to recall describing the Clone Saga as being akin to having a dead rat in the middle of the living room… love it, hate it… you just can’t ignore it. Far be it from me to argue with myself, but I’ve managed to bury it away most of the time quite nicely until something like this comes up. This was not a figure I wanted in my collection, but I picked up a complete set of this wave online to build Rocket Raccoon. Little did I know at the time that he doesn’t even contain a BAF part. D’oh!!!

There’s the Marvel Legends packaging and I’m still loving it. Best of all, if you’re buying these in a store you can clearly see the lack of raccoon parts and decide for yourself whether you need this guy in your collection. I’ll give kudos to Hasbro, this is the one figure in the wave that I thought for sure would have a BAF part in order to force people to buy him. Nice to know they didn’t go that route. Too bad I didn’t research it before ordering.

Ok, so it should be obvious that this is a straight repaint of the Big Time Spider-Man and Future Foundation Spider-Man figures. Hasbro is determined to get their money’s worth out of this mold! And therein lies my issue with this figure. It’s too big. Take the figure on its own and it looks great. It’s got great articulation, it’s a good sculpt, the deco is fine, but as soon as I put it on my Legends shelf, he seems ridiculously out of scale with everyone else.

The deco is even simpler than the one used for FF Spidey. The figure is cast in red plastic, there’s a black spider emblem on the chest and there’s black on the shoulders and head. The eyes are painted red. I’m not a fan of this costume at all. At least the hoodie and ankle-pouch wearing outfit was made interesting by its very outlandishness. This one just looks blah! I guess Hasbro did an OK job with what they had to work with.

On the upswing, the articulation on this figure is excellent. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, double hinges in the elbows, swivels in the biceps and ball jointed wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs, double hinged at the knees and hinged at the ankles. The torso features a swivel at the waist, an ab-crunch hinge and those awesome shoulder crunches. The neck is hinged and ball jointed. This is the kind of articulation that a good Spidey figure needs, if only the buck weren’t so big!

And that’s all I’ve got to say about this guy. I can’t deny that he’s a lot of fun to play with and pose. But, even if I were a huge fan of Scarlet Spider, this figure wouldn’t have worked for me, at least not as part of a cohesive series of figures like Marvel Legends. At this point, I should probably just pick up Big Time Spidey and move the whole trio to their own little display nook. They really aren’t bad figures on their own, but they look awkwardly large on my display shelf amongst their peers.

Sep 12 2013

Transformers Robots in Disguise: X-Brawn (Second Version) by Hasbro

Remember a couple Thursdays back when I said I only kept one version of each of the Autobot Car Brothers? Well, it was a dirty lie. While going through my RID drawer I found the Rally version of X-Brawn and I remembered that I kept this guy solely because of my undying love for Sega Rally 2 on the Dreamcast. I also remembered that I have a social engagement at The Pub tonight, and so with brevity being the order of the day, I decided a quick look at this repaint of last Thursday’s figure would be a good way to go.

Once again, X-Brawn’s alt mode is fairly realistic looking SUV. This version keeps all the cool trimmings, like chrome running boards and ramming bar and a hood that opens to reveal the gold vac metal engine inside. You also still get vac metal gold wheels and the rubber tires with “Transformers” on the sides. It’s still an awesome little touch! The original version featured a rather pedestrian silver and green paintjob, whereas this version has gone all Rally on our asses.

The new rally deco is pretty amazing, although it’s still a bit subdued for a Rally style car. He’s painted with a nice thick coat of glossy white with red, green, and blue accents. Rally decals include “Cybertron Wild” on the hood and “Wild 24” on the doors. You also get an Autobot emblem on the roof along with an additional “24” and “Cybertron” on the top of the windshield. I don’t know why, but I kind of dig when Transformers have “Cybertron” printed on their alt mode somewhere. It kind of defeats the purpose of being a robot in disguise, but I still think it’s cool when we see it from time to time. I’m not entirely sure of the significance of the “24” or even if it has one.

Transforming X-Brawn into robot mode is really simple. You basically just pull him apart and make a few adjustments. Of course, we’ve already seen what this guy has going on in robot mode and all the rally stickers and pizazz in the world can’t hide the fact that X-Brawn is wearing the entire front third of his auto mode on his left arm. If anything, the new deco draws more attention to his deformed arm. It’s a shame because the rest of the robot mode is so clean looking. I guess in a way it’s good to confine all the kibble to one small part of the robot and if he smacks you with that arm, it’ll literally be the same experience as getting hit by an SUV. Apart from the front of the car, most of the rally deco is still visible on X-Brawn’s back.

X-Brawn’s right arm is still minus a hand. He’s got a socket where you can plug his running boards into to be used as weapons. They’re axes or swords or bludgeons or guns, or whatever you want them to be, I guess. I still really dig the sculpting on the chest and the coloring on the figure is a pleasing pearlescent green mixed with white plastic and some gold and grey. He’s got ball joints all around, so he’s a lot of fun to play with and pose, even with his crippling deformity. Even now I can’t stop fiddling with him, he’s just a fun little figure!

Rally Brawn features the same cool head sculpt as regular flavor Brawn. It’s a great looking noggin, although mine has a little stray paint on him. I’m a big fan of mouth plates on my Transformers. One would think since Optimus Prime has one, it would be considered “in style” and all the other Autobots would want one too. I wonder if they can get cosmetic surgery and have a face plate added. Nick Roche must have covered that in the comics at some point.

If you weren’t sold on this figure the first time around, I doubt this re-deco will make you reconsider. I have a soft spot in my heart for this guy and the Rally deco just makes me love him all the more. Ultimately, this figure can thank Sega for not being sold off with the other multiples of the Car Brothers during one of my Great Purges. It’s funny how sometimes a completely unrelated thing will make me hang on to a toy that I would have otherwise let go. Damn, I kind of wish I wasn’t heading out to The Pub, because I have a hankering to boot up the Dreamcast and play some Sega Rally 2.

Next Thursday, I’ll wrap up my look at the Autobot Car Brothers with Prowl.

Sep 5 2013

Transformers Robots in Disguise: X-Brawn by Hasbro

It’s Transformers Thursday again! Last time we looked at Side Burn, the first of the Autobot Car Brothers from Robots in Disguise. Today we’re rolling on with the second of the three. It’s X-Brawn…

X-Brawn’s alt mode is a silver and green SUV. I totally dig the realism in this vehicle mode. The silver finish looks great and he has a huge Autobot emblem stamped on his hood. The running boards and front ramming bar are all chromed out, and he even has a spare tire rack on the back. Speaking of tires, X-Brawn’s are real rubber and stamped with “Transformers” on the sides. You can even open his doors and lift the hood to reveal the chrome engine inside. Cool!

X-Brawn transforms pretty easily and boy am I ever torn on his robot mode. Unlike Side Burn, who had car parts hanging haphazardly all over, X-Brawn manages to confine almost all of it into one giant crippling disfigurement of the left arm. Yes, he wears the entire front of his auto mode as a forearm. The problem here is that it’s far more unwieldy and random than Side Burn’s roof, which actually looks like a serviceable shield. X-Brawn’s SUV front of an arm just looks random and unfortunate. I suppose he could hit people with it, but it seems like the trade-off of having to go through life with that on your arm, isn’t a good one.

It’s a real shame too, because the rest of X-Brawn looks mighty damn good. The lower legs are pretty huge, but they give him a nice solid base to stand on, and I really dig the sculpting in his chest. Even his head sculpt looks normal and not all frankensteined like Side Burns does. Toss in some serviceable ball joints and he’s a pretty fun figure to pose and play with.

One other distinctive feature about X-Brawn is that his running boards detach during transformation and become a sword or a bludgeon weapon. Yes, this poor guy has only one hand and it’s on the popeye arm, while his normal arm sports only a weapon.

Like Side Burn, I should have an enormous problem with this figure, and yet I can’t bring myself to hate on him. Yes, X-Brawn’s huge car front arm violates my ugly car kibble standards, but so much else about this figure works well for me that I’m able to overlook it. Some may argue that the coloring of the SUV mode is too subdued, but I like the fact that it just accentuates the vehicle’s realism. On the other hand, if you were looking for something with a more exciting deco, I may be able to accommodate you on the next Transformers Thursday!

FigureFan Zero

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