Tag Archives: transformers

Nov 20 2024

Transformers: The Movie Retro G1 Autobot Hound by Hasbro

As I’m packing up parts of my collection, I’m finding lots of odds and ends that never got their turn at the spotlight here on FFZ. And since these things are going into storage for a while until after my movie I wanted to take the opportunity to have a look at them. Today’s figure is a one-off purchase for me, despite Hasbro releasing a handful of figures in this format. And even then I waited until he was on pretty deep discount to bite. And that surprised even myself, seeing as Hound was one of my favorite Autobots in the early days of the Sunbow cartoon and one of my favorite G1 figures as well! It feels like Hasbro has a number of these G1 reissues on constant rotation, but the parade usually includes Soundwave, Blaster, Rodimus and sometimes Optimus Prime, whereas seeing Hound again was something new! Also, it’s kind of a busy week for me, so today’s going to be a quickie!

I’ll say straightaway that I’m not a fan of this packaging and that’s probably a big reason as to why I waited for him to get clearanced. Don’t get me wrong, it’s colorful, and there’s some great art here showing Hound in both modes. Also, the movie logo on the extended backflap with Unicron in the background is quite nice. But, if I’m buying a G1 reissue, I want it in the old G1 style packaging. Granted, this release happened during Hasbro’s plastic-free packaging phase, which probably precluded them from the old timey window box, so I guess this is a decent substitute. The back of the box shows the figure in both modes and you get a nod back to the old clip-and-save file cards, plus a lot of ugly multi-language print.

Of course, Hound’s vehicle mode is a military jeep and as near as i can tell uses the same molds as the original toy and the package even exclaims the official JEEP license. I always loved this vehicle mode as the open nature made it seem like the toy had to be extra clever to hide it’s engineering. I also really loved that it had actual seats, even if I never had any figures tiny enough to sit in him. You do get some diecast metal in addition to the plastic, which gives the toy a decent heft for it’s tiny size. Sadly all the chromed bits are replaced with off-white plastic, which is done under the guise of this being an animated version of the toy. The body is also a paler shade of green, and I will note that they did a pretty good job matching the color of the plastic with the diecast.

There are no stickers, but you do get a few tampos, including the the yellow triangles on the sides, as well as a yellow star and red Autobot insignia on front fenders. As with the original toy, the windshield is hinged, the gun in the back can pivot as well as raise and lower, and both the spare tire and gas can are removable. This is still a pretty attractive vehicle mode, even though I’ll always prefer the deeper green and chrome from the original toy.

The robot mode tells a lot of the same story. With the chrome gone and the paler green, it loses some of it’s pizzazz, but overall still looks good. The robot design is fantastic and fairly close to the animated counterpart, with the one exception being his tiny T-Rex arms. In this mode you get a rifle and a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher, both the same style that came with the original figure. You even get three missiles on a sprue for the launcher. Hound’s little head is so tiny, it was hard to punch in for a look, but it’s nice to see they added some blue for his eyes. The figure does suffer from the same extremely limited articulation that we saw in a lot of the Class of 84 Autobot Cars, although many of those had hinges in the elbows and swivels in the wrists, whereas Hound can only move his arms at the shoulders. And yet somehow I still managed to have tons of fun with him back in the day.

All of this series of movie branded reissues seemed to go to clearance pretty quickly. I believe they started out as Walmart Exclusives, but eventually found their way to just about every toy retailer online. I want to say he retailed for around $35 when first released and while I would have definitely snapped him up if he were in proper G1 packaging, I think I wound up getting him for around $12. It’s nice to have a G1-style Hound in my collection again, as this is probably the first since my original when I was a kid. But, if you’re looking for something to replace your original toy, this probably ain’t it and I think most people would have rather seen a release closer to the chromed beauty that was the original release.

Nov 11 2024

Transformers X Knight Rider: Autobot Knight by Hasbro

Hasbro has been doing some super fun crossovers with their Transformers brand, and apart from some of the GI JOE offerings, I’ve been staying out of it, at least up until now. We’ve seen Transformers Ghostbusters, Back To The Future, TMNT, and Stranger Things, and to be honest, none of the robot modes have really spoken to me enough to get me to bite. But then they tossed Knight Rider into the mmix and everything gelled perfectly. KITT is already a super-smart car with a personality, so giving him the ability to transform just makes sense. Plus, at one point Peter Cullen actually voiced KITT’s nemesis, KARR so it all kind of fits together. Anyway, I preordered this one and it just arrived this past weekend, so let’s check it out!

In all my 50+ years of enjoying toys, I doubt that I will ever love a package design more than I do the G1 Transformers boxes. I’m sure part of it is nostalgia, but there’s something about that grid pattern, the logo, and the red or purple deco, depending on whether it’s an Autobot or Decepticon. Hasbro has brought it back for modern releases before, with mixed results, but what we got here is damn near perfect. The character art is fantastic and I can’t even put into words the feels I get when I see the battle art on the back. I got my first Transformers toys before seeing the Sunbow cartoon so that art will always have a special place in my heart. Yeah, there’s an unfortunate Anniversary logo and multi-lingual scrawl on the back, but it’s as close as they can get. On the downside, I’ll go ahead and say that this figure should have just been named KITT and I really do not like the Autobot Knight moniker they gave him instead. But hey, I can call him whatever i want, so KITT it is! Anyway, the packaging is so good, I was super careful taking him out, because he’ll forever be displayed in the box. I’ll also note that you will need a screwdriver and three LR44 batteries to work the electronics and Hasbro didn’t feel like hooking us up by including them. Let’s start with the auto mode!

I don’t know what size class you’d call this, but he’s definitely bigger than your average Deluxe. In the original TV show, KITT was a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am and Hasbro did indeed partner with Pontiac for the licensing on this toy. The end result is a really nice looking car mode with a higher degree of accuracy than I’m used to seeing on these toys. The body is done in all glossy black and while there are seams from the transformation, they really aren’t that bad at all. That’s probably helped along by the fact that this toy features a very simple and old-school conversion design. The rims on the wheels are silver, the front signal lights are orange, the tail lights are red, and you get white fog lamps on each side of the grill. The windows are tinted blue, which is an interesting choice. Not sure why they went with that, but it adds a little color and I’m not against it. I especially like the Knight Industries logo on the back where the license plate would be. It’s a great looking car that holds together really well too.

The headlamps actually flip up, which is a very cool touch. I would have liked stickers showing some detail in the headlamps instead of them being all white. The same goes for the red tail lights, which are just simple paint. I do like the placement of the Autobot insignia down on the apron, as it hides it a bit. There’s a button off center on the hood that activates the electronics. Press it once and KITT comes online along with the pulsing red Cylon-esque scanner light, travelling left and right. Pressing it activates not only the lights and sensor sound, but also some dialogue from KITT. If you leave the button alone for a while, KITT will announce that he’s going off line.

Transformation is about as simple as you can get for a toy of this size and price range. It follows the classic G1 Datsun engineering pretty closely, both in the conversion and in the robot design. That’s not a complaint, mind you. Having the front of the car as the chest, complete with the door wings behind the shoulder is as iconic and beautiful as it gets for me. The proportions are good and I like the placement of the wheels on the outside of the lower legs and behind the shoulders. The robot mode adds quite a bit of color, mostly in the form of pale grey and an electric blue, along with some red paint hits on the lower legs. Meanwhile, the back fills out pretty nicely as well. I believe the official transformation angles the door wings up, but I prefer them swept straight back. On the downside, I cannot get his chest to lock into place very well at all, so it tends to shift a bit when playing around with him.

The portrait design is OK. I like the traditional silver face and the translucent red visor is pretty cool. I don’t dig how big the eyes are, though and I feel like the “helmet” could have been a little bigger. Aside from giving him a William Daniels-style mustache, I don’t know what else I was expecting. It’s fine.

And yes, the electronics still function when he’s in robot mode, exactly the same way as when he is in car mode. I dig the look of the swooshing sensor on his chest!


As for weapons, you get a pair of pistols and a rifle, and these can be combined by tabbing the pistols into the side of the rifle if you like. Both weapons are cast in black plastic and I do like the designs a lot. As for articulation, he’s got everything you would expect from a modern Transformer and a pretty nice balance too. He’s just plain fun to play with.

And here’s a quick size comparison with Earthrise Optimus Prime and Studio Series Brawn. Yeah, he’s really big and I don’t think he displays well with the recent G1-style releases. I could make it work with Brawn, but he shouldn’t be as big as Optimus. He also towers over the Deluxe Autobot cars. So, he’s definitely going to be displayed on his own, which is fine because he’s basically just a one-off in my collection.

I got Autobot Knight from Amazon for $49 and he’s still available and In Stock at the time I’m writing this. It’s a nice toy and a cool idea, but the price feels pretty steep on this one. He’s big and the electronics are well done, but some may be put off by the extremely simple engineering for a toy at this price range. But then the prices on the Ghostbusters and Back to the Future releases were pretty pricey too and kept me away. In this case, I have no regrets about picking him up, but then I will buy just about anything Knight Rider that I come across, so your mileage may vary.

Sep 9 2024

Transformers: Optimus Prime AMK Pro Series Model Kit by Yolopark

Back in April, I took my first foray into Yolopark’s line of Transformers Model Kit Action Figures with their G1 styled Megatron. I had no idea what to expect, but I was pretty blown away by him. Naturally, I jumped on the preorder for his rival Optimus Prime and I’ve been sitting on him for quite a while now. These are billed as model kits, probably for licensing purposes, and yes they do require assembly, but there’s no paint or glue or any real modeling skills needed. It’s basically just an action figure that you have to assemble, mostly at the articulation points. It’s pretty easy and fun to do and in the end you get a fully posable action figure to play around with! Let’s check out Optimus!

The packaging is very nicely done and gives off a classic G1 vibe. There’s a sleeve that features Sunbow styled character art with some comic panels in the background. The box itself has a lovely foil line drawing and advertises the Diecast goodness that lies within. I knew so little about these when I bought Megatron that I wasn’t even sure these were officially licensed products, but they are indeed! Everything is collector friendly, but you’ll have to take the figure apart again if you want to store him in the box.

Inside the parts come laid out in a tray in an intuitive manner to help get a feeling where all the pieces go. It may look intimidating, and I’ll admit that I did have to consult the instructions a few times, but I probably could have figured it out without them. And yes, there’s a second tray nested under it with a few more parts, some weapons, and the base. The parts are a mix of plastic and diecast metal and the distribution feels well thought out to create a pretty well balanced figure, and when he’s all done he measures just a bit under 8-inches tall. There is a light up feature in the head, and you’ll need to provide some button batteries to make it work. OK, Prime, pull yourself together and let’s go!

As with Megatron, I consider this design a more realistic take on the G1 animated style. You get similar proportions, but the detail and paint are dialed up to give him that hyper-realistic look. Since he doesn’t transform, the figure is able to achieve the pinnacle of Optimus’ robot design with the long legs, broad and slightly bowed chest, and compact abs. Although, I’d argue with how well Hasbro’s design team has been doing lately, they’ve been able to come close with their transformable figures. There are no wheels present, and whatever truck kibble is here is all intentional, like the gas cans on the legs, the grill in his abs, and the smokestacks on the shoulders. The cut panels look great and most of it is panel lined to bring out the detail. The colors all really pop thanks to a gorgeous metallic finish in the red and blue and a mix of vibrant silver and matte gray. You get the bright yellow panels on the pelvis too! There’s some excellent weathering here, and while Megatron’s gave him some wonderfully ugly character, I think Prime’s just adds a little depth and credibility to the finish without stepping on his noble charm.

I love this head sculpt and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. Prime’s “helmet” is finished in a metallic blue with the headphone antenna extending past the horns on his “helmet” the grill on his forehead is painted in silver as is his mouth plate, which the bridge of his nose disappears into. The beautiful blue eyes have the same light up feature we saw with Megatron. The lights are activated by touching the magnet in his rifle to the top of his head with three modes to choose from: Lit, pulsating, and flashing. The lights are bright enough to be seen even with all the studio lights shining on him!

Just like Megatron, the articulation on this figure is off the charts and because most of the assembly revolves around those points, you get a good feel for it while you build him. Plus, if you accidently stress a joint too much, it’s probably just going to pull out rather than break, which makes the design even better. Probably the most impressive part are all of those shifting panels in the pelvis that allow not only wide stances, but Prime’s ability to go down on one knee and kick in or out really high. I also really like the side to side movement in the chest. The hands are fully articulated with the thumb on a ball joint, the index finger on two independent hinges and the rest of the fingers linked and sharing two hinges. It’s cool, but I can make the hands look a little odd when relaxed or in fists. I do wish we got a set of swap out fists for when you don’t need the articulation. The figure also feels fantastic in hand, with a nice heft while avoiding being so top heavy like the original MP Prime. *Optimus also has a flip up communicator in his arm, which I neglected to take a photo of. Ooops!*

The chest does open up to reveal a removable Matrix, and oh boy is the chest hard to get open. I think it’s because it uses two interlocking tabs to close up. I have had the best luck with inserting a pen or thin utensil in the gap underneath to pop it. Inside, you get a beautifully detailed chest cavity and a great looking Matrix accessory. I am a bit surprised there isn’t a light up feature in here, especially since Megatron got the extra lights in his Fusion Cannon, but for whatever reason, there are no electronics in the chest.

Naturally, Prime comes with his iconic rifle. This piece is all plastic with some nice silver brushed weathering and as mentioned it has a magnet in it to activate Prime’s eyes. There’s a long tab in the grip that slots into the palm of the hand and the fingers wrap around it similar to the Takara Masterpiece figures. It holds in place fairly well.

Prime also has an energy axe, which can be swapped out with either of his fists. This piece is cast in translucent orange plastic and attaches with a ball joint. It looks great and you can use it to recreate his fight with Megatron on Hoover Dam from More Than Meets The Eye.

Also included is Megatron in his gun form. I presume this is a nod to one of the episode of the cartoon where Prime used Megatron as a weapon to stop the Insecticons. If they don’t include the same accessory with Starscream, I’ll likely just wind up giving it to him when he arrives. Little gun Megatron looks fantastic and includes a removable stock. I was able to get Prime to hold him with the stock, but it works better without it.

And finally you get the same stand that we saw with Megatron, only this time with an Autobot insignia. I wasn’t crazy about this stand last time and I’m still not. The design of the hinges in the arm don’t seem all that well thought out, as you can’t angle it properly to support the figure when standing on the base. As a result the armature is useless unless you’re looking to suspend the figure in a leaping action pose. Plus, in the case of Prime, his backpack makes it tougher to get the claw in to grab him. It is, however, a nice sculpt and since Prime can support himself pretty well, I will likely just stand him on the base and keep the arm in the box.

Prime sure looks great displayed next to Megatron. Megs is just a hair taller and beefier, which is how I think he should be. Alas, the batteries are already dying in my Megatron and all the eye lights will do is flicker, so I’ll have to open up his head and replace them.

After how much i loved Megatron, I had high expectations coming into this figure and I’m happy to say I’m very satisfied. I may have had a little bit more wow factor out of Megatron, because there are so few figures that do his G1 design justice, but once Optimus was in hand, I had a big smile on my face and couldn’t put him down. I think it’s unfortunate that the term Model Kit probably scares some people away from these, because it brings up all sorts of visions of clipping sprues, fragile plastic, paint and glue. But in reality, these just feel like high end toy that you have to assemble. Once together it’s a fun and durable action figure that looks outstanding on the shelf, especially when he’s next to Megatron. I’m interested to see how far this line will go. Starscream is up next, and we’ll no doubt get the Seeker repaints, but I’d love to see some of the ’84 Autobot cars get this treatment too. As I’m writing this, Optimus is still available at the usual places and retails for about $60.

Apr 1 2024

Transformers: Megatron AMK Pro Series Model Kit by Yolopark

I don’t usually let social media influence what I buy, because I have more than enough lines to collect as it is, but today I’m looking at something I picked up because I simply could not escape it. Everywhere I went online Yolopark’s Megatron was getting shoved in my face and I finally broke down and bought him to see what he’s all about. It’s my first experience with anything from Yolopark, and to be honest I didn’t even know this was a licensed item when I bought it, but sure enough it’s legit. It’s branded a model kit, but that’s probably just for licensing purposes, as Megatron is really just an action figure that you have to assemble and there’s no paint, glue, or tools (well, just a screwdriver for the batteries) required. He’s also a non-transforming figure.

Megs comes in a great looking box with an outer sleeve that features really nice G1 animated art on the front. It has both the Hasbro and Transformers branding on the bottom and advertises the use of some diecast in the figure. I didn’t even notice at first, but the background is made up of very subtle comic panels. Nice touch! Lift off the sleeve and you get this gorgeous piece of foil line art on the inner box with Megatron holding the Earth in his grubby mitt. No doubt about it, they did a bang up job on the presentation here.

And here’s what you get when you open the box with a second tray underneath that houses his accessories. The pieces are all laid out to make assembly easy and putting him together just requires pegging the different parts into each other. The connections are all at articulation points, with the exception of the elbows and knees, which are already assembled. A few of these pegs took a bit of force to get in, but I wasn’t really worried about breaking anything. It’s also possible to strip him back down pretty easily if you want to store him in the box. As mentioned, there is some diecast here, and while most of the kit is plastic, it’s not the kind of flimsy plastic I usually associate with models. This is a sturdy and rugged figure and not at all fragile. There are two light up features that require two types of button batteries that are not provided. One goes in the head to light up the eyes and three go into the fusion cannon to light it up and both require a screwdriver to install.

Here he is all together, measuring roughly 8-inches tall and looking really good! The mix of G1 Sunbow design with the realistic metal finish and weathering makes for a great combination. The silver bits look like brushed steel and the darker black bits have some excellent dry brushing to make edges look worn down to the bare metal. You also get some brown spray here and there to denote rust, making Megatron look properly ancient. Despite not transforming, you still get all the key bits of gun kibble like the textured pistol grips on his outer legs and the gun barrel that rises up behind his right shoulder. There are some yellow and blue paint apps to the components in his abs and you get some bright red in the upper biceps and again in the abs. Finally, there’s a bold purple Decepticon emblem printed in the center of his chest.

There are three interchangeable face plates to choose from. The first is pretty straightforward, the second gives Megatron a manically open-mouthed smile, while the final adds some more detail, maybe going for a toy or comic look. I’m not sure about that one, but I doubt I’ll use it much. All three heads have lenses in the eyes to share the light up feature in the head. The lights are activated by a magnet switch and there’s a magnet in the bottom of the gun barrel on his back. You just touch it to the top of his head: Once for permanent eye illumination, again for flashing eyes, and one more time for a pulsing effect. Tap it again and the lights will go out.

The balance and articulation on the figure are both excellent, with most of the joints being on hinged swivel pegs, but you also get double hinges in the knees, rockers in the ankles, a wide range of movement in the hips and shoulders, and even some side to side rocking in the chest. The hands have individually articulated index fingers with hinges at the base and knuckle, the remaining three fingers articulate together, and there are single hinges in the thumbs. All the joints feel fine and he’s just a lot of fun to pose and play around with.

The fusion cannon has a simple button to light it, and while I’d rather it lit up purple instead of red, I still think it’s a cool effect like it’s powering up and about to fire. The arm cannon is part of the assembly, so it is easily removable.

In addition to the three swap out face plates, Megatron also comes with an optional damaged chest plate. The regular chest plate is diecast, while this one is plastic. It makes sense, as I can’t imagine sculpting the crumpling effect here would be possible otherwise. The damage is very well done, but the figure could have used a few more pieces like this to make it more convincing.

Megatron also comes with a number of weapons and accessories. First up you get a pistol, because when you turn into a gun and you have a cannon on your arm, you need a pistol too, right? Actually, I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be the pistol he used to deliver the killing blow to Optimus Prime in the animated film. The sculpt looks pretty close but here it’s black instead of purple. Still, a cool accessory and he can hold it really well with his articulated fingers.

Next up is an energy sword. The hilt is cast in dark translucent purple, while the blade is done in more of a pinkish purple. Again, he holds it great and I really dig how it turned out.

You want more energy weapons? How about the mace he used to fight Prime on the Dam in More Than Meets The Eye? This one simply swaps out with either one of the hands. It’s also cast in translucent purple plastic and you get multiple hinges in the chain to give it some added poseability.

The final accessory is The Key to Vector Sigma from titular episode of the cartoon. This piece is diecast and has a premium satin gold finish. I found it a bit tricky to get him to hold this, as it’s fairly heavy and it isn’t easy to find a place for him to grip it, but with a little patience I was able to make it work.

Megatron also comes with a stand, which includes a detailed base and a multi-hinged support arm with a grabbing claw. The only problem here is there’s no way to get the claw positioned to support Megatron while he’s standing on the base. The hinges in the arm just won’t allow the claw to be positioned down that low. To be fair, this is not a figure that requires any support to stand, but it does seem like a short-sighted design. It can, however, be used as a flight stand or for dynamic posing. There’s a little Decepticon emblem that plugs into the base of the support and there are clips on the outside of the hexagonal base so that it can be connected to others. I presume the other Yolopark Transformers come with the same stand.

The kit is readily available at a number of online toy retailers, but I got mine on Amazon for about $60 and I’m overall really happy with the purchase. Indeed, Megatron impressed me enough to make me pre-ordered their G1-style Optimus Prime to go with him. I definitely have a thing for cartoon accurate Megatron figures, which is no doubt the result of being a kid and having to play with a Megatron figure that looked nothing like the one on the cartoon. For a while Hasbro’s own RED version scratched that itch, but this one is a huge step up, granted with a significant price hike. The mix of cartoon design and realistic finish gels perfectly to me and despite him not transforming, this may be my favorite Megatron figure yet.

Feb 26 2024

Transformers: Masterpiece Trailbreaker(MP-56) by Takara

Me and Masterpiece Transformers sort of split ways some time ago. The last MP figure I bought and reviewed here was Ratchet and that was way back in 2018. And you’d have to go back two years before that for previous one, Ironhide. It’s crazy because I love each and every one of the MPs I own, but somewhere between the rising prices of the line and Hasbro getting much better at their own engineering, I just stopped buying them. I’m pretty sure it was Inferno clocking in at $150 that was the breaking point. I still love the look of that figure, but then Hasbro didn’t do too bad with their Kingdom release of Inferno and in the end I just couldn’t justify the cost. But fast forward to last week when a certain retailer was running a sale on MP Trailbreaker and I decided to get back on that cyber-horse one more time.

The packaging hasn’t changed much in the eight years since I’ve been away. Trailbreaker comes in a fully enclosed box that fits right in with all the other releases. The box is deceptively small, considering how big a figure this is, but that’s because he comes packaged in his vehicle mode and the transformation features some clever mass-shifting fakery. Like the past releases in the line, Trailbreaker’s alt mode is fully licensed, in this case from Toyota, and comes in a clear plastic tray with his accessories and a folded instruction sheet. Let’s start with the auto mode!

Trailbreaker’s auto mode is a Toyota N30 Hilux Pick-Up Truck with a camper-style cap on the bed, something that I did not know when I was a kid. I actually always thought he was a Suburban or something, but what do you want from me, I was just a dumb kid. It’s a nicely detailed little vehicle done in an all black body with a patch of colored diagonal strokes above the rear tires. You get a beautiful chromed out grill and wheels, plastic tires with sculpted treads, translucent red tail lights and translucent orange signal lights front and back. And I really dig having the Toyota brand sculpted across the tailgate. There are the unavoidable seams running through the body and I think Takara did a better job hiding these on some of the other Autobots. But, I will note that these pictures are after transforming him back into his truck mode, so some of mine may not have closed up quite as well as they did straight out of the box, as it was my first time.

You actually get two options for the front grill and bumper: The stock chromed one and the a matte gray version, which I assume is meant to look more like the cartoon. For me, it just looks out of place and it’s a shame to take off that beautiful chrome, so I won’t be getting any use out of the second grill and bumper.

The hood does open, showing off the engine compartment with some detailed components in there. It’s pretty impressive and reminds me of the Alternator toys.

And you also get an optional radar dish to clip onto the top. The dish is chrome and I could totally see myself displaying this on the vehicle most of the time. All in all, I think this is a great looking vehicle mode with some cool surprises and options. Getting the toy into this alt mode felt pretty intuitive, but it’s that very last step of getting everything packed in just right that felt a little trickier than normal for me, leaving a few gaps in the seams. I’m sure I’ll get better with practice.

And here are a few shots of the vehicle mode alongside Ironhide and Smokescreen. Overall, I think he scales pretty well and they look great parked side by side. Now, let’s move on to his robot mode…

I like to live on the edge and try to transform these guys without instructions, even on the first try. Sometimes it works and sometimes it ends in frustration. With Trailbreaker, it worked out pretty well. There was nothing here that felt all that scary or overly complicated and the resulting robot is pretty damn great, but worthy of a few nitpicks to call out as we go. Trailbreaker is a delightfully tall boy who can stand shoulder to shoulder with Ironhide and Ratchet, but most of that height comes from his long legs, as his body is more or less the truck shell folded in half. You get the windshield making up his chest and the hood pointing down to form his lower torso. Meanwhile on the back, the canopy from the truck gives him a clean, squared off backpack. Yes, you can actually trim it down a bit more than I have it in the picture, but I kind of prefer the added bulk. Trailbreaker’s lower half proportions are kind of wonky with his pelvic region and legs looking a tad under-developed for that boxy bod, but it still works for me. Meanwhile, the deco is mostly black and gray, but the addition of the red knees and Autobot insignia do help to spice things up, as does the kisses of chrome on his shoulder mounted cannon and radar scanner as well as the blaster on his left arm.

So, the biggest nitpick I have here is in his sides, which are more than a tad unfinished and allow you peek in and see how the cyber sausage is made. Plus, if you line up your peek just right, you can see through to the other side. It’s not exactly cartoon accurate and makes that part of him look a bit unpolished. You need only look at MP Ironhide and Ratchet to see how much better the sides were handled on those figures. The engineering there is quite elegant the way the plates mesh to fill up the sides, and Trailbreaker here certainly lacks that. I can see the argument that it’s unacceptable for what is called a “Masterpiece” Transformer, but I just can’t get too upset about it.

You get three face plates to choose from, each of which is basically just the front half of the head that detaches. The faces include a neutral expression, a happy expression, and a shouty face. I find the sculpt around the mouth to be a bit soft on all three, but compensation comes in the visor, which has a gorgeous reflective blue paint that emulates light piping when under the right lights. Both the shoulder cannon and radar scanner are part of the transformation, rather than separate add-on pieces. Both look good, but I would have liked the scanner to be bigger, even if it meant adding it on after the fact. I will note here that I like the light frosted finish on the windshield that obscures the junk behind it.

The articulation here is right in line with what we saw on Ironhide and Ratchet. The joints are smooth and strong and the legs have no problems supporting his weight, even in wide stances. I love the range of motion you get in the lateral ankle rockers, which give him a stable platform, and his overall balance is excellent. On the downside, I would have liked it if the head could look up a bit more.

You get three options for his right arm attachments. You can go with the standard blaster, a fist, or a forcefield generator as seen in the original More Than Meets The Eye miniseries. The standard blaster has a gray plastic midsection which allows the barrel to compact itself for transformation. Getting it to lock into the extended mode can be a bit tricky and if it’s not locked in it can flop a bit. The hands are articulated at the base of the thumbs and index fingers, with the final three fingers hinged as one piece. I love having these options, but I will likely use the regular blaster as my default display.

And finally, you get a blast effect that works with either of the left arm attachments, as well as the shoulder cannon. Heck, you can even plug it into the radar scanner if you want to turn that into a weapon. This piece if cast in translucent yellow plastic and pegs into the hole on the attachments. I think it looks best on the regular blaster attachment, as the forcefield projector should really have three beams coming out of it.

It was a real treat coming back to a Masterpiece figure after all this time and with Trailbreaker on sale for $100 down from $150, it seemed like a great opportunity to pull that trigger. There are definitely some areas of improvement to be had here, and I won’t deny he feels like a step down from the Autobot Vans, especially considering how much more expensive he is, but I can still find plenty to love here and I’m happy to have him in my MP Autobot lineup. He definitely made me want to start collecting this line again, but with the prices still being what they are, I will likely wait for another sale before adding any more. Both Grapple and Inferno never sold out at any of the regular places I shop online, and they’ve been around for a long time, so maybe I’ll get lucky in that respect. To be honest, the only figure that I wish I had picked up when he was available was Hound, but I got scared away from him with many of the QC issues that were being reported.

Feb 21 2024

Super Cyborg (Transformers) Good Bye Megatron by Super7

By now we all know that Super7 has struck deals with Hasbro to make toys from their original properties. We’ve seen both Transformers and GI JOE released as Ultimates and ReAction figures. But Super7 has also crossed these franchises over to their rather unique, and kind of bizarre, Super Cyborg Series. According to Super7’s own write up, these “highly articulated” 12-inch figures are inspired by Takara’s Henshin Cyborg figures, which had transparent bodies to show off their inner workings. For the Transformers we got Bumblebee and Optimus Prime, as well as the Megatron I’m checking out today. Megsy here is supposed to be inspired by Takara’s re-release of the original toy as Good Bye Megatron, commemorating his death (and rebirth) in the movie. It all sounds pretty cool on paper, but a lot of these claims don’t really hold up in execution, and at least one is an outright fib, so let’s dig in and see what Super Cyborg Megatron is all about!

I do really love this packaging! Megatron comes in a beautiful window box. You get a G1-inspired grid pattern with the classic Decepticon purple and black deco. There’s a nice piece of art of the original toy on the bottom right, alongside the Super Cyborg logo and The X-Ray Action Figure! exclamation. The window has Good Bye Megatron printed across it and displays the figure really well. The box is sort of collector friendly, in that you can open it and remove the toy without damaging anything, but once you cut the ties, there’s no real easy way to display the chest panel the way it is before it’s taken out. I’m OK, with that, as the figure displays in the box really nicely with the panel on, but it’s something to consider before opening it. Oh, and what’s that up in the top? “7 Points of Articulation!” Really, Super7? Is that what you would call “Highly Articulated?” Because that’s what you call it on your website. Yeah, that’s the blatant fib I was talking about, and I really don’t know why they would put that in the product listing when it simply isn’t true. At least they are honest about it on the box. Anyway, Megatron comes out of his package nearly ready for display, you just have to attach his fusion cannon to his arm, and we’ll slap on that chest plate to start out with.

The figure presents a really crisp and clean animated looking Megatron and I dig that a lot. There’s definitely a bit of stylized design going on here, as the head seems like it’s intentionally oversized. The painted finish on this figure is extremely nicely done with satin silver sheen mated with some matte blue for the insides of the legs and arms, and some red, yellow, and blue on his ab panel. The fusion cannon is left as bare plastic and has a glossy sheen to it, while the bare plastic fists are matte finished. The sculpted detail is confined to some panel lines and vents in keeping with the simple animated look, but there’s lots of cool stuff going on in the back. I don’t really get much of a Henshin Cyborg feel off this toy, if anything it gives me more of an understated Shogun Warriors vibe. But hey, either way this is a beautiful looking figure!

The head looks good, but again is a bit too big, which I’m pretty sure was an intentional style choice. The face is a tad soft in the sculpt, but I still think works well for the figure. You get a pair of bright red eyes and the “helmet” is bang-on for the animated look. The Decepticon logo on the chest is a perfect print.

The seven points of articulation include a turning head, arms that rotate at the shoulders, fists that swivel at the wrists, and the legs swivel at the knees. The swivels in the fists are really only useful to turn the right hand sideways when he raises his fusion cannon to fire. And yeah, it’s not quite correct, because Megatron usually swivels his arm so that the cannon is on top rather than on the side. It would have been cool to sculpt that arm straight and give it a bicep rotation. The knee rotation is nice to angle the legs away from each other a bit so that he doesn’t look quite as rigid in his stance. But yeah, Highly Articulated this figure is not, and that goes a long way to undermine the Takara Henshin Cyborg inspiration, because those figures actually were highly articulated.

The gimmick here is the removable chest, which reveals the gorgeous sculpted interior of Megatron’s inner workings. I love how they executed the look of this with the clearly defined gears that would move his arms and legs and all sorts of other bits and bobs that make Megatron function. There’s a lot of purple and blue here, along with more of that sumptuous satin silver and some red and black paint hits thrown in for good measure. The whole thing is a cool balance between high detail and stylized animation. But again, does this really invoke the Cyborg Henshin line for me? Nah. Apart from letting you see inside the figure, it’s a tenuous connection at best.

For me, Super Cyborg Megatron doesn’t really live up to what its designers intended, but that’s not to say I don’t like the figure. I actually do! It’s a really unique display piece, and I’m always down for adding an animated style G1 Megatron to my collection. But I don’t think the Cyborg Henshin homage works and I don’t appreciate them calling this highly articulated on their website. Another sticking point for me is the retail price of $85, which is kind of steep. Thankfully, I picked up mine during the holidays off of Amazon when it was already discounted, had an additional $20 off coupon, and I had some points to throw at it. In the end, I brought him home at about $40 and I’m glad I did. Since then I’ve also been able to get Bumblebee for the same price, so I’ll have a look at him here at some point in the near future.

Jan 24 2024

Transformers Legacy: Pointblank and Needlenose by Hasbro

I’ve made a commitment to myself to go back and take a look at some of the Transformers I missed spotlighting here last year, and there are quite a few of them! It’s also the only way I’m going to get much Transformers content, because I’m really not interested in too much Hasbro is doing with the brand right now. Anyway, I picked up Pointblank and Needlenose when they were first released and while I remember opening them, I guess I had something else going on because they wound up bagged and toted before I even spent any serious time with them. So let’s get these two Targetmasters out have a look!

The Legacy package design sure was something! I often gripe about how bland the package design got after the live action films, but I think this was a case of overcompensation. The colors are obnoxious and nothing about this look really screams Transformers to me. Also, these are the windowless boxes that expose the toys to the elements, meaning sticky kid fingers and boogers, so it’s safe to say I’m not a fan. And I still don’t know what the added Evolution moniker was all about. Anyway, both of these guys were G1 Targetmasters with Pointblank releasing in 1987 and Needlenose was out the following year. I would have been 16 and out of the Transformers game, but I did later own an original G1 Pointblank when I got into collecting Transformers in my 30’s. I never did own an original Needlenose, so let’s start with him!

Needlenose’s alt mode is a super sleek fighter jet with a fair amount of robot bits packed into his undercarriage. And that’s not a complaint, I always like to imagine these undercarriage constructs as just meant to be cargo pods or something. The dorsal section of the aircraft has some lovely sculpted panel lines and a pale gray and dark blue deco with some teal stripes and a Decepticon insignia printed on one of his stubby wings. The design sticks pretty close to the original toy with a horizontal stabilizer added to the tail fin and some short angled wings protruding from just in front of the cockpit. Also, the cockpit is painted orange, while I think the original’s was translucent orange plastic.

Not only is Needlenose a Targetmaster, but he comes with TWO little Nebulan buddies, Sunbeam and Zigzag. These are pretty standard stuff when it comes to these little fellas. There’s no articulation in the robot modes but these are impressive sculpts for such tiny figures and the paint is pretty damn good as well. The designs don’t stray too far from the original G1 Nebulans, and Sunbeam even has a gun sculpted in his hand, just like the vintage toy.

When transformed into their weapon modes, the Nebulans can be pegged in under Needlenose’s wings to give him some serious firepower. Sunbeam turns into a stocky purple cannon, while Zigzag becomes a black double-barreled gun. I’m not a huge fan of the asymmetry here, but it’s still plenty cool.

Needlenose’s transformation is a lot more clever than I was expecting. As always, I like to do these without the instructions and it was a tad confusing at first, but once I figured it out I think it’s pretty fun. The robot mode here is a fantastic update to the vintage release, recreating the general design of the chest plate, paying homage to the stickers down in the legs, and adding some great detail to the arms. Most of the deco translates from the jet mode but with some more purple added to the mix. The proportions are also perfect, and he has all the articulation I expect from a modern Transformers figure. Yes, he is basically wearing a jet on his back, but that’s been a favorite design trope of mine ever since the Aerialbots, and I love it here just as much. The jet does truncate a bit and I dig the way the wings angle back behind the shoulders in true Seeker fashion. The large phallic nosecone hanging down between his legs is maybe a bit unfortunate, though! Or maybe it makes him extra popular with the femmebots.

The head sculpt takes the likeness from the original toy and just polishes the heck out of it. I’m a big fan of the knight’s visor motif above his eyes. The yellow face is punctuated with red eyes and most of his face is dominated by a mouth plate. Hasbro did a great job on this one!

And of course, Needlenose can wield his Nebulan guns in his robot mode as well as his jet mode and he looks all sorts of bad ass while doing it. As far as I’m concerned, Legacy Needlenose is pretty much Deluxe Class perfection. He looks fantastic in robot mode, very good in jet mode, and he’s fun to transform and play around with. This figure represents the Hasbro design team firing on all cylinders! Now, let’s move on to Pointblank!

The Autobot Enforcer’s vehicle mode got a pretty big overhaul for this modern release, while still hitting most of the design beats from the original futuristic sportscar. I think the only things I kind of miss here are the spoiler/shield piece that filled in the gap in the back (more on that in a bit) and the flame deco on the sides, but otherwise I think this is a great update, that is more elongated and sleeker than his G1 version. The red plastic looks very sharp and the teal bits are a lot more vibrant than what I remember being on my original toy. There’s a good amount of sculpted detail in the body and the addition of the translucent blue canopy over the painted one on the vintage release is a huge improvement. Most of all, I just really dig how great this car looks parked along side some of the other recent Autobot cars updates like Kup and Blur.

Pointblank comes with the Nebulan Peacemaker who is the spitting image of his G1 counterpart only with a lot better sculpted detail and a few more paint applications. The black and red plastic looks great together and I’m really impressed at the paint on his tiny face and visor, as well as the panels on his shoulders and chest.

Pointblank can equip Peacemaker in his auto mode and this does help fill out the gap left behind by the absent shield piece. It looks very good and even allows for Peacemaker’s gun barrel to angle up so he can try to take out Needlenose or any other Decepticon fliers. But, it does make for an aesthetic departure from the look of the original toy, which may irk some people. In the end, I’m fine with it.

I did not find Pointblank’s transformation to be nearly as fun as Needlenose’s. There are some fiddly things to the engineering here, not to mention the pair of ball jointed door panels that seem to pop off so often, that I resort to just popping them off on purpose to get them out of the way until I’m ready for them. Still, when all is said and done, the final robot looks fantastic… at least from the front. The translucent blue cockpit cockpit looks great on his chest, the bold shoulders with forward facing wheels is a great design, and you even get the blue kneepads present on the original toy. But, he’s kind of flat when viewed from the side and he’s quite the eyesore from the back. You get hollow leg syndrome, unfinished panels with screws in the shoulders, and just a lot of rough stuff back here. It kind of reminds me of those old Hollywood studio sets where the buildings are only finished on the side facing the camera.

The portrait is fantastic, giving the Autobot Enforcer a stoic expression. The visor is a very pale blue, which was a good choice as the coloring on the original toy often struck me as not having a visor at all. The silver face paint pops nicely and he’s got a single fin cresting from the top of his “helmet.”

Naturally, Peacemaker becomes Pointblank’s weapon in robot mode as well as car mode, and while he is a tad chunky, he gets the job done. Even with all that nasty business in the back, Pointblank is still a very cool figure and a superb update to the G1 toy. He does suffer from a fiddly transformation, and those door panels popping off gets really annoying, but his two very solid modes help smooth things out with me.

Wow, I’m glad I dug these guys out and finally gave them their due, because these are both really great figures and just lovely updates. But, if you want me to pick favorites, I’m going to give Needlenose the nod as the better of these two figures. Overall, he seems a bit more polished and comes with two Nebulans instead of just one. I also like transforming him a lot more than I do Pointblank. But I’d still recommend Pointblank as a pick up, and these two have been chasing each other around my desk for the better part of a week now.

Dec 27 2023

Transformers (Studio Series 86) Dinobot Snarl by Hasbro

I had a few Transformers reviews I was hoping to sneak in before the end of the year, but looks like I’ll only have time for one. The current stuff Hasbro has been doing with the franchise doesn’t interest me much, but I have so many of these convertorobots that I have yet to spotlight here, so I can keep this love train rolling. Today’s changerbot brings us one step closer to finally completing the mighty Dinobots, with the release of Snarl! And if you need to get caught up, I’ve already checked out the Studio Series versions of Grimlock, Slag (YES, SLAG, I SAYS!), and Sludge.

Snarl comes in the same style of fully enclosed boxes as the last release, while the first two came in window boxes. There’s some great character art on the front, but the rest of the box deco is pretty bland. You do get an illustrated cardboard backdrop inside, but I pitched it all a while back as they don’t do a lot for me. Yes, Snarl has been on my shelf for a while now. But even still, it’s crazy to think that it’s been over two years since Hasbro started us on this journey with the release of Grimlock. Launching an apology tour to make up for those tiny Dinobots from Power of the Primes. Of course, Snarl was one of the two additional Dinobots added to the team by Wheeljack because the first ones worked out so incredibly well, and by that I mean not at all. Project Dinobot was such a clusterf’ck the Autobots had to deactivate them and seal them up in a cave, and I’m pretty sure Wheeljack had to wash Prime’s trailer for a whole year to show how sorry he was. I never owned Snarl as a kid, so this I was pretty excited to check out this one. Let’s start with the Dino mode!

Snarl is what we used to call a Stegosaurus, but since the scientists have been retconning all the dinosaurs I learned about as a kid, I don’t know what the damned dinosaurologists call him these days. Everything from my childhood has been a lie. Anyway, this is a pretty nice update to the original vintage toy with the same running stylistic changes we’ve seen in the past Studio Series Dinos. The orignal toy’s transparent head is now a sort of yellow gold, as is the front legs and lower back legs, which were a combination of clear plastic and vac-metal gold on the original figure. The rest of the original vac-metal parts, namely the back spikes and tail, have been recreated here with a really nice satin-finish gold. I do wish this gold was used for the head and legs too, but I still dig what we got well enough. The rest of the body is split between gray and red plastic, with some black and blue bits showing through. There are some panel lines and other details on Snarl’s skin, which again recreates the detailing on the original toy quite nicely.

I’m not crazy about Snarl’s butt. It looks like it ends too abruptly and the tail should stick out more rather than just hang down. But, to be fair, it’s more or less what we got on the vintage toy as well, so I will begrudgingly accept it. Snarl holds together pretty well for a robotic dino-potato, and he has two joints in each leg and his little trap door of a mouth can hinge down to show his displeasure with the world. I love him!

Even without the satin gold paint on Snarl’s head, I think Hasbro has done a pretty nice job keeping this looking like a cohesive team in their dino modes, especially considering the amount of time between each of these releases. Part of me was worried that we’d get a repeat of the Legends Class Insecticons. There was so much time between those releases, they barely matched by the time they were all released. But, Snarl fits right in and these guys all display great together. So, how about the robot mode?

Well, I feel as if Hasbro has been focusing on the robot modes for this run of Dinobots and Snarl certainly keeps that trend rolling along, because his robot mode is absolutely gorgeous! Like his brothers, Snarl is a big hulking beast of a bot, having a powerful looking upper body, but still maintaining some overall excellent proportions. And interestingly enough, while vintage Snarl had my least favorite bot mode among the original Dinobots, this one may very well be my favorite of the Studio Series Dinos, thanks to the beautiful way they streamlined the way his tail splits behind his shoulders. Between that and the way his spikes land on his back and the fronts of his legs, he just looks amazing!

The head sculpt is also pretty fabulous. Snarl’s portrait shares the most in common with his brother Sludge, as they both have silver painted faces with black “helmets.” Snarl’s angled horns give his head’s silhouette a bit more of an aggressive look to it. I also dig his pouty lip, which really plays to his grumpy demeanor. The silver face paint is gorgeous, as is the blue they used for his eyes. I also got to say, I’ve always been weirdly fascinated with the crosshairs he has on his lower chest. That was a sticker on the original toy, but here it is prominently sculpted in. It always felt to me like it was supposed to serve some kind of intended function.

The articulation here is right in line with the previous releases, making Snarl a big boy that’s also loads of fun to play with, unless we’re talking about the actual transformation, which can be a bit of a chore. I’ve said in the previous Dinobot reviews, that I felt as if Hasbro overcomplicated the engineering on these toys a bit. Considering that the original toys looked pretty good in both alt and robot modes, I’m not sure that much re-engineering was necessary. In Snarl’s case, however, I’ll allow it, because they really did some wonderful tweaks to make the bot mode look so much better than the original toy. I had to transform all four back and forth for this review so I was able to really compare the process for each and, oddly enough, I feel like Snarl here is still one of the easiest of the four to transform.

One of the running gripes with the Studio Series Dinobots has been Hasbro’s stinginess in handing out swords. All three of the previous releases came with guns but no swords. Well, with Snarl we finally get a sword… and no gun. Goddammit, Hasbro! Well, at least it’s a really nice sword! The design is pretty sexy and it has a lovely painted silver satin finish.

And there’s also a peg on the side of the sword, so Snarl can store it on his back. It’s nice that he can hide it back there so as not to make the other Dinobots jealous that he got one and they didn’t, otherwise they might shoot him with their guns. And while we’re back here can we just take a moment to marvel at how cool the sculpting on the backs of Snarl’s split tail looks. Usually robot backs are just get hollow sadness and exposed screws, but the intricate patterns here are just gorgeous!

I absolutely love this figure, and he may actually be my favorite of the Studio Series Dinobots. Considering how amazed I still am that we didn’t get a full set of Masterpiece Dinobots, these Studio Series releases have been carrying that weight and doing a pretty decent job of it, especially considering they are regular retail releases. They all look great together in either modes, and now we just have to wait and see if we’re going to get Swoop to round out the team. It seems like maybe we should have seen something teased by now, but I’d like to think that even with all of Hasbro’s current woes, they will be able to deliver him eventually.

Nov 17 2023

Transformers (Studio Series 86): Brawn by Hasbro

Looking back, I’ve only showcased a handful of Transformers here on FFZ this year, which is pretty indicative of how little attention I’ve been paying the line these days. There are still one or two figures that I’d like to review before the end of the year, but for the most part Hasbro and I have parted ways on their magnificent line of convertorobots. Even the reveals of their new line this past week has left me cold. And that’s fine. It’s an amicable breakup and I’ve got a ton of great figures on my shelf. But I would be remiss if I let the year expire without giving Studio Series Brawn his due!

Brawn has got to be one of the standout OG Autobots that has gotten the least amount of love from Hasbro over the years. We got a live action movie version of him based on his cameo in the Bumblebee flick, but the closest thing to a mainstream release was the Legends Class figure from Titans Return. I liked that figure well enough, but even back then I was still jonesing for a proper Deluxe Class update, and here we go. It’s kind of ironic that when we finally do get this figure, it’s based on his appearance in the 1986 movie that he is only in long enough to get unceremoniously murdered by Starscream using Megatron as a gun. Eh, I’m OK with that. The cartoon version of Brawn always struck me as a bully and a jerk, so I didn’t shed any tears when he got sent to The Great Scrapheap in the Sky. Let’s start with his vehicle mode…

Brawn’s auto mode is a 4×4 off-road jeepy kind of thing. It’s kind of ugly, but that sort of lends itself well to the rugged and utilitarian design. It’s definitely a decent looking update for the original toy and cartoon versions. The bulk of the vehicle is cast in olive green plastic with painted aqua blue windows, which give it a bit of an animated vibe. I like the satin silver finish on the grill, headlamps, and the bit of orange down near the bumper. There’s an Autobot insignia on the hood, a spare tire up on the roof and lots and lots of exposed seams and hinges all over the place. I’ll confess I had a bit of trouble getting everything to close up in this mode and found that whenever I got everything packed up on one side, something would pop out on the other. Still, all in all, this alt mode works for me.

You do get the option to weaponize Brawn’s jeep mode by plugging his hand gun into the spare tire. Plugging weapons into the car modes doesn’t always work so well, but here’s a case where I think it looks pretty good. I could even imagine the gun popping out of the top like this in the cartoon, although I don’t think it ever actually did.

Transforming Brawn into robot mode is fairly easy and there are some cool things going on with the engineering. And it’s hard to argue with the resulting robot mode, because it looks really good and pretty damn faithful to the cartoon look. Just like his G1 design, the figure wears the bulk of the jeep on his back, with a wall extending up past the back of his head. He’s got an appropriately bold and boxy chest and an overall pretty clean look. The way the sides of the jeep fold into his lower legs is pretty neat, and I dig the way the two sets of wheels wind up together on each of the backs of his legs. You also get some really nice coloring on this figure with the olive green of the jeep landing mostly on his limbs and back and the bright orange on his chest, pelvis and behind the head. The silver paint on the arms looks sharp, and you get a bold Autobot insignia on his chest.

The head sculpt is a direct hit and a dead ringer for the Sunbow animated portrait, which gave him a lot more personality than the generic robotic face on the original toy. The dome-shaped helmet is painted in gray and the face is painted in a metallic silver with the eyes in blue. Very nice!

Brawn comes with a black handgun, which we already saw stuck into his auto mode. The figure can hold it in either hand… yes HANDS! Another gift Sunbow gave poor G1 Brawn was actual hands and not just robotic hooks like the toy had. The gun looks great and Brawn sports some excellent articulation making him just a joy to pose and play around with.

Brawn was one of the last G1 updates on my want list, so I’m especially glad to get him now that Hasbro seems to be turning its attention away from Generation One and onto other things. I wouldn’t say no to an Outback repaint, but I’m not really hoping for it either. Indeed, the only one of the Class of 84 Autobots I’d still like to see updated is Hound. We got a decent version of him about six years back in Siege but I’d still like a Studio Series style version of him with his Earth alt mode, because he remains one of my all-time favorite Autobots. In the meantime, I still have Dinobot Snarl to look at and a smattering of other change-o-bots that I picked up a while back and never featured here, like Sky Lynx and Skyfire, so even if I drift away from collecting these wonderful toys, the Spark shall live on with more future reviews on the way!

Oct 20 2023

Transformers X G. I. JOE: Megatron HISS Tank by Hasbro

I’ve been taking stock of some of the toys that have been sitting around for a while and waiting their turn in the spotlight here, so you may see some older stuff turning up now and then. One of those woefully delayed reviews is this crossover between Transformers and G. I. JOE that I picked up almost exactly a year ago. I must have had a lot going on because I shelved it and kind of forgot about it. So, let’s take a look at one of those 80’s kids fantasies where Transformers and G. I. JOE meet! Where knowing is more than meets the eye but only half the battle!

The box is interesting as it’s basically a two-part slipcase that slides off each side to reveal a plain brown box with the Hasbro logo on it. The slipcase is gorgeous with the vintage style package design from each franchise represented and some amazing artwork for the vehicle and characters. The Megatron robot mode really downplays the HISS kibble we’re going to see on the actual toy, but even in that regard it’s still very much in the spirit of the vintage TF package art. There’s a fake window showing that the figure includes a vintage-style 3 3/4-inch Baroness, who actually comes carded inside the box. I’ll be honest, as a kid I was never really jonesing for this kind of mash-up. The Cobra Commander cameo in the the Transformers episode Only Human was a cool enough tease for me. Nonetheless, how could I resist something like this?

Here’s Baroness. Yes, she’s still carded and I’m going to keep her that way. All of my 3 3/4-inch JOEs are from the 25th Anniversary line or later, so she really wouldn’t fit in anywhere. I love the card art on this, but the card itself is pretty flimsy and prone to warping. The figure overall looks good, except for where they painted the skin around here eyes inside the glasses so it doesn’t match the rest of her skin color. It may not be all that noticeable in the picture, but it’s really obvious with the figure in hand. She comes with a backpack and rifle. It would have been really cool to give her a scaled down Megatron gun to make her really special to this set, but at least the back of the card has some art specific to this crossover.

And here’s Megatron in his HISS mode, and he looks fantastic. There are some telltale signs that this tank is More Than Meets The Eye if you know where to look, but for a casual observer, this really does look like a regular 3 3/4-inch scale HISS tank and that’s awesome. There’s a seam running down the center of the nose that doesn’t close up all the way, you can see the off-white panels under the cockpit, which are Megatron’s arms, and the most obvious is Megatron’s chest piece fully exposed under the rear platform. None of these really bother me at all, in fact I think they all add to the charm of the toy.

The bulk of the toy is cast in matte black plastic and there are printed red Cobra emblems, as well as some identification numbers. The treads are sculpted just like the regular HISS toys, but there are wheels under it to roll it into battle. Most of the sculpted detail goes into the tread system, but there are still some bolt holes and panel lines, which help draw the eye from the actual transformation seams. The turret rotates as it should and the cannon barrels can be raised and lowered, and they actually move independently from one another.

Here are some comparisons of Megatron HISS with the 25th Anniversary release, and damn they look pretty close. When viewed from the side, and ignoring the color/style changes to the markings, it’s virtually impossible to tell which is the transforming toy.

If you don’t like having extra pieces, you can plug Megatron’s fusion cannon into the turret to give it some extra firepower. On the one hand it kind of looks silly, but then again I kind of like the personalized Megatron touch it gives to the toy.

And here’s the tank with some of Super7’s ReAction figures manning it. These make for a good fit, although this vehicle is really designed for the vintage-style O-Ring figures and the foot pegs on the tailgate are not compatible with the Super7 peg holes. Despite splitting apart down the middle for transformation, the interior of the cockpit is still fully realized with a ton of sculpted detail. The ReAction figures fit fine, but the O-Ring figures would fit even better. Let’s get Megatron transformed and check him out.

Transforming the toy into robot mode is pretty easy, but I found that getting it locked back down into HISS mode can be a pain, even when I know what I’m supposed to be doing. In robot mode, it’s clear that Hasbro’s focus here was the HISS mode, because the robot mode has a lot of kibble. It’s like Megatron is cosplaying as a HISS tank. I think the toy manages the HISS parts pretty well when viewed from the front, but there’s a lot of stuff going on the back… like, oh I don’t know… the fact that he’s basically wearing half a HISS tank as a backpack. I was not fond of this at all when I first saw the toy, but it’s grown on me a little bit. It’s kind of got a powerful battlemech vibe going on, and I’m not hating it. Either way, there’s enough G1 Megatron beats to the robot mode to make it work.

I really dig how the design added the rocket packs to the tread pieces that land on his hips. Being able to launch off six rockets from your hips ain’t a bad thing. The fusion cannon pegs in on the back of the hand, but at least he’s not actually holding it. He can definitely get into a good firing pose with it.

During transformation the back plate of the HISS is removed. You can incorporate this as a shield, but it looks like exactly what it is… Megatron holding the backplate of the HISS. I wish they had just designed this piece to peg into the back somewhere. Then again, maybe he’s already got enough going on back there. As it is, I’ll just set this piece aside when displaying him in robot mode.

The head sculpt is pure money. I’d say this is one of the best G1 Sunbow inspired Megatron heads Hasbro has ever given us. The HISS turret lands directly behind the head and this serves as a firing position for a figure while Megsy is in robot mode. It kind of justifies the extra bulk on his back, or at least gives it a purpose. It also gives the included Baroness figure something to do when Megatron is in robot mode. On the other hand, it’s hard for me to believe Megatron would be fine with human vermin riding on his back.

If you’re looking for an Optimus Prime to square up against this figure, the Power of the Primes Powermaster Prime isn’t too bad. He comes up a little short, but I think they look good facing off against each other.

Overall, I like this toy a lot, but I fall just short of really loving it. As a kid, it was kind of a dream of mine to have a Transformers figure that could hold action figures in its alt mode, and this definitely scratches that itch. The HISS mode is so incredibly well done and it’s fun to load it up with figures and display it alongside regular HISS tanks. The robot mode isn’t all that bad, but the HISS kibble is definitely rather excessive. At least Hasbro leaned into it by giving him the turret on back so he can interact with figures even in robot mode. This thing was released at $90, which I still think is pretty damn excessive, but I got it on sale for around $60 and it can be had these days for even less than that price. Hasbro followed this up with a Bumblebee AWE Striker, which was a pass for me, because it should have been Hound. A third release has been up for pre-order, mashing Soundwave and the Dreadnoks Thunder Machine, and I couldn’t resist that one.