Nov 7 2013

Transformers Cybertron: Menasor by Hasbro

Today I’m getting back to business as usual for Transformers Thursday with a genuinely random figure. I just walked into the Toy Closet, opened a drawer, and the first figure I put my hand on was Menasor from the Cybertron line. I seem to recall he was one of those instances where the name appeared in some retailers’ inventory system before the toy was actually announced or shown. I’m not sure if the character had been on the show at that point or not, since I never got far watching it. As a result, I was hoping for a combiner or some kind of proper homage to the Stunticons. Of course, what we got was something very different. As usual, there’s no packaging to talk about, so let’s jump straight to Menasor’s alt mode.

One of my favorite things about the Energon and Cybertron lines were some of the imaginative and purely fictional vehicle designs and Menasor certainly fits that category. What is he supposed to be? I have no idea. I think the original package called him an Assault Dozer, which certainly fits the design. He looks like a cross between a construction vehicle and a battle tank. If this thing is rolling towards you, you can probably assume that shit is about to go down. He’s very alien looking, rolls along on four sets of tank treads and sports two forward pylons with an energon drill on one and a claw on the other. For an Ultra Class figure, this guy is a very simple toy. Roll him forward and his drill spins, and that’s about all he has to offer. He does have electronics, but the batteries in mine are long since dead and I can’t remember what they did. You need only look at him to figure out that he’s basically a robot lying down with his arms held out over his head and his legs folded up. This will no doubt irk many collectors, but it doesn’t bother me.

But simple or no, Menasor’s alt mode is a beast of a war machine. As with most of this era of Transformers, he’s just loaded with sculpted detail. You get panel lines, textured vents, hatches, and little mechanical doo-dads all over the place. The paintwork also compliments the sculpt quite nicely. I’m particularly fond of the painted scratched metal on the areas near his drill and claw. It seems like a minor thing, but I love that Hasbro bothered to add such a detail and it remains some of the best paint work I’ve seen on a Hasbro Transformer. Autobots can charge this guy in waves and Menasor would probably just shrug them off and keep lumbering forward.

If you buy your Transformers for their clever engineering and puzzle-like configurations, Menasor will disappoint. As his alt mode suggests, transforming him is a simple as stretching out his legs, connecting his pelvis together, positioning his arms, and folding down the plates that hide his head. Remember Cybertron Metroplex? We looked at him a month or so ago and the engineering here is fairly close. In fact, you can even see some similarities in the way the two toys’ alt modes are set up. Quite frankly, there are Cyberverse figures with transformations that are far more complex than this guy. Does that mean he’s got a bad robot mode? Nope, but he’s definitely not your average looking Transformer.

Yes, I love this guy’s robot mode, but there’s something about it that just doesn’t feel like a Transformers figure. I lot of it has to do with his face, which sports a very, very Japanese aesthetic. Yeah, I know all these guys are designed in Japan, but I just look at his mug and I think it belongs more on a Megazord or something. Or maybe not. Truth be told, I wouldn’t know a Megazord if it stepped on me. Moving on…

Menasor’s body is an amazing sculpt packed with all the little details that were present on his Assault Dozer mode. What’s even better is he’s loaded with paint apps. There’s more paint applications on this guy than we usually get in a whole wave of current Deluxes. The little vents are painted gold, there’s blue piping on his arms, and red points scattered around to really make him pop. Toss in the crisp Decepticon insignia on his chest and the flashy translucent blue energon parts and it’s hard to argue that this guy is both distinctive and beautiful.

What he isn’t is well-proportioned, but that’s Ok. Menasor’s arms are made up of the front pylons of his Assault Dozer mode, which means he’s got a really long reach and no hands. Instead he’s got a giant claw and a drill. He’s not made for mingling at Decepticon social functions, he’s made for f’cking up Autobots. He’s also got a pair of guns on his chest that can pivot forward into firing position. If you’re an Autobot attacking this guy chances are you’re either going to get pulverized by his energon drill or snapped in half by his calw. Either way, you can probably kiss your Spark goodbye.

Menasor came with a Mini-Con called Heavy Load. I tend to keep the Mini-Cons that were originally bundled with a figure stuck on that figure so I don’t lose them, but Heavy Load wasn’t attached to Menasor. I emptied the whole drawer where Menasor was living, but I couldn’t find him. I went through all the bagged Mini-Con teams that were sold separately and he wasn’t in any of those. I was pretty bummed that I lost him because he’s actually an original sculpt and not just a repaint packed in. Then I suddenly remembered… he’s living in Menasor’s chest!

Yeah, just another reason that Menasor is an odd figure. His chest opens and Heavy Load can chill out in there while in his robot mode!

Heavy Load is a tiny Bulldozer-slash-Dump Truck. He’s a pretty simple little guy and he shares the same basic plastic coloring as Menasor. His transformation is pretty clever for such a little figure, but his robot mode looks good. He’s got pretty long arms like his daddy and his articulation is as good as you can expect from a Mini-Con pipsqueak. Menasor has a Mini-Con port on his claw arm and if you attach Heavy Load to it and slide him forward, the spike inside the claw extends outward. It’s not the most exciting Mini-Con gimmick around, but that’s why he spends most of the time living in Menasor’s torso.

Menasor is quirky and weird and in no way is he a good example of clever Transformers engineering. And yet every time I take him out of his drawer I fall in love with him all over again. He has an imaginative design and there’s a whole lot of love invested in his sculpting and paint that make him stand out as something special, even when I stand him next to the current figures on my shelf. But best of all he’s just a fun and great looking toy. He’s not going to be every TransFans cup of tea, but he’s a cool and, dare I say, menacing Decepticon to have tearing his way through a squad of Autobot Deluxes. Or better yet, pit him against a bunch of Legion Class Cyberverse figures. In fact, I may go do that right now…

Nov 1 2013

Transformers: Revoltech Megatron by Kaiyodo

Hello and welcome to Transformers Thursday on a Friday. Today we’re doing something a little different as it is neither a Hasbro product, nor is it an actual transforming robot. I have some social commitments tonight, which involves having a pastie and getting drunk at The Pub, so I was looking for something rather quick and dirty, thus I decided to pull Revoltech Megatron off the shelf. I don’t collect Revoltech figures, and I’m not terribly big on Transformers that don’t transform, but I got this guy as part of a Lot of figures and I’ll confess that I do dig him. He came to me without any packaging and missing all of his extra bits, so keep that in mind as we take a quick look at him today.

And there he is… Lord Megatron in Revoltech form. The Revoltech line centers around Kaiyodo’s proprietary system of articulation which is supposed to offer up a degree of super articulation. I actually featured a Revoltech figure about this time last year and while I liked the design and sculpt, I was not overly impressed with the articulation or quality. The jointing looked rather ugly and they had a habit of falling apart if I looked at them funny. That and this one are still the only Revoltech figures I own, but in my travels I’ve had the opportunity to play around with some others and I still find the line to be a mixed bag. Megatron, here, is actually a lot better about staying together than other figures I’ve fiddled about with.

From the neck down, the sculpt here is pretty good, although the ball joints do mar the character design a bit at the hips and shoulders. Megatron continues to be that one frustrating character in Transformers that is yet to get a suitable animated style update. Takara screwed the pooch with their Masterpiece version with some third-party attempts hitting closer to the mark. And while not perfect, this Revoltech figure may be the closest I’ve seen to a proper Sunbow style figure. Granted, it’s a lot easier to make him show accurate when he doesn’t have to transform.

In addition to the exposed ball joints, I think the figure’s head is severely undersized and the face sculpt is a big departure from show accuracy. Sadly, it’s enough to make the figure look severely off. On the other hand, they really nailed everything else quite well and I’m particularly happy with his fusion cannon. The metallic silver finish on this guy looks really nice, and while he could have used some red in his lower torso, the deco works very nicely for me right down to the Decepticon insignia stamped on his chest.

Probably the most frustrating thing about this figure is his size. At a little over 4-inches tall, he’s not much bigger than your average Star Wars or GI JOE figure. That means he won’t scale properly with any of my Deluxe Transformers. That means that unless you’re going to pick up the other Revoltech Transformers, he’s pretty much a stand-alone figure, and the Optimus Prime that goes with him is one ugly figure. That’s just my opinion, your mileage may vary. He does, however scale fairly well with Fansproject’s Causality figures. While you could argue that Megatron should be taller than the Stunticons, he still displays nicely with them at about the same height.

Prices on this guy tend to be all over the place. I’ve seen him sell from $20 up to $50. He’s a cool little figure, if you can pick him up at the lower end of that spectrum, but I don’t think he’s worth hunting down. I seem to recall him coming with extra hands and an extra head, none of which is essential, so he’s still worth buying loose at a deep discount. He’s just one of those odd-ball figures in my collection that doesn’t fit anywhere and yet I dig him just a little too much to let him go.

Oct 28 2013

Transformers Generations: Hoist (IDW Comic Pack) by Hasbro

If Hasbro’s initial four figure wave of IDW inspired Transformers wasn’t enough, they quickly followed suit with two additional figures: Hoist and Thundercracker. I believe these were part of a revision wave, but since I seldom by Transformers by the case, son’t quote me on that. Today we’re going to check out Hoist, because like his buddy Trailcutter, he’s a character that is long overdue for getting the updated Classics style treatment. I’ve got a long day of work today, so I’ll try to be brief…

The figure comes carded in the same glorious Comic Pack style as the previous four figures. Hoist in packaged in his robot mode against the backdrop of a reprint comic spotlighting the character. I can never get enough of this package and the comic is such a fantastic bonus. If Hasbro would just toss in a tray of Lunchables and a juicebox, I’d be all set for my afternoon. I blame my partial dyslexia on the fact that I’m never sure whether I’m 41 or 14.

Of all the comics bundled with these packs, this one has been my favorite. “The Waiting Game” takes place during More Than Meets the Eye and features Hoist, Sunstreaker, Swerve, and Perceptor in a downed shuttle getting attacked by what they believe to be Tarn. It’s written by James Roberts, but it has all the great snarky dialogue and humor of Nick Roche’s usual masterpieces. The art is great and it has some decent action. It also has the distinction of allowing Hoist to describe himself to us in his own words: “I’m just an ordinary person. I’m normal” and then he goes on to point out that he’s the only one on The Lost Light who’s personality isn’t defined by a “crippling psychological disorder.” Great stuff.

Kicking it off with Hoist’s alt mode, he pays homage to his G1 namesake by taking on the guise of a green tow truck with hazard stripes on the doors. Naturally the original Hoist toy was a modified version of Trailbreaker, so it’s only logical that Hasbro would follow suit and build this modern Hoist off of the Trailcutter figure. The similarities in vehicle mode are very easy to see as well as why they engineered Hoist with the removable cap, as it facilitated the ability to work the mold into both characters. Yes, this is a straight repaint with a tow arm swapped out for the cap. The tow arm pegs into the back of the cab and likes to fall apart at the hinge if you look at it funny. Unfortunately, Trailcutter’s forcefield generator is still conspicuously present, which is rather lazy on Hasbro’s part, plus Hoist suffers from the same smallish size when compared to his Classics Autobot brothers.

Hoist transforms just like Trailcutter, which at this point should be obvious because they’re basically the same toy. If you liked Trailcutter’s robot mode, you’ll find the same stuff to love here. The only big difference beside the deco is the new head sculpt, which is perfect for the character, and the fact that you can transform the tow arm into a fairly decent gun, which I like a lot better than Trailcutter’s cap-shield-gun-thingy. There’s not a whole lot else to say about this guy that hasn’t already been said in the other feature. Size is still the major sticking issue here with me. The G1 toys were pretty bulky and these guys look a little too diminutive when compared to their Classics Autobot brothers.

Ever since Classics Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, Hasbro has shown us a remarkable ability to take a single Transformer mold and re-sculpt it into two remarkably unique figures. Alas, The mold used for Hoist and Trailcutter isn’t one of those instances. Instead, this pair is basically a case of repaints with some parts swapped out. That may be disappointing to some, I’ll concede having the forcefield emitter remain on Hoist strikes me as rather lazy, but that doesn’t mean Hoist is a bad figure. I still enjoy this mold a lot and it’s good to finally have the character represented on my Classics shelf.

Oct 24 2013

Transformers Energon: Tow-Line by Hasbro

The last bunch of Transformer Thursday features have targeted specific figures that I wanted to look at. Today I’m trying to get back to a little more of the randomness that I originally envisioned for Thursdays. And so, this morning I reached my dirty robot-grabbing mitts into a drawer and pulled out the Deluxe Autobot Tow-Line from the Energon series. As usual, there’s no packaging to talk about, so let’s dig right in to his alt mode.

Tow-Line is a cool and compact little van. The sculpt is fairly basic, especially compared to some of the Deluxes that came in the subsequent Cyberton line and beyond. He does have ladders sculpted into the sides, weapon ports on the sides and top, and there’s not a whole lot else going on with him. Still, the van mode holds together quite well and rolls along on his wheels rather nicely.The deco is two-tone blue with red and gold striping on the sides and a white front with a nice crisp Autobot emblem stamped above the grill. The windows are translucent red plastic. Paint apps weren’t usually used sparingly back in the Energon days, but Tow-Line looks like he could have used a few more, particularly the back windows and tail lights.

I seem to recall Tow-Line’s alt mode being referred to as an electronic surveillance van and the red Energon piece that snaps onto his roof would certainly support that. It has two ball jointed pieces, one is a radar dish and the other is a screen. If you see a van that looks like this patrolling your neighborhood, chances are good that Big Brother is listening.

Transforming Tow-Line is pretty unorthodox and doing so reveals a surprising homage to a certain other pair of Autobot vans from the G1 days. You fold down the sides of the van and remove only the top portion. That’s going to be your robot, whereas the bottom part becomes a weapons platform. It’s a very similar concept to the oddball G1 toys of Ratchet and Ironhide. Unlike G1 Ratchet and Ironhide, however, Tow-Line’s robot mode doesn’t totally suck.

Nope, he’s actually a pretty clean and well proportioned little bot. Because Tow-Line’s robot mode is comprised of only half his vehicle’s bulk, he turns out to be a bit smaller and simpler than your average Deluxe. In traditional Autobot fashion, the front of the van makes up his chest and I really dig the way his doors fold up to make shoulder armor. I also love this little guy’s head sculpt. It’s pretty grim, but it looks great.

The surveillance kit from the roof of the van can transform into a pretty impressive looking rifle, which Tow-Line can wield in either hand. I absolutely love this gun. It looks like something out of early Star Trek and it’s big enough that Voyager figures can equip it rather comfortably. It’s a little big for Tow-Line, but that’s OK, because you can also save it for his mobile weapons platform.

That’s right! The weapons platform is made by pulling out a set of treads for the front and raising the wheels in the back. We’re getting a little into M.A.S.K. territory here and the results aren’t exactly inspiring. There are some sculpted guns on the inside of the shell, which would be a lot more impressive if they could pop up. You can, however, attach the energon weapon to it and now Tow-Line has something to ride into battle or a remote drone that can do his fighting for him while he sits back and has a cool, frosty mug of energon. Work smart, not hard! That’s Tow-Line’s motto! And if you’re wondering, yes Tow-Line can combine with other Energon Deluxe Autobots, and no I’m not going to dig any out to show you because I hate the whole gimmick. I will, however, point out that he can combine with his own weapons platform to become a horrible, twisted, rolling tank-bot.

The craziest thing about Tow-Line is that, as far as I’m aware, he was never repainted into Ironhide or Ratchet. It’s a puzzling oversight, considering Hasbro’s love of repaints and the fact that the mold seems like it was practically created for this very purpose. I’ve seen some pretty good custom jobs and they look fantastic. I think a two-pack would have been a great idea and certainly better than the Ironhide and Ratchet that we got in the Classics line, albeit a little undersized. Other than that, this is a cool, but not exceptional, little figure that mainly deserves notoriety because Hasbro tried something different with him. It might have been an interesting idea for a sub-group of Transformers, but whatever the case, Tow-Line’s curious design seemed to be a one-shot experiment.

Oct 21 2013

Transformers Generations: Blaster by Hasbro

In case you haven’t noticed, I never featured Fall of Cybertron Soundwave here. The truth is that I just wasn’t tempted to buy the figure. He’s basically a larger version of the Deluxe War for Cybertron design, which puts him out of scale with my WFC/FOC collection. If Hasbro had managed to nail the disc gimmick, I would have certainly picked him up as a stand-alone figure, but I just didn’t think that was the case. Now, Blaster on the other hand… I had to get him! There hasn’t been a Blaster figure since the repaint/remold of that terrible, terrible Cybertron Soundwave figure we looked at a couple of Transformers Thursdays ago, so it seemed like the Generations release was worth my time. Let’s see if I was right…

Blaster comes packaged in his robot mode in the same style of Generations window box that we got with the Triple-Changers. I still dig this presentation a lot, but not enough to try to kid myself about having enough space to keep it and store it. So, yeah… it’s about to get shredded and tossed. I’m starting with Blaster’s robot mode. The back points out that he is from The Fall of Cybertron. Funny, I don’t remember him in the game, but it’s been a while since I played it. I think I’m overdue to bust it out and play it again. Anyway, let’s kick it off with his alt mode.

According to the box, the official name for Blaster’s alt mode is a “Communication Truck.” Well, we ll knew he wasn’t going to be a boom box and even if this mode is a bit of a stretch, at least they tried to keep it within his function. Yes, it’s obviously the same alt mode as Generations Soundwave, but hey… if this is what a Cybertronian Communication Truck looks like, it stands to reason that each side would have one. It’s also a bigger and slightly tweaked version of the War For Cybertron Soundwave’s alt mode. I know, I already established that, but just in case you forgot.

It’s Ok for what it is, which is basically a big box rolling along on wheels. Hasbro did their best to add what style they could to it. The Autobot emblems sculpted into the wheels is a nice extra touch to separate him from Soundwave and I like the way the gun plugs into the top and there’s a little chair behind it for a gunner’s station. Why have that on a Cybertron vehicle mode? I don’t know, I already spend way too much time over analyzing this shit. A little something like an dish or antenna would have helped establish this as a “Communications” vehicle, because as it is it just looks like a chunky APC.

The deco is kind of thoughtless, or rather made to work with the robot mode as upposed to the vehicle mode. You just get red plastic in the front, black on the sides, grey in the back and some yellow and blue accents. As far as color schemes go, it’s rather haphazard. Probably what bothers me the most about Blaster’s alt mode is how obvious it is that the front piece is his chest and doesn’t look anything like the front of a truck. It looks like there should be some kind of cab piece on top of that. I think Soundwave’s door worked a lot better as a windshield, but, hey, I didn’t buy this guy for the alt mode. Let’s transform him and check out his bot mode.

Oh yeah… that’s where it’s at! I love it!!! The arms and legs may be totally unorthodox for Blaster, but the “tape door” on the chest and the G1 head sculpt still make this figure work as a beautiful homage to the Blaster I know and love. While the torso is quite boxy, I rather think it’s supposed to be, and the rest of the figure’s proportions work rather well. I especially like the way the bumper mimics the buttons on the front of the old G1 boombox mode. Well played, Hasbro. Blaster’s gun is also a nice homage to the G1 figure’s weapon. It’s shorter and looks more like a carbine than a sniper rifle, but it fits the update beautifully.

And then there’s the disc gimmick and here’s where things fall apart. The idea is simple enough, instead of tapes we get these chunky discs. I’m cool with updating the tapes to discs. The discs fit into Blaster’s chest compartment (in either robot or vehicle mode). When you eject them, they are supposed to hit the ground and auto transform. The problems start with the disc door. There’s one button to spring it open, but then you need to push a rod in his back to push the disc out and my disc usually gets stuck on the edges leading me to apply a lot of force to finally shoot him out. Other times I just need to pry him out. You can hold several discs in Blaster’s chest, but then the rod in the back has to be pulled further and further out and it looks rather silly. Ah, but if that were the only issue.

Blaster comes with Steeljaw, which I understand to be the weakest of the disc designs, and perhaps you can see why. He’s pretty f’ugly and nothing really locks into anything. Hey, for a figure that auto-transforms from a disc into some kind of big cat, I’m trying to be a little forgiving. The original Steeljaw was a lion, but Hasbro streamlined him to use the same mold as Ravage. It’s not a big deal and I’ll concede that this couldn’t have been an easy figure to design and engineer. The thing is he really doesn’t auto transform, I still have to tweak the back legs and fold out the tail, so why bother with the auto feature at all? I’m sure this figure could have looked better without it. Plus, if I have to tweak him into his alt mode anyway, at least make it so I can peg his back into place or something. He’s the only disc I have, and while I’m not terribly impressed by him, I will still likely pick up some of the others.

Questionable disc gimmick aside, I really do love Blaster. Hasbro did a great job tweaking him from the Soundwave mold, and he’s easily the best homage to the G1 character we’ve had since… well, since G1. So, yeah, the update is long overdue. While the size issue is still there, Blaster always was rather tall, so I can get away with displaying him with my WfC/FoC Autobots or even my Classics. Heck, he even scales pretty well against G1 Soundwave, which certainly wasn’t the case with G1 Blaster. The truth is I like this figure enough that I may wind up picking up the Soundwave too, just to have as a stand-alone figure, or to display alongside Blaster.

Oct 17 2013

Transformers Energon: Megatron by Hasbro

Last time on Transformers Thursday, I slagged Cybertron Soundwave something fierce. I don’t like picking on Transformers, so this week I thought I’d feature one that is among the favorites in my collection. Energon was a very hit-or-miss collection of figures and nothing shows that off better than the leaders of the Autobots and Decepticons themselves. Energon Prime was probably one of the most questionable toy versions of Prime to ever come out, while his rival, Megatron is 100% bad-ass wrapped in awesome. Now, I personally don’t hate Energon Prime as much as most people, but that’s a feature for another day. Today is Megsy’s turn.

Megatron’s alt mode is a glorious gunship that looks like it would be just as much at home cruising through space as it would be hovering over a Fleshling city and laying waste to it. This is arguably one of my favorite original alt mode designs to come out of Transformers in quite some time. Granted, I do believe that when he’s not a gun, Megs usually works best as a tank, but Hasbro decided to roll the dice on creativity here and I think they won big.

I get a bit of a Klingon Bird of Prey vibe off this ship, probably because of the crooked wings and the forward extended bridge, but it’s still a wonderfully original design. He’s got two massive engine pylons slung under the wings and guns all over the place. The base plastic is a mix of grey and pearlescent grey and I really dig the large sculpted and painted Decepticon insignia on the wings. The deco is rounded out with some black, blue and gold, and a lot of translucent teal plastic. The Gunship can rest proudly on three rather large sets of landing gear. I love the look of this toy so much, even if this thing wasn’t a transformer, I’d still want this beauty in my collection.

You also get an extra attack mode which is executed simply by lifting the top plates of the wings up. It’s an auto-transform that extends the wing guns out a little more and reveals additional front and aft guns on each wing.

Megatron also comes with a tank drone, which can attach to the back of the gunship mode. I like the idea, but the execution is only so-so. I think it would have been much cooler to have the tank attach to the bottom so he could deploy it like a drop ship, but I can’t deny that it ups the ante on Megatron’s wow factor when mounted on his back, not to mention adding a big ass cannon to his armaments.

The tank itself is designed to look like Armada Megatron’s alt mode and it’s a nicely sculpted piece. Neither the turret or the gun can move, but it does roll along on wheels, features a flip up targeting screen and can fire a missile from the cannon. And considering it’s about the size of a Deluxe Transformer, it’s a rather nice bonus.

Considering how great Megatron’s alt mode is, his transformation is extremely simple and when you’re done you get an equally impressive robot mode. This guy is like a love letter to the G1 days. He’s big and boxy and while he has a good amount of articulation on paper, in reality he’s at his best when he’s just standing there looking impressive. The two giant cannons that raise up from his shoulders can be angled forward to blast at his enemies, and you can do a lot of adjustments to the wings to make them to your liking. They can fold all the way back to give him a cleaner front profile, you can deploy the wing weapons if you want, heck you can even rotate the entire wing assembly 180 degrees if it suits your fancy. Some may argue that his lower legs are too bulky, but I think that’s just part of his retro charm for me.

The head sculpt on this guy is pure love, but if you’re thinking it looks like someone other than Megatron, you’d be right. From the portrait to the design of the chest and even the legs, this is clearly intended to be Galvatron and was subsequently repainted in purple and released as such. The coloring here is designed to match the G1 Galvatron toy, while the repaint matches the animated version of the character.

The biggest issue with Megatron’s articulation is that all of his joints are strong ratchets, so they will lock at certain intervals and don’t provide any subtlety in their movement. Nonetheless, his arms will still rotate at the shoulders and bend at the elbows. His legs have universal movement at the hips and his knees will also bend. There’s no torso articulation, but Megatron can turn his head.

Megatron’s tank drone can clip to his arm to form a sort of fusion cannon. It’s a nice idea, it definitely adds play value to the toy, but aesthetically, I don’t think it works too well at all. I should note that he also came with a sword that could attach to the drone, but it wasn’t in the drawer with my other Cybertron toys, so I’m not sure where it’s gotten to.

If you can spot any dust on this figure in the pictures, it’s because he is always on display. While the bulk of my Transformers collection have been cleaned and put away into my carefully sorted filing cabinets, you will always find this figure on one of my shelves, somewhere. Sometimes he’s in Gunship mode, sometimes he’s in robot mode, but he’ll never get put away because I do indeed love him that much. He’s also far too great looking a rival for Energon Prime, so I will usually pair him up with the powered up Cybertron version of Optimus Prime. One of my biggest regrets of my last Great Toy Purge was selling off the Galvatron repaint of this guy. While still awesome as Megatron, he was obviously designed with Galvatron in mind and he looks fantastic in the purple. I think at the time, I was keeping originals and selling off repaints, which would explain the lunacy of that decision. Either way, this toy is a must-have mold for any modern Transformers collector, or if space is a concern for you, he was also available in a smaller Deluxe Class 2-pack with a similarly scaled down Optimus Prime.

Oct 15 2013

Transformers: Masterpiece Prowl (MP-17) by Takara, Part 2

I’m back today to wrap up my look at Takara’s Masterpiece Prowl. His vehicle mode is quite nice, but how about his robot mode? Well, transforming him is fairly simple (at least for a Masterpiece toy) and remarkably similar to the basic transformation of the original G1 toy. There’s just a little more engineering added to help out his proportions and his added articulation. The new steps that are the most conspicuous involve folding in the panels with the rearview mirror stalks, unfolding the legs from the back of the car, and shifting some more pieces to become the feet. The shoulder cannons store on his back inside the car roof, very similar to the ones on Universe 2.0 Prowl. Like I said, it’s the same basic transformation from the G1 era with just a few added enhancements. I found it wasn’t uncommon for the arms to pop out of the shoulder ball joints during the change, but when you’re done everything locks together quite well and you have a solid action figure that looks like this…

Yes, Prowl’s robot mode is drop dead gorgeous! I’ve always considered this design to be my favorite of all the Autobot forms and MP-17 pulls it off with great aplomb. I’m particularly happy with the way the torso locks up front and back. You also have a choice as to whether you want to have his doors go straight out for a G1 toy accurate look, or angle upward for a more cartoon or comic accurate look. Brilliant! The proportions are beautiful and ever since I’ve placed him on the shelf across from my desk, I can’t help but stop and admire his beauty from time to time.

But before we start looking at some particulars, it’s worth noting that upon first transforming him, I found that Takara’s shitty QC struck my figure in a most cruel way. He had a huge black scar on his chin from where silver paint had been scratched away. It was an odd defacement (Har! Har!) because there’s really nowhere that the face rubs against anything else in the transformation. But our friends at the Chinese factory thought nothing of it and packed him away to ship to poor, disappointed FigureFan. They might as well have just taken a shit in the box as well. Fortunately, this was a pretty easy fix, even for someone like me with no customizing skills at all. The repair is still visible on a close-up picture, but without zooming in with a camera, you have to look really, really close to see that there was ever a problem. That’s good enough for me!

Yes, it is inherently wrong to have to do touch up work on my $80 figure, especially when none of my third-party transforming robots have had any similar problems, but with Takara’s spotty QC on these figures, I’m just happy that it’s all it needed. I’d like to say it’s going to give me pause about buying the other Datsuns, but truth be told, once they turn up In Stock at the retailers, I will likely throw the dice again.

I think most would agree that Prowl is just about perfect from the waist up, with only the exposed screw in the back of his head being an annoyance. If there are any real gripes to be had, it’ll likely be with the feet. Yes, they are hollow, but thanks to some clever plate placement, they don’t really look it from the front or the sides. The fact you can see open compartments in the back of the feet and the lower legs may be a legitimate complaint for a Masterpiece figure, but it’s not one that I’m going to have, not when everything else on this figure works so well.

One of my favorite things about Prowl is the ability to stow the shoulder cannons inside his back, just like the Universe 2.0 figure. Keep in mind that this is a little bit of a back-handed compliment, because I don’t think the cannons look that great. They feel kind of cheap and they’re just bare white plastic. They’re also showing some mold flashing. I won’t deny that it’s nice to have an option to display them, but my Prowl will be going sans-cannon most of the time. I do think they will look much better on the other figures where they will be painted, or at least molded in colored plastic.

Articulation! Prowl sports plenty of great articulation. The neck is ball jointed and offers a great range of motion. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, swivel at the biceps, and have double hinged elbows. The hands swivel at the wrist and the knuckle is hinged so that all the fingers move as one. His legs have universal movement at the hips, including swivels, his knees are double hinged, and his ankles are hinged and have rockers to help with those wide stances. Last up, Prowl can pivot at the wrist. The joints are all tight and since the Prowl’s robot mode locks together so well, he feels more like an action figure than your typical Transformer. Very nice! He’s tons of fun to play with and a very hard figure to put down.

As mentioned last time, Prowl comes with his trusty gun. It has a peg that secures it to his hand, so that once you have it pegged in and the fingers closed around it, he can hold it with a firm grasp. He can also comfortably hold it in both hands, which is likely the pose he will have on my shelf most of the time.

If the goal of the Masterpiece line is to produce a figure that portrays the essence of the character both in its classic animated and toy forms, then MP-17 is an absolute and unbridled success. The transformation represents some nearly flawless engineering and both the auto and robot modes are things of beauty. From a design standpoint, I can find no fault with this figure at all. It’s only in the quality control and the fact that he feels a bit more like a $30 Alternator than he does an $80 Masterpiece figure. If you demand diecast, rubber tires, and perfect paint, then you may find Prowl lacking. Me? I’m not going to quibble, and if you’re luckier than me and you get one with no QC issues, than all should be well. It’s just a shame to me that when Takara reaches this level of perfection in design and engineering that they let the line continue to be marred by poor paint quality issues. I’m at the point now that I will happily purchase figures from companies like Fansproject, TFC and MMC without a thought of worry about QC problems, but a new official Masterpiece figure from Takara? I’m still afraid to open the box.

Oct 14 2013

Transformers: Masterpiece Prowl (MP-17) by Takara, Part 1

I’m prefacing today’s little ditty with story time, so get your milky babas and blankys, kids. Once upon a time, yours truly pre-ordered Masterpiece Lambor. It arrived; I opened it, and was confronted with a paint job so bad that even if it were a $15 Hasbro Deluxe, I probably would have taken it back to the store. Lambor didn’t even make it to the review table on FFZ, because I just wanted to wash my hands of him. I was pissed that I spent so much money on him and I wanted him out of my life. So I sold him and had him shipped out the very next day. When the Masterpiece Datsuns went up, I pre-ordered them, hoping that Takara would have gotten their shit together with the QC. Then in-hand photos of Prowl turned up with melted glue all over the front bumper, and horrible paint on the roof. I cancelled the pre-order. But those pictures kept tempting me. The design of the figure still looked all but perfect. And when he finally showed up In Stock at the retailers, I lost all my resolve, rolled the dice, and bought him anyway. Was it a worthy gamble? Let’s find out…

There can be no doubt, Prowl has always been my favorite Autobot toy, most likely because he was also my first. I got him for what was probably my 12^th birthday along with Optimus Prime and Thundercracker. While Prowl wasn’t exactly the most developed character in the Sunbow cartoon, when I played with my Transformers, I always used him as Prime’s Executive Officer. He was Prime’s go-to robot. If you needed to talk to Prime, you better damn well have cleared it with Prowl first. And he was always the first to throw himself in front of a fusion blast meant for the big guy. What I’m telling you, folks, is that Prowl was legit and when he wasn’t safeguarding Autobot security, he was off having a foursome with Elita-1, Chromia, and Arcee. He was just that cool. Since this is the first time I’m checking out Takara’s MP line on FFZ, I’m going to start today with the packaging and the alt mode, and tomorrow we’ll check out the transformation and the robot mode.

Prowl comes in a fully enclosed box, which is something I appreciate in my higher end collectibles. Window boxes are fine for something I’m going to buy for $20 and toss the packaging, but Prowl’s box is a nice quality and I’ll definitely be hanging onto it should I ever need it for storage. The front has a great photo of Prowl in both modes and points out that he has been designated MP-17 and that he is the Autobots’ Military Strategist. It also points out that he transforms into a Nissan Fairlady 280Z-T. It is an officially licensed Nissan product and you get a little G1 style Transformers logo. The deco here walks a fine line between being serviceable and attractive. I would have preferred something more like the G1 packages with the red grid pattern and all that, but there’s nothing wrong with the presentation here either.

The back of the package features a whole lot of text that I can’t read. It also shows more pictures of Prowl in his modes, a shot of everything you get inside the box, and some pictures of Prowl alongside MP Prime and driving out of MP Prime’s trailer. I’m still not happy with the scaling between Prowl and Prime. I think Prowl should be closer to Prime’s shoulders, but considering that I don’t own MP-10, that’s not a big deal for me. And as we’ll see in a few moments, I’m actually very pleased with Prowl’s size as a stand-alone piece.

Open iup the box and you pull out a clear plastic tray with Prowl in his police car mode nestled in the middle of the trays. He is placed beside his weapon and you also get a baggie with a folded instruction sheet and a color profile card. No, there’s not a lot of extras or fanfare here, and that may disappoint some. Me? I’m cool with the presentation letting the toy speak for itself.

And this toy does a great job of that! Sure, a lot of people have been upset with the new Masterpiece scale, but I have to say that I think Prowl’s alt mode is the perfect size. The car holds together in a very solid fashion, with everything pegging in securely, and rolls along on its wheels quite nicely. It certainly feels closer to a Voyager than a Deluxe to me, and I’m happy to see that it scales very nicely with the recent Generations Triple Changers and even my Fansproject Function figures. Anything bigger than this and I think the toy would have become cumbersome and not nearly as solid.

However, like the practical packaging, some collectors may take issue with other perceived cuts in the toy. The tires, for example aren’t rubber, they are plastic. In fact, everything on Prowl is plastic. No diecast. Frankly, I’m ok with that. I’m not of the belief that gratuitous use of diecast improves a toy. You only need look at the original top-heavy Masterpiece Prime to realize that’s not always the case. Yes, rubber would have been cool, but the plastic wheels look fine and I don’t have to worry about the rubber rotting away like it did with many of my original G1 toys. I will concede that I would have liked the plastic to feel a little heavier. The toy doesn’t feel delicate, but it doesn’t have a lot of heft to it for its size, making it feel closer to a model than an actual Transformers toy. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful update to the original vehicle. I’m probably not alone when I say how much I appreciate the addition of the side view mirror stalks. They’re soft, bendy plastic so as not to snap off, and they really add to the improved credibility of the vehicle mode.

I started off this feature talking about the horrible paint on my Lambor. Naturally, I was really nervous when I first sized up the Prowl’s paintwork, and I’m happy to say it’s infinitely improved over Lambor. The white is bright and crisp and the black has a rich and glossy finish to it. The lettering is sharp and there are no embarrassing spelling mistakes that appeared on early shots of the toy. Even the Autobot insignia on the hood is crisp and straight. That’s not to say, however, the paint is perfect or even as good as it should be. The passenger side panel near the rear window has some excess paint swirl and there’s some slight bleeding between the white and black. There’s also a small chip to the white on the upper driver side windshield. This last bit worries me, as the roof of the car is clear plastic painted white and will likely be very prone to chipping if not handled carefully. None of these points are enough to ruin the car as badly as my Lambor’s horrific paint, but it is still certainly disappointing to see on a collectible toy this expensive. Had this been the first MP release I’d seen I would probably be more outraged, but I guess the terrible paint on Lambor really tempered my expectations.

Prowl’s gun can clip into a slot in the back of the lightbar to give him some firepower while in his alt mode. It’s pretty goofy looking and I can’t see myself ever utilizing the feature, but it doesn’t detract from the toy and some collectors may dig having the option to display it this way. While attached, the gun can even pivot up and down a bit.

Paint flubs aside, I’m very happy with Prowl’s vehicle mode. I think it’s perfectly sized, it holds together beautifully, and it looks great in all the most important places. I’m going to break here, but I’ll be back tomorrow to get my new buddy Prowl all transformed so we can check out his alt mode.

Oct 10 2013

Transformers Cybertron: Soundwave by Hasbro

With the recent releases of Soundwave in the Fall of Cybertron and Masterpiece lines, it’s worth remembering the long stretch when the character got almost no love from Hasbro. A lot of this probably had to do with the dilemma of what to do about his outdated alt mode and how to incorporate his tape feature into an updated alt mode. Well, back in the Cybertron line, the folks at Hasbro finally stepped up and gave it a try by turning Soundwave into a futuristic jet bomber and having Laserbeak turn into a bomb. While the idea is sound enough, the figure itself is an abomination on many fronts. I don’t usually like to slag on my beloved Transformers, but I thought it was an opportune time to parade this guy out. No package shot, so let’s just check out his alt mode.

Like I said, Soundwave is now a jet. Hey, he was once a missile carrier truck, so I’m willing to give Hasbro a pass on the choice of alt mode here. I think this is supposed to be loosely based on an F-117A Stealth Fighter in that it’s basically wedge shaped and has some fins at the back, but we’ll just call him a Cybertron jet and be done with it. I’ll start off by saying, there are some high points to this toy. The blue plastic they used here is very nice, and some of the gold paintwork on it is absolutely gorgeous. I like the translucent purple used for the cockpit and there is also a crazy amount of detail sculpted into the wings and such. The little spikes on the nose cone are a nice touch too. All good stuff, but it’s not enough to save this guy.

The overall design here wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the fact that he’s just plain ugly. It’s blatantly obvious that the top half of the jet is made up of his contorted robot legs and there are so many gaps and hinges and spaces, that it just doesn’t work for me. And I never understood the point of that stupid design on the top behind the cockpit. It looks like some kind of crop circle. Of course, the real reason I hate this alt mode is because it’s so difficult to get everything to fit together just right. Get the feet plugged into the nose and the cockpit pops up. Peg the cockpit in and the feet pop out. You need to have everything absolutely correct to within a micron of tolerance and then maybe, just maybe, this alt mode will hold together like it should. And even at that point, what you’ve got is still pretty damn ugly.

The gimmick for the alt mode is if you put a Cyberkey into the slot on the back, Soundwave’s bomb door will open and he will drop one of his bombs. One of those bombs is Laserbeak. We’ll get to him in a bit. It’s not a bad concept in that at least it still allows Soundwave to deploy a minion and it kind of reminds me of Nick Roche’s Decepticons that turn into bombs in my beloved More Than Meets The Eye comic. Ok, so the alt mode isn’t terribly good. Surely, that’s because Soundwave’s robot mode is absolutely fantastic… right? RIGHT??

Oh boy. So, it’s hard to miss the Soundwave homages here. The head sculpt is a pretty cool modern update to the guy we all know and love. He’s got a big tape door on his chest, which can hold the Laserbeak bomb. The coloring is certainly G1 Soundwave, at least to a point. At the same time, those huge wings really work against the homage to the extreme. I think this figure could have been saved if it weren’t for a whole host of really poor design choices and laziness.

So first, you’ve got those giant wings. They are totally immobile and get in the way of posing. A couple extra hinges could have helped these along. Maybe packed them away into a backpack or at least gave them some movement so they weren’t in the way all the time. But in truth they’re the least of this guy’s worries. Both arms have huge pieces of jet kibble hanging off of them. The right arm is cursed with the nose of the jet, while the left arm has the cockpit. There is no way to position these so that they aren’t just cumbersome dead weight and they are always hitting against the wings when I try to pose him. . Last up, he’s got tiny little legs that are in no way up to the challenge of holding all that upper body bulk. The knees are heavy ratcheting joints, but the hip joints are week and floppy as all hell, so unless you have Soundwave’s legs standing straight and at full attention, he’s going to want to do the splits and collapse.

And then there’s Laserbeak and while it’s crazy to say it, the truth is he’s the shining ray of light in this otherwise terrible figure. His bomb alt mode is basically just a black hexagonal cylinder with red paint apps on the sides and his transformation just has him fold out into his little bird mode, which is pretty damn good for what it is. It even sort of foreshadows the Dark of the Moon Laserbeak design with VTOL engines in the wings. Everything about Laserbeak works well and I’d argue he’s even better modern update than the disc Laserbeak that came with Generation Soundwave. There are a few places where Laserbeak can peg into Soundwaves arms, but because all of the shit hanging off him, you’re better off just trying to stand him on his arm. He’s also designed to peg into Soundwave’s wings and perch up there, but I think it looks rather dumb.

Oh, did I mention that the peg that locks Soundwave’s right shoulder down snapped the very day I took him out of the box? Yeah. That happened. The crazy thing about Cybertron Soundwave is that I can remember wanting to get him so badly. I don’t know if it was just the fact that he was finally a new Soundwave, or the online pictures didn’t make him seem so bad. Maybe it was because I just love the Cybertron line so much. Either way, I hunted for him all over before finally finding him at a Walmart like 30 miles from my home. I couldn’t wait to get him home and, suffice it to say, he was a huge let down. He’s one of the few Transformers in my collection that tempted me to throw him against a wall in disgust. There are some good ideas here, but so much went horribly wrong in the end. To be honest, now that I’ve dug him out, I’m not sure he’ll be returning to my collection. I look at him and just see a waste of space.

Oct 7 2013

Transformers Generations: Orion Pax (IDW Comic Pack) by Hasbro

Hey, folks, it’s time for a look at another one of Hasbro’s “Thrilling Thirty!” to celebrate Transformers’ 30th Anniversary, and oh my God, it’s Orion Pax. YES!!! I have wanted a genuine Orion Pax figure ever since he first appeared in the episode of the original Transformers cartoon, “War Dawn.” The e-hobby repaint of Kup was a pretty cool figure and that would have done the job back in the day, but it hardly fits into my modern TF collection. The fact that I had to settle for an IDW version as opposed to a Sunbow version doesn’t really faze me, so long as the character is finally represented on my shelf. And here he is!

This being my final feature of Hasbro’s initial wave of IDW Comic Packs, we’ve already seen the packaging several times. Pax comes carded in robot form with a reprint comic on a G1 style card. Suffice it to say, I find the presentation here perfect in every way. The comic is pretty good too. It stands on its own quite well, so if you’re like me and haven’t gotten around to reading Autocracy, it won’t count against you. There’s plenty of good action, familiar faces, and decent lines. Let’s start out with Pax’s alt mode.

While in alt mode in the comic, Pax spends most panels pulling along a trailer of Decepticon prisoners. Better get busy making that trailer, third-parties! That having been said, Hasbro did a fine job reproducing the vehicle mode here, sans trailer. Pax is a Cybertronian truck, a bit more like a pick-up truck than a semi cab, but he still looks pretty good. The deco is a mix of red and blue, traditional Optimus colors, with some silver and yellow accents. I think it’s one of the better quality decos in recent Generations releases. True there aren’t a lot of paint apps, but I genuinely don’t get the feeling of any of the paint cuts that I have from some other modern figures. The clear windshield shows an Autobot symbol as well as some of the detailing in the inner workings of the cab.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Pax’s alt mode is a bit small. Yup, that’s a common complaint against most modern Deluxe figures. He would work Ok as a sporty little pick-up truck, but he doesn’t look big enough to be pulling a trailer with two Decepticons in it. Prime comes with two weapons, a blaster and an energon axe and both accessories can peg into the sides of the vehicle to give him some firepower in alt mode. The blaster looks pretty good and even the axe can double as some kind of cannon if you use your imagination.

Transforming Pax is easy and pretty clever. I like the way the side panels of his alt mode fold up and pack away on his legs. His wheels stow neatly behind him and his shoulders shift forward and lock into place securely. The resulting robot mode is excellent and there are no fake outs, so the windshield in his truck mode is really his chest in robot mode. The only distraction for me is the plate that sticks up behind his head, but I’m really just looking for things to pick on at this point. The truth is he’s a very clean looking robot with great poseability.

And, yes, once again like a lot of Deluxes these days, he’s small. Now, Pax’s small size in robot mode does not bother me. Sure, he’s about the same size as the other Autobots in the comic, as Wheeljack just got him a new body. Nonetheless, to me Orion Pax should be slighter than he was as Prime and so his smaller stature in robot mode doesn’t concern me as much as his compact auto mode. On the other hand, I guess it’s hard to have it both ways, so I’ll let it slide.

I’ve already mentioned his weapons. I absolutely love his rifle, because it finally gives us a G1-style Prime gun that can work with WFC Prime or even Classic Prime. The energon axe is pretty sweet too.

Size quibbles aside, Orion Pax is an awesome figure and probably second only to Trailcutter as my favorite in this initial crop of IDW releases. It’s been a solid wave and I’m anxiously waiting for my Thundercracker and Hoist to turn up. I’m also really pleased to see the reveals of the next wave of four, which will include Skids, Waspinator, Goldfire, and Dreadwing. Yes, indeed, there’s some great stuff coming down the pike for us Transformers fans and lately Hasbro has been showing me that it doesn’t all have to come from third parties!

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Tag Archives: transformers

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Transformers Generations: Hoist (IDW Comic Pack) by Hasbro

Transformers Energon: Tow-Line by Hasbro

Transformers Generations: Blaster by Hasbro

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Transformers: Masterpiece Prowl (MP-17) by Takara, Part 2

Transformers: Masterpiece Prowl (MP-17) by Takara, Part 1

Transformers Cybertron: Soundwave by Hasbro

Transformers Generations: Orion Pax (IDW Comic Pack) by Hasbro

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