Tag Archives: transformers

Sep 25 2012

Transformers Prime: Starscream by Hasbro

Yesterday I looked at an Autobot Deluxe, so let’s switch over to a Decepticon Voyager, and who better than to start with Starscream. I may not watch the show a lot, but I absolutely adore Starscream in it. I love his creepy personality, I love his lanky design. They did a beautiful job crafting the same old scheming Starscream in a fresh new way, and it’s awesome. Even if I hadn’t committed to collecting this line, I would have still bought Starscream the moment I saw him. In fact, he’s the only figure I’m looking at this week that I did not get on clearance. Nope, I laid down a full Andy Jackson on him. Let’s see if he disappoints.

Hey, it’s the first look at the Voyager figure packaging here on FigureFan. Starscream comes in a nice window box with the figure packaged in robot form. I really dig the box’s deco. It’s cool, it’s flashy, it shows off the figure well, and above all it makes me want to buy the toy. There’s a “Try Me” hole cut out in the window so you can reach in and activate the Mech Tech Weapon, which transforms and lights up. I think it’s great that they actually call it a Null-Ray Blaster, but as we’ll see in a bit, it’s a worthless piece of crap. The back of the box has a photo of the figure in both modes, and the side panel has his biography and his tech specs. Technically, the box is collector friendly, but I had to cut so many strings to get Starscream out, I thoroughly mangled it in the process.

 

Even though, Starscream is packaged in his robot form, I’m starting with his jet mode. Why? Because I don’t like to break up routine, and also because I want to get the bad stuff out of the way first. Ok, bad may be a little harsh. The jet mode is certainly passable, but because of a lot of hinges and seams on the top and some robot kibble on the bottom it isn’t terribly attractive. It’s also a little chunky. Bottom line, this jet is not the sleek and stylish jet we see on the show. The inspiration is certainly there, but compromises had to be made. Now, I’m willing to give the jet mode a lot of slack because Starscream’s robot mode is so amazing that it’s hard to believe that Hasbro could engineer it to change into a jet at all. The missiles are detachable, which is cool, and while there aren’t any flip down landing gear, there are tiny molded wheels that allow the jet to stand evenly and display well. I should also point out here that getting Starscream into his jet mode can be a bit fidgety, but once you know what you’re doing it’s actually pretty easy.

With that out of the way, we can move onto Starscream’s robot mode and everything is rainbows and cupcakes from this point on, because the robot mode is downright awesome. I seriously adore this figure. Hasbro did a great job capturing all the personality of his on screen design and the proportions are excellent. He’s got the same lanky arms and legs and you can pose him in that hunched over, groveling stance that he loves to so much whenever he’s in  Megatron’s presence.  The way the wings angle up on his back and they are hinged so you can swing them in and out a bit to help with posing. All the other jet kibble is strategically placed. Even the tail fins on his ankles serve to stabilize his ability to stand. You can also remove the missiles from the wings and clip them onto his arms as additional weapons. So cool! And the head! Oh, the head! The head sculpt is absolutely perfect and nicely painted too.

The paintwork is solid enough, but could stand a few simple improvements. I would have really liked to see the same silver paint used for his thighs to be used on the two pieces that make up his chest. I also would have preferred the Decepticon emblem on his shoulder to be right side up instead of sideways. But these are tiny little gripes.

And then you have the Null-Ray Blaster. What a steaming pile of crap! It’s a stab at continuing the Mech Tech weapon gimmick that was started back in the Dark of the Moon line. Now, I have no problem with this idea, and I can remember really digging some of those DotM Mech Techs, but Starscream’s weapon looks like a jumbled mess. Besides just looking like hot garbage, it suffers from the same problem as the DotM gimmicks, where you have to keep holding it to keep the weapon converted. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have it lock into place? Doesn’t matter. It wouldn’t have saved this thing anyway. What’s worse is that Hasbro spent the money to put a light up gimmick in this thing. It can be plugged into Starscream’s jet mode or clipped onto his arm and either way it destroys the aesthetics of the toy. The best thing about it? You throw it in the garbage and forget about it.

So to sum up, Great Primus, this is an awesome figure! Apart from the few suggested improvements to the paint, I love every inch of him. I doubt he’ll spend much time in jet mode, but then most of my Transformers are displayed in robot modes and only converted when I want to play around with them or when it’s time to put them into storage to make room for some others. And speaking of storage, I have a feeling that when my Prime figures are finally rotated out into storage, Starscream will be the one figure that remains on display all the time. And that’s just about the best compliment that I can pay any figure in my collection.

Tomorrow, we’ll check out the big guy himself, Optimus Prime.

Sep 24 2012

Transformers Prime: Bumblebee by Hasbro

So, yeah… I just got a heap of Transformers: Prime figures in the mail, thanks to a certain someone who decided to clearance a bunch of them out. I’ve been pretty tentative about buying these toys, but the three I already have were all pretty good, and hey… clearance! So, let’s kick off this Transformers Prime week with a look at everyone’s favorite, spunky little scout… Bumblebee!

We’ve seen this packaging here on FigureFan a few times already. I like it well enough. The oversized card with the character art really draws the eye. I do have to deduct a few points for the bio on the back mentioning one of the annoying human kids from the series. Bumblebee is carded in his vehicle mode, with his two blasters on the tray beside him. Bumblebee is one of the figures in this line that sort of kept me from wanting to commit. I just haven’t seen many appealing pictures of him in robot mode, so here’s hoping that having the figure in hand can sway me. Let’s start with his sports car mode.

 

 

Ok, so not bad. The fact that the car is held together by rubber bands had me a little worried, but truth be told he’s a solid enough car. He’s a little camero-ish with a twist of anime style. The similarities are there without Hasbro having to pay the royalties. Win-Win. Bumblebee’s windows are all clear blue translucent plastic, and anyone who’s read a few of my Transformers features may know that’s a big plus in my book. There’s not a lot of paintwork going on here. You get the car molded in yellow plastic, with some black stripes. For the most part, this seems ok, but the total lack of paint apps on the back of the car really upsets me. The exposed engine in the hood is cool and that’s where you can plug in the guns if you want your Bumblebee rolling into battle. So far, so good…

Transforming Bumblebee is pretty easy, but not overly so. In fact, I think this guy has just the right balance of ease and complexity. In robot form, Bumblebee’s big problem is his shoulders, which make him way too widely proportioned at the top of his torso. Posing him with a wide stance helps a bit, but the way his shoulders jut out makes me think he’s mis-transformed, when he’s really not. He also suffers a bit from the hollow factor. When you view him from the side, there’s a lot of empty space in his torso, but the down sloping chest and the roof that covers his back helps to make the figure look solid from the front and back.

Everything else about the figure works ok for me. He isn’t the most original of designs, borrowing heavily from the Bayformer look and one thing I do like a lot is the way the final robot form looks like the transformation should be a lot more complex than it actually is. A lot of this illusion comes from the auto-morphing in the torso. I’m not usually a big fan of the auto-morph features, but in this case it works really well and the exposed gears give him a cool mechanical look. I really dig the dual laser cannons that clip onto his arms, and they can also be combined into one quad-barrel gun to be held in either hand or clipped onto the hood of the car when he’s in alt mode.

Articulation? His arms rotate and have lateral movement at the shoulders and swivels and hinges in the elbows, but no wrist articulation. His legs are ball jointed at the hips, with additional swivels just below those ball joints. He’s also hinged at the knees and ankles. There’s no torso articulation, but the head is ball jointed on the neck. All in all, you get fairly satisfactory articulation for a small Deluxe Transformer.

I do have to take some issue with Bumblebee’s coloring. The bulk of the figure is left in the bare yellow plastic, and there’s something about it that feels kind of cheap. But my real issue here is the paint apps that have been stricken from the final figure. They’re on the product image on the back of the card, but in final production, they apparently didn’t make the cut. What really irks me about it is the fact that the Hot Shot repaint (we’ll get to him soon) is brimming with great paintwork. Why, Hasbro, would you cut paint apps on the main character of the line and then go hog wild painting a repaint that only completists are really going to care about?

So, yeah, in hand, Bumblebee is not so bad. In fact, if the shoulders had only recessed a bit into the torso, or flipped around to lay flush with it, I think the figure could have looked down right amazing. As he is now, it just takes some acceptance, and with the right posing, he can look pretty good. That all having been said, he’s a solid enough figure, with a fairly clever transformation and he is tons of fun to fiddle about with. Of course, my satisfaction with the figure also comes from the fact that he was about $6 and at that price, I’m willing to be pretty forgiving. At $10 I think he would have been a satisfactory purchase. But right now he’s hanging on the pegs for $15, and I just don’t think he warrants that at all.

Sep 24 2012

Transformers Prime Week!

I held out as long as I could, having only picked up just a few of these figures here and there. I suppose it was only a matter of time, seeing as I am such a shameless Transformers whore. I found some really good deals on TF:Prime figures last week and I went hog wild and picked up a whole heap of them, hence the commencement of Transformers: Prime Week. I’ll cram as many as I can into the week ahead. I’m not sure if I’ll continue it on into the weekend or not. I definitely have enough figures to go the distance, but I’m guessing I’ll be ready to move on to something else come Saturday. I will try to mix it up with both Voyagers and Deluxes, or whatever the hell Hasbro is calling the size assortments these days.

And yes, everything I’m looking at this week will be the Robots in Disguise versions, not the First Editions. I only took this plunge because I like what I’ve picked up so far, and I really did get these for laughably cheap. I’m not going to be hunting down the First Editions and paying premiums for them.

I’ll also take this time to confess that I haven’t been following the TV series. I’ve probably seen a majority of the first season, and I’ve had pretty mixed opinions on it. There was some great, there was some awful, and a lot that I just didn’t care about. In fairness, it takes a lot of interest for me to track down a show and watch it every week, so unless I own a series on DVD or love it as much as say Doctor Who or Game of Thrones, chances are I’m not going to stick it out.

So, enough preamble. I’ll be back later on today to start it all off with Bumblebee.

Sep 17 2012

Transformers Fall of Cybertron: Shockwave by Hasbro

I rarely buy games when they first come out, but I was happy to fork over the sixty bucks for Fall of Cybertron on Day One. Unfortunately the next day my Xbox decided to give up the ghost and die on me, so I’m still only three levels into it. The irony is that I actually had the PS3 version in my hands and then put it back and went for the 360 version because all of my gaming friends only play on Xbox’s Network. So, until I can get motivated enough to swap out the DVD drive on my 360, I’ll have to enjoy this game through the toys, which have just been hitting the pegs in my area this past week or so. I’ve been waffling a bit on Optimus and Jazz, but when I saw Shockwave, I grabbed him right away.

It’s so good to see Generations back on the shelves after the tsunami of Dark of the Moon has come and gone. With the return of the line comes newly rebranded packaging and I’m really digging the new look. The G1-style grid on the card tugs at my nostalgia strings, as does the very G1-inspired portrait of Shockwave. The back panel has photos of the toy and a pretty cool bio blurb about how he’ll murder you with his logic. And holy shit, check it out… they brought back the tech specs! Shockwave is packaged in his robot form and held on to the tray with a ridiculous number of string twisties. Overall, this package design gets my stamp of approval and I do hope they continue to use it forGenerations beyond Fall of Cybertron.

With Shockwave out of the package I find myself blown away by this figure. Yes, I am biased with my love for Shockwave, but it really is an absolutely amazing update to the character we all know and love. But more than that, the design is so clean and solid, the proportions are so right, that it feels more like an action figure and less like a Transformer. The head sculpt is a perfect homage and the light piping for his eye works exceptionally well. The arm cannon is also a great design, as Shockwave can simply fold back one of his hands and the cannon mounts onto either arm. It’s bigger than G1 Shockwave’s arm cannon, but not as ridiculously big as say, Energon Shockblast’s arm cannon. The sculpt features a lot of panel lines and great little details, like all the cables molded around his neck.

The one thing that I’ve been the most disappointed over with this year’s Transformers has been the lack of paint apps. Shockwave is no different, but his color scheme works without it. He’s mostly sculpted in traditional Decepticon purple, with some great translucent purple plastic and some silver paintwork on his trim. The ensemble is perfect and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. His Decepticon logo is kind of small, but I don’t know where else you could put it to make it larger.

Shockwave sports solid articulation. The head turns, but is not ball jointed. The arms rotate at the shoulders and have hinged lateral movement and ball joints in the elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and have both swivels and hinges at the knees. A waist swivel would have been welcome, but I don’t think its absence really hurts the figure a lot.

I was a little concerned about Shockwave’s size, especially since the TF Prime figures have been getting smaller and smaller. He does look small in the package but once I got him out and stood him next to my War for Cybertron Megatron, my fears were vanquished. He’s perfectly sized to stand beside his leader. Some might have preferred him as a Voyager, but I’m really happy with Hasbro streamlining the figures into mostly Deluxes. It may create some scale issues in alt mode, and sure, some Transformers should be bigger than others, but Shockwave here is scaled perfectly in robot mode for the other Classics and Generations figures.

I actually had to look at the instructions to get Shockwave into his alt mode, and that’s something I almost never have to do. The reason here is not because he’s a complex Transformer, but rather his alt mode, unlike a car or jet or tank, is somewhat abstract, so it’s tough to figure out where everything is supposed to go. He’s billed as “Cybertron Mobile Artillery” which is basically like a big hovering cannon. I like to think of him more as a spaceship, but either way it is a very nice nod back to his original G1 gun mode. The alt mode locks together very nicely and looks damn good too. I’m impressed with the number of panel lines in the sculpt and while there aren’t a lot of paint apps, (he basically has the exact same color scheme as his robot mode), the coloring on the figure doesn’t feel like it’s missing anything. Well, maybe a Decepticon logo would have been nice.

How about the price? Dang, these things are getting expensive. True, I haven’t been buying a lot of Transformers since Dark of the Mooncame out, but I still remember only paying around $10-11 apiece for those Deluxes. Shockwave was $15!!! It’s kind of outrageous considering the size of the figure, but I can justify it by passing this off as a collector line. Plus, I love this figure so much that I probably would have paid even more for him if I had to. But then, even the TF: Prime Deluxes have shot up to the $15 price point at the local Walmart. I’ve been a Transformers fan from Day One, but even I think Hasbro is starting to overestimate the demand for these guys.

Shockwave has had some decent re-imaginings in lines like Energon and Animated, but this release is a bona fide stab at bringing the character into the Classics continuity. Sure, it’s his Fall of Cybertron version, but since the character never got an Earth alt mode, it fits right in, much the same way that I prefer to use my War for Cybertron Megatron and Soundwave as my default Classics versions. Shockwave is definitely a solid and well-engineered figure, and while I don’t like to use the word perfect a lot, I think this guy comes closer to being a perfect Transformer than any I’ve seen in a while. I just love him to pieces and he’s sure to be a popular release with the fans.

Aug 22 2012

Kre-O Transformers: Autobot Ratchet by Hasbro

Among some of the stuff piling up this last month are some of Hasbro’s “Not-Lego” Kre-O sets. I had this last weekend off, so I took the time to build a couple more and today we’re going to check out one of those… it’s everybody’s favorite Autobot Medic, Ratchet.

As always, the set comes in a nifty cardboard briefcase that you can use for convenient storage. I really like the concept, especially since the Kre-O sets usually have extra pieces left over, depending on whether or not you’re building the robot or the alt form. I can usually fit the built robot into the box by only taking a few pieces off, and I can store the sets in their original boxes on one of my book shelves. Inside the box you get an instruction booklet, a sticker sheet, two individually bagged Kreons, and three un-numbered bags of parts. The set includes a total of 187 pieces; making this one the smallest Kre-O set I’ve built. Let’s go ahead and look at the Kreons first.

Ok, so I’m not terribly impressed with these guys. You get an ambulance driver and you get Ratchet. The ambulance driver is ok for what he is, and gives you someone to sit in Ratchet while he’s in ambulance mode. He also comes with a stretcher that fits in the back of Ratchet. Ratchet, on the other hand, is pretty flawed, since his helmet and the printed face on his head don’t line up very well. If you put the helmet on so that you can see his face, it pops off really easy. If you put the helmet on all the way, it covers his eyes. Ratchet also comes with a tiny gun.

As always, I built the alt mode first. Ratchet is a pretty decent looking ambulance for a Lego style construct of this size. The build is comprised mostly of red and white bricks and there are some well thought out stickers to help it along. It’s not terribly large, with room in the cab for only one Kreon. There’s no steering wheel or dashboard inside, and there are no doors on the sides either, so you need to take the roof off to get him in there. There are, however, working doors on the back of the ambulance, and there’s room inside for the stretcher. Ratchet also has clips on the sides and back to hold the bevy of tools that come in the set. If you compare this build to a Lego vehicle that you might get in a $20 set, it stacks up pretty well, and overall it was a fun little build. There are a bunch of parts left over for the robot build. I can usually find someplace to stick these, but in Ratchet’s case, I just tossed them all into the back of the ambulance.

While I do enjoy getting two builds out of each of these Kre-O sets, I really hate tearing them apart. It’s also a pain to keep track of the bricks with stickers on them, as you need to use them at specific points of the robot build to make him look right. This time, I had the foresight to set them aside, rather than have to root through all the pieces to find the one I need.

In robot mode, Ratchet is a cool enough looking guy. He’s kind of on the lanky side, which sets him apart from the G1 Ratchet design that I identify with the most. His windshield and front bumper are positioned on his chest, but it looks like he needs a little more oompf in his torso to make the proportions work. He’s mostly arms and legs and his head is a tad too small. On the other hand, he’s a nice clean looking design, I like the way his wheels are positioned on his legs and shoulders and the front wheel wells are on his feet. Once again, you wind up with some left over pieces, most of which I was able to attach to the figure and still make it look good.

Ratchet features good articulation, with ball joints for his head, shoulders, hips, and ankles, and hinges for his elbows and knees. He also feels a lot more stable than my Sideswipe, and he can hold his poses better without flopping over or doing the splits.

I have no idea how much this set went for when it was originally released. I seem to remember getting this one on special for around $12, which is quite a steal considering you get close to 200 pieces. I know that Kre-O gets a bad rap by Lego purists as being inferior and all that, but I don’t have a lot of issues with these sets, and I certainly build my share of Lego. The quality has been overall good, the designs are solid and the builds are plenty of fun. Ratchet is probably my least favorite of the sets I own, but he’s still not a bad set by any means. I just wish his Kreon was a little better.

Jul 2 2012

Transformers Prime: Knock Out by Hasbro

Yeah, yeah… so here’s the real reason I was staying away from TF:Prime figures, because I knew I couldn’t just buy a couple to check them out. The floodgates are opened and I couldn’t escape my last visit to the toy aisle without picking up another one. It didn’t help that there was yet another Decepticon car on the pegs and ya’ll know by now that I can’t resist Decepticon cars. This time we’re going to look at Knock Out. I thought he was the Decepticon doctor in the show, but based on the cardback, he seems to be more of the weapons outfitter. I guess I need to watch the show more.

Yay, I have an in-package shot! I’m still really digging on this presentation. The luxuriously oversized card features an awesome deco and really sweet character art. This is packaging that makes me want to buy a toy. Knock Out comes mounted under the bubble in his vehicle mode, and as always, we’ll start there.

 

Ok, I’m not a big fan of the colors here. It seems to be show accurate, so I’m not faulting it there, but I’m just not crazy about how they look on the toy. The two-tone matte purple and bare red plastic just don’t work at all for me, and the extra splash of silver on the sides isn’t helping. It’s hard to lay that aside, but once I do, I can certainly appreciate the sculpt of the car mode. It’s a sleek sportscar with clear windows and clear headlights and in general it just has a nice shape and feel to it, color notwithstanding. Knock Out has a weapons socket on each side just above and in front of his rear wheels, so you can mount his spear onto either side.

Transforming Knock Out was an overly fidgety affair my first time out and his crotch piece popped off the figure and had to be recovered from my cat’s lair under the desk. Besides the personal peril of having to venture into my cat’s treasure larder to retrieve the piece, I just hate when bits pop off my Transformers. It wasn’t broken and easily replaced, but it’s the principle of the matter that just upsets me. Anyway, let’s check out Knock Out’s robot mode.

Ok, not bad. Unfortunately the colors really don’t change, but they look a bit more forgivable on a robot than on a sportscar. Despite the fidgety transformation, there are some clever things going on here. I like the way the bumper wraps around and locks into place to become his waist. It’s actually mis-transformed on the back of the package. The arm designs are also pretty clever, although the windows interfere with the articulation a bit. The upper torso configuration is what’s tricky. You really have to get it just right or the whole thing doesn’t work. The head sculpt is really well done. I like his douchebag smirk that for some reason makes me associate this character with a reinvention of G1 Swindle.

I’m not a fan of Knock Out’s battle spear. It’s hinged and can also split apart to form two smaller “battle spikes” but he can’t hold it very well, which makes it a bit of a waste. He has a pair of sockets on his back so you can store it there, but I don’t think it looks very good on his back. All in all, I would have preferred a nice gun.

If I seem to be coming away from this figure with a “meh” attitude, it’s probably only because Ratchet and The Vehicon set some incredibly high standards and I really don’t dig the coloring on him. Knock Out is a perfectly solid figure, and this is a case where I’m really excited to see Hasbro do a repaint of this one. I think a better paint job can do wonders to smooth over the few rough points about this figure. All in all, he’s still a solid pick up and I’d still come away recommending him. And besides, he’s a Decepticon car, and that almost always gets a pass in my book.

Jun 18 2012

Transformers Prime: Ratchet by Hasbro

It’s time for more Prime! This time, we’re taking a look at one of the Autobots and also my favorite character from the show. Or at least the episodes that I’ve actually watched. Yep, it’s Ratchet. Not only do I love the way he’s portrayed (he’s crotchety and acts like everything is an imposition and a bother), but you can’t deny the greatness of Jeffrey Combs who provides his voice and personality. It also doesn’t hurt that G1 Ratchet always had a special place in my heart after he became the last Autobot standing back in the original Marvel comic. Suffice it to say, I was pretty happy to get this figure and to see if it does his TV counterpart justice.                 

What? No package shot. Here’s what happened. My computer died last week and while I’m up and running with a brand new setup, I haven’t had time to recover the files off the old computer’s hard drive. That means not only am I having to re-write this feature (and about three others), but the in-package shot of Ratchet is currently inaccessible. You can reference the general package design by looking back at the Vehicon feature from last week. Ratchet’s character art is fantastic and the bio blurb is downright disturbing, as it generally suggests that his intimate knowledge of anatomy makes him great at killing and dispensing pain. Wow! Pretty dark stuff for the back of a toy packet.

In his vehicle mode Ratchet is an ambulance. What? Crazy, I know. His general configuration is a bit more like a utility truck from the Bayformer movie-verse than most Ratchets from the past. The sculpt is pretty solid and there’s a lot of little panel lines and details. Unfortunately, there’s also a lot of jigsaw puzzle seaming on the sides. Remember Classics Ratchet? Well, it’s not quite that bad, but it is close. The deco also feels somewhat unfinished. Ratchet is molded in white plastic, with some red paintwork on his front end and the roof of his cabin. There’s also some red striping. It’s pretty basic ambulance colors, but its missing the lettering you usually find on an EMT vehicle. Like I said, the deco just feels unfinished.

Ratchet’s ambulance mode has two sets of ports for his blade weapons. You can plug them into his front bumper for some pretty vicious ramming action, or you can plug them into his roof. Not real sure what purpose that serves.

Transforming Ratchet felt a little involved the first time, but once I saw where everything goes it’s actually pretty easy. He is a bit of a shell former, but most of the ambulance kibble forms the backs of his legs and a backpack that isn’t too prominent or intrusive. No, Ratchet has one outstanding looking robot mode. He’s not only very faithful to his onscreen counterpart, but he’s also just a generally clean, balanced and proportional design. What’s more most everything clips or tabs in very nicely to make a figure that is every bit as solid as he is great looking. It doesn’t hurt that Ratchet’s deco fares much better in his robot mode than ambulance. He’s still primarily white, but there’s a better use of the red paint. Oh yeah, in robot mode, Ratchet can wield those blades like crazy little daggers, one in each hand.

No doubt, Ratchet is an amazing figure. Yes, his ambulance mode is somewhat lackluster. It is by no means terrible, but the seaming on the sides can be an eyesore and I really wish Hasbro had tampo’ed some lettering onto him to make him more polished and convincing. This guy really feels like some of the coloring was nixed to keep costs down. On the other hand, once you get him into robot mode, he makes up for every one of his shortcomings as an ambulance. Of course, I may be a little biased because I tend to display my Transformers in bot form.

Jun 13 2012

Transformers Prime: Vehicon by Hasbro

Ok, its come to this. I was pretty determined not to pick up any of the Transformers Prime toys for a number of reasons. Its true I’m pretty lukewarm on the show. I can watch it and enjoy it, but I don’t seek it out and therefore have only seen a handful of episodes. But let’s face it, if I only bought Transformers from shows I enjoyed, I wouldn’t have the dozen or so totes full of them that I do. No, the main reason was one of discipline. My Transformers collection has grown so out of control over the years that I can’t even display most of it and so I decided to limit myself just to buying the Classics/Universe 2.0/Generations themed figures. I’ll also admit to not being a huge fan of the overly stylized Transformer designs, but that never stopped me from buying a buttload of TF: Animated figures. Anywho, with things being so slow and no new Avengers figures showing up at the local retailers, I caved in this last weekend and bought a couple of TF: Prime Deluxes, The Vehicon and Ratchet. We’ll check out the first one today: The Vehicon!

I gotta say, I really dig this packaging. Sure, its a simple bubble on cardback, but the deco is gorgeous and really jumps off the peg at me. You get an extended card at the top with the series logo, a nice piece of personalized character artwork and a giant Decepticon logo with lightning shooting across it. Holy hell! The bubble has an insert showing the figure’s name and allegiance and has the “Robots in Disguise” monikor, which distinguishes it from the rarer and superior figures most of will never see “First Edition” versions of the line. Its best not to get me started on that nonsense. The figure is carded in his vehicle form with his “Snap On Blaster Cannon” mounted beside him.
The back panel of the card shows a shot of the figure in both modes and has a little bio blurb that is not only better than what we usually get, but better than it has any right to be, considering who this character is. You see, the Vehicons are the cannon fodder of the show, similar to the Vehicons in Beast Machines or the drones in the Fall of Cybertron game. They’re there to be blowed up and get the slag beaten out of them. That having been said, the bio gives them a lot of personality. But enough preamble. Let’s rip this guy open and check him out. We’ll start with the vehicle mode.
Awww yeah. That’s what I’m talking about. I’m pretty sure I’ve expressed my irrational love for Decepticon cars before, so straight away The Vehicon is tugging at my heart strings. Plus, I love this car mode! Ok, it is somewhat smallish and yeah, it is seriously lacking in the paint apps department, just some little bits of purple accent, but the design is killer.  The wedge-shaped wall of a front end makes it look like it was built for ramming Autobot fools off the road. The rear spoiler fins give it a bit of a Batmobile look and the tranlucent plastic on the windows and front headlamps make me happy. There are sockets just above the rear wheelwells on either side that let you plug the Vehicon’s gun into. Its a shame Hasbro couldn’t have engineered some flip-up guns into this thing somewhere. Anyway, I love it.
The Vehicon is a bit of a shellformer, but his transformation is clever enough to make me easily forgive this sometimes lazy method of design. The entire top of the car from the back to the windshield splits and folds up into his legs. The result is you have no real car shell kibble, only a sleek and sexy looking Decepticon badass.
And badass he is! He’s got that lean and spindly look many of the TF:Prime robot designs feature, although he still remains very well proportioned. What’s really cool, though, is that despite being largely a shellformer, its tough to see where it all goes, thanks to the clever design of his legs. The only real car kibble lands on his shoulders and sides of his legs, and these pieces look strategically placed as armor. The head sculpt is great. It took me a while to place it, but it definitely has a little Battlestar Galactica modern Cylon thing going for it. I’m also a big fan of the little exposed part of bare metal on his chest with a Decepticon logo and a piece of clear plastic laid over it. Very nice! The Vehicon’s robot mode features more of a purple and black deco make for classic Decepticon colors. He and Skywarp could definitely hang out.
Articulation is, in a word, solid. He’s got balljoints in his neck, shoulders, and hips. His elbows feature a weird combo balljoint and hinge. His knees and wrists are also hinged. You can get some nice poses out of him. At first I wasn’t sure about his funky arm construction, but I’m growing to like it.
As a Deluxe, The Vehicon ran me $12.88 at Walmart. Yes, Hasbro has been scaling down their Deluxes and Voyagers and while this guy can still hang in scale with other Deluxes he does look diminished. We also seem to be getting less in the way of paint apps. Even with all that in mind, I think the price is pretty reasonable here. Its only about three bucks more than your average 3 3/4″ figure and let’s face it, this toy required a lot more engineering and careful tooling than a Spider-Man or Star Wars figure. No, the price is fine, and I was actually surprised to be able to find him on the pegs, since he is a very highly sought after figure and I’m sure some collectors are army building them. The final point here is that my initial foray into the TF: Prime toys has been a positive one. I’m very anxious to rip open Ratchet and check him out next week.
Apr 13 2012

Transformers: Commemorative Edition: Powermaster Optimus Prime by Hasbro, Part 2

Welcome back to the second part of the amazing Powermaster Optimus Prime. We’ve looked at Prime’s cruising and ass-kicking modes, so let’s check out everything else. Before we go anywhere we have to start with the tiniest robot in the set and the key to unlocking Prime’s awesomeness. He’s Ginrai!

For those that aren’t up on their Transformers history, toward the tail end of G1, Transformers were being designed with little robot buddies that changed into their guns (Targetmasters), heads (Headmasters), or in this case engines (yep, Powermasters). The Powermasters never seemed to catch on as much over here, and I never really understood them. In theory you needed to transform these little guys into the engine and plug them into the vehicle so it could transform into its robot mode. In practice, you could still transform the toy without it, so if you lost the little bugger, you weren’t completely screwed. Anyway, Ginrai is a pretty cool little figure for how small he is. His arms rotate at the shoulders, and his legs are technically articulated, but only as part of the transforming gimmick.
Anyway, you change him into his engine mode and plug him straight into the front grill of Prime’s cab and you can change Prime into his most basic robot mode. The overall design is fairly similar to the original Optimus Prime, but the truck-front chest is actually a fake, as the cab’s real front is on Prime’s back. I like the looks of this Prime, as he has a bit more of an animated look. The stickers on the legs add some nice detail too. Granted, the articulation on this figure is pretty limited, even for a Transformer. In fact, really all he can do is bend his arms at the elbows.
The rest of Prime’s trailer transforms into a pretty cool little base. Transformers bases have been pretty hit and miss over the years, but I really think this one is one of the better ones. There’s a couple of ramps and platforms to park other Transformers. There are two turrets and three larger elevated guns on the tower. The only real eyesore here is the obvious Prime arms sticking up the top, but if they bother you, you can always fold them down out of the way. Prime can also stand in the tower to man the guns, but as a base, this is more convincing when populated by smaller Transformers. Overall, I think this is a really cool looking piece. There’s a lot of great sculpted detail and the huge stickers really make it look great.
Next up, is Prime’s slightly more powered up version. You basically ball him up into a box and plug it into a body made up from his trailer. Pop on a bunch of guns and his new head, and you’ve got the more bulked up Prime. This version actually uses the front of the cab as his chest, and you can clearly see the Powermaster engine plugged in there. You get a little more articulation here. His arms rotate at the shoulders and his legs can assume a wider stance. Yeah, its not much more, but a little better.
At this point, you can also convert the spare trailer into yet another robot called Apex Bomber. This guy isn’t really a transformation, but rather building him out of the parts you break the spare trailer down into. Normally, I consider this type of Transformer design cheating, but in this case, its like a bonus robot, so I’m not complaining. Apex Bomber looks pretty great. He’s nicely proportioned, has arms that rotate at the shoulder, he can hold Prime’s weapons if the big guy feels like sharing, and he can mount the missile launcher on his shoulder. In a lot of ways, he reminds me of G1 Top Spin. I just like this design.
Ok, so enough farting around. Its time to take everything and stick it all together into Apex Armor Optimus Prime. He’s basically the medium bulked out Prime figure with bits of Apex Bomber attached all over him. He gets bigger feet, bulkier arms, and that magnificent chromed out bling-chest that was absent from the American release, and if you ask me it really makes this figure. AAOP can still hold both his guns, he gets a pair of duel cannons on his ankles so he can kick you in the face and shoot you at the same time, and he can mount the big missile launcher on his shoulder.
Yes, Apex Armor Optimus Prime is a brick. He has the same articulation as the medium bulked out Prime, which means he can only rotate his arms at the shoulders, and assume a wide stance at the legs. But he’s still a friggen glorious looking brick. He’s also a pretty solid figure, considering how much crap he’s got stuck all over him.
And there ya have it, one if my favorite Transformers of all time (if not my favorite). I love everything about this set, from the presentation to the design of the toy, to just how good AA Optimus looks standing on my shelf. What he lacks in articulation he makes up in spades with balls-to-the-wall play value. There are just so many options and combinations in both robot and vehicle modes that fiddling about with him never gets old. I’ve never regretted ponying up for two of these back in the day, although truth be told considering how awesome it is, you can still pick one up for surprisingly cheap. Sure, MISB versions can go for over a hundred bucks, but if you’re persistant enough, you can often find open and complete ones for just $10-20 over the original MSRP. Considering how much, oh let’s say the 2009 SDCC Soundwave goes for these, days, Powermaster Optimus Prime is a steal.
Apr 12 2012

Transformers: Commemorative Edition: Powermaster Optimus Prime by Hasbro, Part 1

I’ve been meaning to get around to this one for quite a while now, but I never thought I had the time to do it right. This beauty was released back in 2003 as part of Toys R Us’ exclusive Commemorative Series, which were basically reissues of G1 Transformers. It was a great series of collectibles, and while many cases required Hasbro to ruin muck about with the molds for safety concerns, there were a few cases where Hasbro was able to improve on the originals and Powermaster Optimus here is one of them. This Commemorative release included parts that weren’t on the original US release, so outside of importing a Takara toy, this was the first time we Americans could really get this toy complete and as it was intended to be. After nearly 30 years of collecting Transformers, its hard for me to settle on a favorite figure, but if you were to put a gun to my head and make me choose, this one would probably be it. In fact, I loved this thing so much, I actually bought two so I could keep one in the package. There’s a lot to look at here, so I’m going to tackle this guy in two parts. Today we’ll look at the packaging and the vehicle modes, and then tomorrow we’ll look at the robot and base modes.

Prime comes in a huge box that just oozes G1 nostalgia. It has the same red grid pattern as the original issue toys did and the same Transformers logo. Even the side panels that show the various modes of the toy during conversion are similar to what appeared on the original box panels. The front has a flap secured with velcro that has some really awesome artwork of Apex Armor Prime. Fold it open and it reveals cutouts in the box with windows to show Prime in his truck mode, the extra Apex Armor trailer, the larger Prime head, and the Powermaster Ginrai figure.
The back of the panel features a gorgeous battle montage just like the ones that appeared in one form or another on the original G1 boxes throughout the years. There are also bio blurbs for regular flavor Prime, Apex Armor Prime, and Apex Bomber.
Open up the box and you find two sticker sheets, a large folded set of instructions, and the huge tray that slides out to reveal all the pieces of the set spread out before you. I can’t say enough great things about the packaging here. It really feels like those expensive collector sets that Takara releases for the combiners. It still baffles me that I was able to walk into a Toys R Us and buy this masterpiece off the shelf for a mere fifty bucks.
Optimus Prime’s basic truck form is fairly similar in design to his G1 version. The red cab with chromed front and silver striping should be readily familiar as is the blue and grey trailer with the stripe and Autobot emblem on the sides. There’s a little more kibble than on the original version of Prime. You can clearly see robot fists peeking out both behind the cab and on the front of the trailer, but to be fair, the designers packed so many modes into this toy, I’m amazed the basic tractor trailer mode looks as good as it does. The toy rolls along great and the cab detatches from the trailer, and as we’ll see later, transforms into a basic version of Optimus Prime, similar to the original version of Prime. This vehicle right here could have been released all by itself as a stand alone toy and it would have been just fine.
The Apex Armor trailer is a cool little battle wagon all on its own… sort of. Actually, its just a box on wheels with a big gun. The chrome front piece is made to look like a cab of sorts. And you can peg the big missile launcher onto the top. But this section really shines when its attached to the back of Prime’s trailer. Snap on all the additional weapons and parts and you get…
Optimus Prime’s Mega-Super-Destroy-You-Death-Train! That’s right, rolling along on seven sets of wheels, Prime is through taking crap and now he’s loaded for bear. This thing really strides the fine line between awesome and ridiculous, but you can hardly deny that its overkill. The cool thing about this toy is you can really customize the set up a bit by pegging the guns onto various places, but I tend to like the official version best. He’s got two angled cannons on the front of the cab, two giant guns on the front roof and one huge rotating missile launcher on the back. He’s also got a pair of wings for… well, they just look cool. You might as well be stylish while your running down Decepticons and blowing them into slag. This thing is so long, I barely have any shelves big enough to display it in all its glory.

So, that’s Powermaster Optimus Prime in all his vehicular glory. I’m going to break here and come back tomorrow to take a look at the base and various robot modes contained within this awesome toy.