Tag Archives: transformers

Sep 10 2010

Transformers Generations: Cybertronian Bumblebee by Hasbro

The first wave of Generations figures included two figures from the Transformers video game, The War for Cybertron. These are heavily G1-based reinventions of the characters we all know and love, only in their Cybertronian (ie. Pre-Earth) forms. We already looked at one of these two figures, Optimus Prime, now it’s time to look at the spunky little Autobot warrior, Bumblebee.

 

The War for Cybertron figures come on the same cards as the regular Generations figures. Unlike the other Generations Transformers, however, Prime and Bumblebee are both carded in their robot forms. I’m still loving the artwork on these cards. The back features a cool little bio blurb about Bumblebee being a courier on Cybertron. Oh yeah, my card is bent to shit because it was shipped by Walmart Online in an unprotected mailer bag. That’s not a complaint mind you. At 97 cents for shipping, I’ll happily accept a mangled card.

Bumblebee’s Cybertron from is an egg-like car. It’s a really cool design that looks like something straight out of Tron. The windows are clear, tinted plastic and the car rolls along really nicely. There’s not a lot else to say about this alt form. It’s obviously not the design from the original cartoon series, as that Bumblebee was more like a hovercraft with stubby wings. Still, this is a nice, original design that suits the character really well. Unfortunately converting him into his alt mode is a real bastard. Bumblebee is primarily a shell-former, and even when all his parts are folded in perfectly, I still can’t seem to eliminate all the gaps on his various plates. At least he does lock together pretty well.

Bumblebee’s robot mode is pretty good, although it has a few sticking points. His torso is a little abbreviated, and at certain angles he seems to have the physique of Dr. Robotnick from Sonic the Hedgehog. If you’re scoping him out from behind he looks particularly bulbous because he’s wearing half his car shell as a backpack. I really love the new head sculpt, though. He’s still got the little G1-inspired horns too. I also love the way parts lock around his wheels to form his feet. It’s very clever. The good definitely outweighs the bad here and I think he makes a fine figure.

Bumblebee has two red, translucent retractable energon blades on his arms and he also comes with a blaster pistol that can be stowed away in either his robot or vehicle forms.

You can pick up Bumblebee for around $11.99 at most toy retailers. These have been pretty easy figures to find, at least in my parts. I’m not quite as fond of him as I am the Optimus Prime figure, but he’s still quite a good figure in both design and execution. Thus far, the Generationsline is batting 4 for 4. Now, bring on Soundwave and Megatron!!

 

Sep 2 2010

Transformers Power Core Combiners: Huffer by Hasbro

Here we go, the last of the Power Core Combiners from the first assortment. The new ones are starting to hit online retailers and will probably soon be showing up on the shelves and pegs, if they haven’t already. Of course, apart from the Rallybot and Destructicon sets, the new figures are going to be a mix of new and repaints from the current assortment, so this initial run will likely be the last wave of completely original toys in this line. Today, we’re looking at Autobot Huffer and his Minicon pal Caliburst.

Huffer is one of the single pack PCC Commander figures, and that means he comes mounted on a simple card, in robot form, with his Minicon beside him. It also means you won’t be able to take advantage of his combination gimmick unless you have either the Aerialbot or Combaticon drone sets, or one of the new sets, if you happen to stumble upon them. The card features some nice artwork and has a little bio blurb about Huffer on the back. Nothing special, but it gets the job done.

G1 fans will recognize the intended homage here to the original Minibot, Huffer, although apart from his name, and the fact that he’s an Autobot and a truck, I don’t think the connection is all that strong. For starters, the coloring is pretty different, with the old Huffer being orange and this Huffer being more of a mustard color. Also, this new Huffer is an extended cab, as opposed to the original Huffer’s cab form. I’m not complaining, mind you, I know this isn’t the Generations line, just making some observations. Overall, Huffer’s truck mode is quite nice, in fact, I’d say this is my favorite alt form of any of the Power Core Commanders thus far, with Smolder taking a close second. You can still see two of his combiner pegs, but they aren’t as out of place as they have been on some of the other Commander figures.

Huffer converts very easily. You’re basically just standing him on his end, pulling out his legs, splitting the cab and folding his arms into position. In fact, the hardest part is splitting the cab in half, which really wants to stay pegged pretty tightly on mine. Still, he has a really nice, clean and pretty unique robot form. Like his alt form, Huffer’s combiner pegs don’t stick out and detract from this mode, which has been a recurring complaint of mine with these figures. In robot form, Huffer looks like he was heavily inspired by Energon Stongarm.

In robot mode, Huffer’s articulation includes a rotating head, ball joints on the shoulders, elbows with both balljoints and a double hinge, universal movement at the hips, and hinged knees.

Caliburst is a pretty solid Minicon and his Targetmaster style gimmick works quite well. His robot form is decent and his cannon form is quite good. I particularly like the side pieces that look like the elevation gears on a large piece of artillery and this form mounts nicely on the back of Huffer’s truck mode. Caliburst’s gun form for Huffer’s robot mode isn’t too bad either, although it has to clip onto Huffer’s arm, rather than have him hold it in his hand. Forget about the power armor mode, it’s crap. But then again, none of the PCC Minicons have managed to get this third mode right.

Huffer’s torso combiner form is pretty good, although it is very similar to his robot mode. The larger head swings out from the back and has a pretty cool sculpt. I didn’t think Huffer would look so great combined with the Aerialbot drones, so I went off the reservation and forced him to combine with the Combaticon drones instead. I think the results are pretty good despite the fact that it is an unholy union of Autobots and Decepticons.

Huffer and Caliburst sell for around $9.99. He is a neat enough little figure that you might consider picking him up, even if you don’t want anything to do with this line. If you disregard the whole combiner gimmick, he still stacks up pretty well against the Scout figures released in the Energon andCybertron lines. I like him a lot.

On a side note, I know a lot of people aren’t really clicking with this curious little line, but I have to say I’ve been pretty satisfied with it. If you go back and read my posts on the initial assortment of these figures, you’ll find I’m definitely lukewarm on some of the them. There’s definitely a few things Hasbro could have done better. And as I’ve said before, I’m probably going a lot easier on this line because I know that there are also Hunt for the Decepticons and Generations figures out there as well. I think it comes down to this: A lot of the action figures I collect just stand on the shelves (or lay in bins) waiting for me to take them down, admire them a bit, maybe put them in a different pose, but in the end, I see them ascollectibles. Transformers have always been toys I enjoy fiddling about with, converting them back and forth, and whatnot. You can actually play with them without actually playing with them, if you know what I mean. These Power Core Combiners jive with that feeling really well. They’re just fun to play around with, and I’m looking forward to picking up more drone sets to mix and match with my Commander figures.


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Aug 25 2010

Transformers Power Core Combiners: Searchlight by Hasbro

So far the Hasbro’s PCC line of Transformers has been pretty hit and miss. I loved the Combaticons set, didn’t much care for the Aerialbots set, and I was pretty happy with Smoulder. I wasn’t going to pick up Searchlight and Backwind at all, because the early promotional shots of him looked bad, but when I saw him in person today, I thought better of him. I’m not sure if he was mistransformed in the pics I saw, or if he’s just one of those figures that looks better in person, but either way I picked him up.


Searchlight is one of the Commander figures that is bundled with a Minicon, as opposed to the larger sets that come with four drones. You can treat him like a stand alone Transformer, and he can interact with his Minicon, but unless you already have one of the drone sets, you won’t be able to take advantage of his combination abilities. The figure is packed in robot mode, alongside his Minicon on a pretty attractive card. The back panel has a little bio blurb about how Searchlight is the Autobot’s number one guy for search and rescue ops.

Searchlight’s alt mode is a twin rotor style rescue helicopter. For a Scout Class sized toy, his chopper mode is not too bad and I get a bit of a G1 vibe from it. On the downside, there’s a few unsightly parts exposed on the top and bottom, where you can recognize what will be his arms and legs. You can also see his combiner pegs hanging off the back. For some reason Hasbro has done a rather poor job concealing the combiner pegs on some of these Commander figures’ alt modes. The coloring here is gray and blue with black painted windows. He’s got Autobot emblems on his sides as well as a registry number printed on his rear stabalizers, and he’s got a single Minicon peg located on the chin of the cockpit. Yeah, Searchlight’s alt mode doesn’t stack up to the Scout sized figures we’ve been seeing from the movie lines, but considering this line is designed more for kids, I think it’s perfectly serviceable.

Converting Searchlight into his robot form is a little complex for a Scout and I actually like his robot mode pretty well. He does have a good deal of alt mode backpack kibble going on, but it doesn’t really interfere with the articulation or balance of the figure too much. In fact, the only thing that really bothers me about his robot form are the combiner pegs sticking out of his knees, which look horribly out of place. Apart from that he’s pretty sharp. You can leave his rotors pegged into his arms as weapons, or remove them if you feel they get in the way. I kind of like leaving them where they are so he can chop up Decepticon fools.

Searchlight has a good deal of articulation. His head is ball jointed, as are his shoulders and his elbows feature both ball joints and a double hinged joint. His legs have universal joints at the hips, as well as hinged knees and ankles.

Searchlight’s Minicon is Backwind and Backwind sucks. Ok, he’s actually a pretty cool little robot but as a Transformer he’s got nothing. He supposedly converts into weapons for Searchlight’s robot and chopper modes, but they both look awful and detract from Searchlight’s modes. The handgun looks like some kind of squished energon frog and while the chin-mounted chopper component looks a little better, it’s still way too ungainly and awkward looking. Backwind also converts to a power armor chestpiece, which is the best of his three alt modes, but that’s not saying a lot.


I don’t expect a lot from these quadruple changing Minicons, but at least Smoulder’s Minicon converted into a fantastic energon axe and a decent cannon. I really have no use for any of Backwind’s alt modes. It’s a shame, because I love this revival of the Targetmaster gimmick and Backwind’s robot mode has plenty of attitude, but I think Hasbro is just trying to do way too much with these simple little figures.

As a Power Core Commander, Searchlight forms a pretty decent torso for the combiner drones that come with any of the larger Combiner sets. I combined him with the Aerialbot drones that came with Skyburst and I think he actually looks pretty damn good. The yellow helicopter arm is still pretty nuts, but apart from that this combined form works a lot better for me than it did with Skyburst, and that defintely made this figure worth picking up.

Searchlight and Backwind ran me $9.99 at Walmart and considering what the single carded Scout sized figures are selling for, this price seems about right. All in all, Searchlight is a decent figure and considering I was going to avoid getting him, he actually turned out to be a nice surprise. I’m glad I picked him up, even if his poor Minicon is a well-meaning mess.

If you’re still on the fence over these PCC figures, I doubt Searchlight will win you over. I think I’m more forgiving of this line because it’s taking a backseat to Generations and Hunt for the Decepticons, so I can get my fix on the more collctor orientated lines, I don’t have to take these Power Core figures quite so seriously. Anyway, the last Commander figure I need now is Huffer, but what I’m really looking forward to are the two new drone sets, which look pretty sweet.

Aug 24 2010

Transformers: Warman’s Transformers Field Guide by Mark Bellomo

Here’s something a little different. I read a lot. History, literature, some modern fiction. Reading and collecting books are about the only pasttimes that give my love of figures and toys a run for its money. And while I love writing and discussing the books I read, I try to save that for other venues, because I try to keep this blog focused on toys, at least 95 percent of the time. Nonetheless, a friend of mine sent me this book for my birthday and I thought we’d take a quick look at it.

As the title suggests, this book is designed as an on-the-go guide. It’s pocket sized in terms of its page and cover dimensions, but weighing in at 510 pages, it’s thicker than your average (non Stephen King) novel. Nearly every page is covered with crisp, full color illustrations, a majority of the figures are shown in both of their modes, and in many cases they are confined to one figure per page. There are only occasional photos of boxed toys and not a lot of attention paid to accessories and parts, but obviously something had to be left out to keep the book managable in size.

But if the book sacrifices a bit in order to make it portable, it’s still remarkably extensive for what it is. It’s probably best to consider it a companion volume to Bellomo’s far more exhaustive Transformers Identification and Price Guide. Nonetheless, it has photos and descriptions of nearly all the American Transformers releases throughout the course of what we now call Generation One. It’s also laid out more or less chronologically by release, so you know exactly where each figure falls in the Transformers timeline.

I’ll admit that upon first flipping through the book, I was a bit skeptical that I could learn anything from it. Afterall I have been collecting Transformers since they first came out when I was a wee lad. Nonetheless, there’s more than a few rare and unusual pieces in here. Some of which I owned as a kid and forgot all about (like the Powerdashers or the Time Warrior digital watch) and others that held little interest for me at the time of their release (like the Action Masters). And yeah, there are a few items in here that I’m pretty sure I never even knew existed, like the STARS Autobot Command Center.

Unfortunately, I remain skeptical on how useful printed price guides on collectibles are these days. In fact, I was pretty surrpised to see that they are still being published. It seems archaic to depend on this system of snapshot pricing when you have sites like Ebay to show you a live concept of what an item is worth from day to day. Afterall, the value of any collectible is only what someone is willing to pay for it. And with the increasing number of people with full Internet access on their cellphones, even the portability of a printed guide is no longer a unique asset. I have no doubt this aspect of the book was well researched, but I think the space would have been better spent on something else. It may sound like sacrelidge for a book lover to denounce a printed book in favor of digital options (I don’t even own an e-reader), but in this case I have to calls it like I sees it.

Warman’s Transformers Field Guide is published by Krause and retails at $12.99. This edition is a few years old, and I’m not sure if it’s been updated since. Nonetheless, it’s a fun curiosity and I’ve had a great time flipping through it and enjoying the photography, but I can’t recommend it as a purchase for reference. Every bit of information in this book is available for free on that Interwebs contraption and you can get a far more accurate appraisal of a Transformers’ worth by trawling Ebay’s Completed Auction lists. However, if you are interested in this sort of thing, though, be sure to check out Bellomo’s other Transformers guide (as mentioned above) as well as his excellent Ultimate Guide to GI JOE 1982-1994. His research on these books is without a doubt impressive.

 

Aug 17 2010

Transformers The Hunt for The Decepticons: Hubcap by Hasbro

I don’t know how many Hunt for the Decepticon figures I’m going to actually pick up. I’m not keen on too many of the repaints (except maybe Jetblade), and I have no real interest in buying Deluxe versions of Ironhide and Ratchet when I already own the Voyager versions. There are, however, a number of interesting looking Scout Class figures in this lineup that I will no doubt buy, and the first is this little Autobot named Hubcap.

Hubcap comes on a simple card and mounted in his robot form. The packaging is serviceable, but very reminiscent of the Egyptian theme used for the Revenge of the Fallen toys, just colored more orange than red. As the packaging suggests, these figures are designed to fit in the “Bayformer” aesthetic (although as we saw a few posts back, Sea Spray is an exception to that rule). As usual, there’s a small bio blurb on the back of the package along with the character’s stats.

Hubcap’s alt mode is a vintage automobile. Its a pretty simple car without a lot of sculpting detail or paint apps. The body is somewhere between orange and red, the windows are painted black, and there’s gray exhaust pipes, bumpers and radiator grill. He’s also got a tiny little Autobot emblem right about where his hood ornament would be. Like i said, it’s simple, but still very appealing. It holds together well, although the seaming down the trunk is a little bit sloppy, and it rolls along great. I suppose Hasbro could have gotten a little more creative with the color scheme, but I’m sure they’re just saving that for an inevitable repaint.

Transforming Hubcap to and from his robot form is a breeze. He actually has one of the most simplest conversions I’ve seen in the movie based lineup. In fact it’s almost reminiscent of the simpler G1 styles. Nonetheless, Hubcap has a really great robot mode. He pretty much wears his car parts as armor and the robot underneath is two-tone gray. His head sculpt leaves a lot to be desired, but for a Scout, I guess it isn’t too bad.

Hubcap sports excellent articulation. He has ball joints in the neck, elbows and hips. He has universal joints in the shoulders and hinged knees and ankles.

For the most part, I’ve really enjoyed most of the Scout Class figures that came out of the movie lines, but Hubcap here has a special place in my heart. He has an unabashed G1 simplicity to him and yet once transformed he makes for a great action figure, and there’s something in me that loves a Transformer based on a vintage car. Hasbro really should do more of these. Either way, I really recommend picking up Hubcap. Even if you have been shying away from the movie based “Bayformers,” this cool little guy might be worth a look for you.

Aug 15 2010

Transformers The Hunt For The Decepticons: Sea Spray by Hasbro

The new Transformers are showing up all over the place here. Its taking all my resolve to resist picking up all the new stuff in one shot, but I’m trying to pace myself and just grab a couple new figures each time I hit the toy aisles. On my last trip to Walmart for groceries, I didn’t intend to pick up any new toys, but when I saw Sea Spray, I couldn’t help myself.

Ok, so technically Sea Spray is part of The Hunt for the Decepticons line. Its how he’s listed in retail inventories and that’s the style of packaging he comes in. But why? Clearly this guy should have been released as part of Generations. I’m guessing the reason is that Hasbro didn’t plan on anything in Generations being larger than a Deluxe, so it was just easier to go with The Hunt packaging. Either way, I consider Sea Spray as part of the whole Classics/Universe 2.0/Generations continuum. Besides being an obvious G1 homage, his style clearly doesn’t fit in with the movie stuff.

The Voyager Class figures in The Hunt lineup are packaged in robot form. I like this idea, because I get a good look at what the bot form looks like. Afterall, the alt modes are almost always solid. I’m not so crazy about package deco used on this line, though. It still looks like its hanging on to the Egyptian theme from Revenge of the Fallen and I really think its time to move on from that. The angular edges on the box does make the package stand out nicely and the package is pretty collector friendly if you want to return your figure to it for display.

The most obvious thing about Sea Spray is how much he’s grown since his humble G1 days as a minibot. As a Voyager, he stands shoulder to shoulder with Classics Optimus Prime. I don’t mind this so much, because despite being larger, Sea Spray’s proportions still work with the Classic style figures, whereas when fellow minibot Power Glide got the larger make over, he just didn’t seem to fit in with the Classics. Besides, which Sea Spray’s alt mode is designed to carry other Autobots, so his larger size just makes sense.

Sea Spray’s alt mode is a hover craft, and a good one at that. There isn’t a lot of substance to him as he’s pretty much hollow underneith and a good portion of him is the flatbed platform. The main bulk of the toy is the ring that runs around him and the control cabin. There’s a good amount of detail on the cabin structure, and the blue ring is textured. Sea Spray features two firing missile launchers, adjustable fans in the back, and a moving ramp to provide access to his flatbed. The flatbed will fit most Scout Class vehicles, but Minicons definitely work better. Overall, this is a great looking alt mode, and with the blue and white color scheme, he’s a good match for G1 Sea Spray, although he would have been closer if Hasbro had used yellow instead of gold for his fans.

In theory, transforming Sea Spray is pretty simple, but things get a bit sticky because of the way the blue ring locks together. Its tough to figure out where to disconnect it first to start the transformation. I’ve done it quite a few times, and locking/unlocking the final pieces always seems to be a little frustrating.

Sea Spray’s robot mode is outstanding. The proportions are excellent, making him look like one powerful dude and he has good balance. There’s a great deal of nautical influence in the robot mode as well. Sea Spray’s head is obviously derived from a diving mask complete with breathing aparatus, his back with the twin fans looks a bit like a diving backpack, and if you so desire, you can fold flippers out onto his feet. I just pretend that option doesn’t exist! The side mounted missile launchers from the hovercraft mode wind up on Sea Spray’s arms, giving him some solid firepower.

Articulation includes universal joints in Sea Spray’s shoulders and hips, as well as hinges in his elbows, knees and ankles. His head can also turn and you can make adjustments to his fans.

Sea Spray retails for $19.99, which is right on point for the Voyager size toys. As far as I’m concerned, Hasbro hit a home run with Sea Spray. The size change made good sense, and they made good use of it to create an impressively designed toy. He’s a nice update to the vintage character, loads of fun, and makes a great addition to my collection of Classics, er Generations, er whatever.


Aug 13 2010

Transformers War for Cybertron: Optimus Prime by Hasbro

I don’t play a lot of video games these days. Well, at least not nearly as much as I used to back in my game junkie days. But I did pick up War for Cybertron and I played it like crack until I was done and then started it all over again. Besides being a great game, it really brought the characters to life and featured some downright fantastic re-designs of some of my favorite childhood characters. Needless to say, when I found out that some of these designs would be transformed into figures for the Generations line, I was mighty excited. The initial assortment features Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, and today we’re going to look at Prime.

Hasbro opted to include these in the Generations line so you get the exact same style of package as we saw with Thrust. Prime is mounted in his Cybertron truck form. Its a very appealing presentation, but I would have liked something different about the card to make the War for Cybertron figures stand out a bit more. Even a sticker on the bubble might have been nice. Then again, I just rip these things open, so what do I care?



But wait, what’s this? Optimus Prime’s a Deluxe? Yeah, that doesn’t happen too often, and I don’t think it should have happened here. Granted, in the game, Prime wasn’t much taller than his fellow Autobots, but I still think Hasbro should have made this figure a Voyager Class. Not only because Prime is usually taller, but for reasons of the figure’s complexity that we’ll get to in a minute. With the popularity and press about the game, you’d think some Voyager sized toys wouldn’t have been that big risk. I mean, even Sea Spray is a Voyager so… come on!

I love the design of Prime’s truck mode. Its got a retro look to it, what with the curving shape of the front quarter panels and the grill, and yet it still looks futuristic. Its also got no windows, which makes sense, because, afterall, in his natural Cybertron form, why would he have windows? The truck mode locks together really well and rolls along great. There’s a socket on the top that you can peg his gun into, which is great because in the game, all the Autobots packed quite a bit of firepower in their alternate forms.


Transforming Prime is a daunting task, at least the first couple of times. The package lists him as a Level 4 Advanced conversion, and they’re not kidding around. There’s a lot of moving parts on this guy and more than a few double hinged pieces that need to be moved just right to get everything else to work. I can usually work out my Transformers without instructions, especially Deluxes, but I had to glance at Prime’s a few times to get it right. Still, after a few conversions, he’s not so bad. In fact, this is one of the more clever transformations I’ve seen in a while.

In robot mode, Prime is just a fantastic looking figure. In fact, he’s one of my favorite looking Prime figures in quite a while. His head sculpt is classic Prime, but with a few more stylized features, like the longer ear antenna. I like how this design leaves in the chest “windshields” even though they aren’t part of the truck design. The various bits of the truck’s outer shell fall into line nicely to form pieces of armor for his shoulders and non-obtrusive back plating. Its a really elegant design and a really convincing concept of what a pre-Earth Prime should have looked like.

Prime has great articulation, which includes a rotating head, ball joints in the shoulders and hips and hinged elbows and knees. His joints feel pretty loose right out of the package, but he doesn’t have much trouble standing or holding his positions.


Cybertronian Optimus Prime retails for around $11.99, which is about right for Deluxes these days and actually not bad for a figure of this complexity. Actually, he’s an amazing enough figure that I would have probably paid a lot more for him if I had to. I sincerely hope he sells well, because I’d like to see a lot of figures produced from the War for Cybertron game beyond the handful that we’ve seen so far. The early pictures for Soundwave look great. Now bring on the Seekers, Warpath, Ironhide, Sideswipe, etc. etc.

 

Aug 12 2010

Transformers Generations: Thrust by Hasbro

When Hasbro came out with Starscream and Skywarp in the Classics line, I thought they were among some of the best Transformers figures ever produced… and I still do. They took the classic design of the G1 toys and made them into the actual articulated action figures that I always wanted to own as a kid. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in being pissed off that Hasbro decided not to complete the set with Thundercracker. And even when we did get Ramjet later on, Dirge and Thrust were nowhere to be found, unless you lived in Japan or were willing to drop a couple hundred dollars for them on Ebay.

Well, with the Classics line once again renamed (this time as Generations), we are finally getting another Decepticon Seeker here in the States. While I would have preferred Thundercracker to complete my set of the original three, Thrust here is still a very nice pick-up. Let’s take a look…

I like the packaging on the Generations Deluxe figures. Yes, Generations. What used to be Classics and then Universe (Universe 2.0 to many fans) is now Generations. The cards feature unique character art, and the large bubble shows off the figure nicely in its jet mode, although its kind of odd that he’s carded with his VTOL engines mounted under the back wings. The back panel has a photo of Thrust in his robot mode and the usual little bio blurb. There’s a new sticker on the bubble advertising Hasbro’s upcoming TV network, which will be the home of the new Transformers series. Ah, but packaging was made to be ripped open, so let’s get to the figure inside.

Thrust is one great looking jet. The brown and deep crimson colors are extremely close to the original G1 toy and the clear golden cockpit looks striking against the darker colors. The main body of this figure is naturally a reuse of the Ramjet body, with the new wing designs, complete with removable VTOL engine pods. You can also mount Thrust’s rocket launchers under the rear wings if you prefer. Next to Skywarp, Thrust here is now my favorite of the modern Decepticon seeker jet designs.

Converting Thrust to robot form is fairly simple, but I’m not sure I would agree with the package in calling it Easy. Especially not since these are designed for little kids. Either way, he transforms exactly the same way as the other Seekers, until you get to his wings and there you have a couple of options. You can transform him the same as Starscream or Skywarp, or you can remove the VTOLs from his larger wings and mount them on the smaller wings near his feet. Going with this second option gives him a little more clearance for moving his arms.

Either way, Thrust looks awesome in his robot mode. Hasbro did a fine job making this figure resemble its original animated counterpart. As with the other newly designed Seekers, I do wish the missiles weren’t so large. I realize its a safety issue, but I would have preferred they just molded these into non-firing laser cannons to make them smaller and more animation accurate. Still, with a figure this good, I’m just nit picking. Thrust has solid articulation. He can turn his head. He has universal movement in his shoulders and upper legs, and his elbows and knees are hinged. Essentially, he can do all the things I wished my G1 Seekers could do.

Thrust retails at $11.99. The price of the Deluxe figures are slowly creeping up there, but I don’t think they’ve reached unreasonable levels yet. That’s especially the case when you take a look at how much the Henkei Thrust was selling for on Ebay or import toy sites. Either way, I’m really happy with this figure and I’ve got new hope that we may yet still see Dirge and Thundercracker on this side of the Pacific.

Aug 12 2010

Transformers Power Core Combiners: Skyburst by Hasbro

Not long ago, I took a look at the Combaticons Power Core Combiner set, now its time to check out the Autobot competition: The Aerialbots, led by Skyburst. In case you missed out on the Combaticon post, here’s a quick breakdown on how these Power Core Combiner 5-packs work. You get one Commander figure (roughly Scout Class size) in this case that’s Skyburst, who transforms into a robot. He comes with four smaller drones that don’t transform into robots, but do automatically convert into limbs when plugged into the Commander figure’s combiner pegs to create a larger combined robot. With that out of the way, let’s take a look at the Aerialbots.

The packaging is the same as the one used on the Combaticon set. Its colorful, exciting, and pretty pleasing on the eye. The front panel of the box has a large window to show off the toys inside. Skyburst is mounted in the center in his robot form and flanked by his four nameless drones in their vehicle forms. There are two helicopters and two jets. The back panel shows the combined figure and there’s a description on the side panel about how the whole Power Core Combiner system works. All in all, its a serviceable package and its fairly collector friendly if you wanted to return your Transformers to the box. I do, however, disagree with the conversion level at Intermediate. There’s nothing even remotely challenging about transforming Skyburst.

On my last trip to Toys R Us, I specifically left this set on the shelf and bought the Combaticons instead, just because I thought this one was the lesser of the two sets. That assessment, of course, was based just on quick initial impressions, but boy was I right. While the Combaticon set pretty much sold me on this whole iffy drone combiner idea, this Aerialbot set makes me start questioning it again. There’s just very little to like about it.

Skyburst is a pretty average figure. His jet mode looks like it was inspired by G1 Silverbolt. Its not a bad looking jet, although I’m not thrilled about the drab gray and gold colors. There’s some decent sculpting of the panel lines, the landing gear works, and unless you turn it upside down, you won’t see too much robot kibble. The minicon peg on the back of the jet is unsightly, but I guess its part of the line’s gimmick. One nice thing is that he doesn’t have any of his combiner pegs hanging off of him like Bombshock’s truck mode does.

His transformation is pretty simple even for a Scout Class, which have been getting remarkably sophisticated these days. But even compared to the Combaticon Commander, Skyburst comes up severely lacking in robot mode. He wears most of his jet mode as an enormous backpack, which apart from giving him the illusion of height, just looks ugly. Apart from that at least his articulation is fairly good, with ball joints in the shoulders, elbows and hips, and hinges in the knees. Even still, Skyburst’s robot mode just doesn’t hold up all that well to today’s standards. I’ve certainly seen worse, but its just average and uninspiring.




I wasn’t terribly impressed with the Combaticon drones, but they were ok for what they were. The Aerialbot drones don’t fare quite so well. The blue helicopter gunship is just a mess. The yellow (rescue?) chopper is ok, but it almost looks like its supposed to be superdeformed. The black and grey jet would be passable if it weren’t for the huge and unnecessary minicon peg towering up from behind the cockpit and the massive hole between the wings. At least the white electronic survaillance jet is a pretty cool little Autobot jet. I really don’t have anything bad to say about that one.

At least the combined robot form is solid right? Eh, no. While I expect combiner robots to have a hodgepodge element to their aesthetics, Skyburst’s combined form really goes too far. The white jet makes for a pretty good arm, but look at the yellow helicopter’s limb. What the hell is going on with that thing? Its just awful. And both of the legs are wobbly and unstable and I had to do quite a bit of fiddling to get him to stand up right on these legs, even though they are supposed to auto-transform. The chopper leg doesn’t offer a lot of support and I’m still not sure what the jet leg is really supposed to do to be correct. I also had a real tough time getting the grey jet pegged into his combiner port without transforming it manually first. Skyburst’s torso form is actually not too bad. Its a clever transformation and pegs together well. I do, however, hate the head as it seems to be inspired by the Bayformer heads, whereas Bombshock’s was clearly a G1 homage.

In the end this Aerialbot set is an epic fail for me. I could forgive certain things about Skyburst and his drones, if they added up to a really cool combined form, but they don’t. This set just doesn’t really succeed at anything. If you were on the fence over whether or not to embrace these Power Core Combiner sets, this one will likely make up your mind against the idea. Bombshock’s set made for a pretty cool and solid combiner, whereas this one is just not very well executed and not a lot of fun. I’m glad TRU was having a sale on it, because at least I saved $2. My recommendation is to invest your money in some of the other awesome Transformers figures showing up right now, and leave this set on the shelf.



 

Aug 8 2010

Transformers: Autobot Blaster (SDCC Exclusive) by Hasbro

Last year Hasbro gave us the very cool Soundwave gift set as their Transformers SDCC Exclusive. This year, it seemed only natural they compliment that release with Soundwave’s Autobot counterpart, Blaster. They also seemed to up the production numbers on this one, possibly as a response to how quickly Soundwave sold out last year. So is this set as impressive and desireable as last year’s offering? Yes and no.

Hasbro pulled out the stops on the presentation of this set, making it look even more impressive than the formidable Soundwave release. The set comes packaged in a reflective cardboard sleeve with a huge Autobot symbol and Blaster’s name written in a cool, funky retro 80’s style that certainly suits the figure’s character.


Slide off the sleeve and you have a pleasingly large box decorated in a G1 fashion very similar to Soundwave’s release. The key difference, besides it being bigger, is that Blaster’s box has a front flap that covers the window display. Open the flap and you can see photos of the toys on the reverse side and the window revealing Blaster and three of his cassette minions, Steeljaw, Ramhorn and Eject, all in their robot forms. On presentation alone, this set gets full marks.

Slide out the inner tray and you can get to the goods. Blaster is a satisfyingly large figure, much bigger than Soundwave. He’s colorful, boxy and the epitome of glorious G1 Transformer design. His stickers come already applied, and mine were applied pretty well. The only real disappointing thing about Blaster is the complete lack of detail on his back. Granted, it is authentic to the original toy, but it looks lacking, especially compared to Soundwave’s belt clip and opening “battery” compartment-slash-weapon storage. Oh yeah, his head always looked way too small to me.

Blaster has pretty limited articulation, which is to be expected for a G1 Transformer and most of his existing articulation is a by-product of his transformation process. He can turn his head, his arms rotate at the shoulders, his hands can swivel, and his legs can move laterally to change his stance. That’s pretty much it. His tape door is spring loaded and ejects with the press of his eject button. Its a first for me, since the eject button on the original G1 Blaster I owned as a kid was broken right out of the box.

Transforming him into his boom box mode is only slightlly more involved than Soundwave. Its a very simple conversion, although there are a few neat tricks, like the way the arms fold in or the way the grab bar comes out of each of the legs and joins together. The final result is more toyish looking and less convincing than Soundwave’s walkman form, but it gets the job done.


Blaster’s cassettes are a bit of a mixed bag. Steeljaw and Ramhorn are pretty cool, although they suffer from the same two-dimensional design as Ravage and rely on their added parts to give them depth. Both figures are pretty well designed, though, considering what they transform into, and Steeljaw in particular has a ridiculous number of shifting plates to help along his transformation. Eject has never been one of my favorites, probably because of his weird looking arms. He’s certainly not awful, but compare him to the Rumble and Frenzy design and he comes up severely lacking. As with the Soundwave reissue, all of Blaster’s cassettes come with clear plastic cases.



Blaster retails at the same price as last year’s Soundwave set, $49.99, and I’d say that’s quite a deal. While original G1 Blasters can still be commonly found for sale at the usual places, his tape door is often an early casualty of play wear and tear, and his cassettes can be a lot tougher to find in good shape. Either way, you’re getting quite a lot here for your money.

As previously noted, the production on this set seemed to be a lot higher than Soundwave, as Blaster was still available for almost a week after going up for sale at Hasbro Toyshop. The only sticking point is that I don’t think Blaster has ever reached the insane levels of popularity as his Decepticon counterpart Soundwave. I know that I never much cared for his character in the series, but I always liked the figure. That lesser demand plus the increased production likely led to him sticking around a lot more. Still, any diehard G1 fan would do well to pick this set up. The presentation is wonderful, the figures are solid, and its certainly priced right.