Birthday...the actual day, anyhow

So, my birthday went pretty well. TF wise, the only thing new to pick up in town was an exclusive ROTF Legends class 4-pack at Kmart. I never (or very rarely, actually) buy TFs there because they usually cost more than Walmart/Target and often get them (much) later, but they're the onyl one's selling this set, and unnlike with most TFs, they get their exclusives on shelves fast.

So I picked up a set. All 4 are molds I already own, but only one is intended to be the same character as the first version.

That would be Jetfire. This version of the character is the only one with an actual Autobot symbol; between that and his new colors sheme (a very nice dull silver with black trim and gold details), this is probably supposed to be some divergent-timeline Jetfire from a world where he doesn't die at the end of the movie and formally joins the Autobots. At any rate, I now can display the black version with the rest of the Decepticon movie legends without guilt.

Blades is a repaint of ROTF Springer and the other Autobot of the set. A clear G1 homage in both name and appearance, Blades is mostly white and red with some grey plastc thrown in too. The bot mode is mostly white, with the majority of the red paint only being highly visible in V-22 mode. One thing I should point out is that this mold was designed for Springer, who was intened at one point to be in the movie (he even has a Robot Heroes figurine). One of the Wave 4 deluxe toys, Blazemaster, has many similarities to the Springer design in his bot mode, and I thought that either Springer himself or Blades would be acceptable repaint options for Blazemaster. While no repaints of that mold have surfaced yet, someone at Hasbro was clearly thinking along some of the same lines as me when designing this Legends class Blades repaint. At any rate, it's very appropriate and works well.

Spinister is a Blackout (2007 Movie) repaint, and probably the best looking version of the mold. I own 2 other versions - the 2007 original and the Allspark Power Desert repaint. Actually, if you took the desert version and replaced the tan plastic with the very dark purple (almost black) of Spinister, you'd be able to imagine what Spinister looks like. They have very similar paint apps (purple strips here and there). Overall, it looks like Spinister is sporting the official Decepticon colors and he looks good doing it. Also, Spinister is another G1 homage, although mostly just in name. The G1 version's colors are not very close to this new one.

Lastly, there's Thundercracker, the original reason I bought the set. He's a Seeker repaint of the 2007 movie Starscream mold, and he looks pretty sharp. His colors closely mirror the voyager version (also from the 2007 line). One key difference is the head; this mold has the Starscream head design seen in the movie, whereas the larger Thundercracker has the more G1-looking head mold shared with the G1-style 2007 Starscream and ROTF Skywarp. They did manage to paint the head the same colors as the larger toy's head (black) and ultimately it looks fine. I'd been using the Stealth Starscream repaint as Skywarp for over a year anyway, and he also has the difference in head designs. Not a big deal, I suppose.

In summation, this is one of the few ROTF Legends exclusive sets that actually seemed worth getting to me. None of the repaints are "half-baked" like the Sideswipe and Mudflap in the Walmart Fearswoop set or the Ironhide and (again) Mudflap from the Target Straightaway Shootout set. They're mostly new characters (compared to the original mold releases, anyway), adn the one that's not is clearly different looking from the eariler summer release (Jetfire). THe set will also attract Seeker collectors (like me), aerial mode enthusiasts (like me), and folks excited by the return of Spinister (me, not so much). It's a bit pricey, but worth it if you like legends toys.