Chopper Squad

Really liking these three together! Kind of a different take on the Green Propeller Task Force.

Greenlock

Not the best pic, I know. Still, I was excited to find this guy at the local WM last night. It's hard to believe, but this is the first new-mold legion/legends class Grimlock since the size class debuted nigh-on ten years ago! Last year's (two different) Grimlock repaint(s) of TFP Rippersnapper was the first release of the character, but this new one is the real deal. The legends class debuted during Cybertron, which Grimlock played no part in. He also wasn't in any of the first 3 movies, so he didn't get s toy there either, and for some reason he hasn't received a G1-style mold through Universe or Generations either. So Neo-RiD (or RiD15, whatever you want to call it) gets to showcase the first legion Grimlock, and he's turned out pretty well.

His transformation is backwards from most Grimlocks' - the Dino head becomes part of the feet and the tail becomes the backpack, closest to Classics Grimlock. I do like how the tail flanks end up mimicking the kibble wings the Grimlock usually has, and overall there is a good sense of design continuity here despite this toy not having the same transformation as the deluxe. I also appreciate the battle mask, a feature not seen off the larger tots but something that, again, strengthens his design continuity with G1 Grimlock. The big departure, of course, is the color scheme. This is not the gray, gold, black and red Grimlock we all know and love. And while the green and Dino mode details may bring Cruellock to mind (at least, it kind of does for me), the amusing thing is that we've had had a green, black and gold Grimlock before - and from another toy line/show called RiD, no less! I'm talking about the excavator Grimlock from RiD (2001), who helped form the combiner Landfill and has pretty much nothing to do with the Dinobot Grimlock. In fact, that Grimlock seems to have more in common (visually) with Scorponok than any Dinobot. If this commonality in color schemes is an intended homage, it's a weird one!

Stunticons: Roll Call, Part 1 (Dead End)

Full disclosure (A): I'm not sure how to edit the review pages on my phone, so I'm doing this series as normal posts.

Full disclosure (B): Dead End is the Stunticon that I've spent the least amount of time with, so that may have colored the tone of this review.

Ok! I've completed the Combiner Wars Stunticons, and I'll be reviewing them one by one, pretty much in reverse order of purchase. Dead End, firstly, looks great in car mode. He's got these great fanglike headlights, nice curves, and the rear looks like something you'd actually see on a high-end sports car, with the big, central tailpipe and all. I've never really liked Dead End's colors, but here the maroon is made with some pretty nice swirly metallic plastic, so that kind of mitigates that issue, though it's true that I think the Wildrider version of this mold will look better. Dead End's smokestack beatin' stick unceremoniously sticks onto the side, and the foothandgun mounts out too in the least inventive way possible (you'll see what I mean as I review the other Stunticons), so the car mode definitely looks better unarmed than armed, but then, you knew this wasn't the alternators line anyway, so no use in complaining. As a side note, let me add that I'm not really bothered by the lack of clear windows in this line. It's a pretty big change, as most previous lines going back to at least RiD (the first one) have had pretty much every larger-than-basic, and then then some basics, TFs used clear plastic for windshields and such. On the flip side, it's been nice to see all the deluxes have painted rims, even if Motormaster and Blackjack don't. Also, one scary but is that Dead End's windshield doesn't like to come out of its orientation for car mode - it feels like it's going to break while you are opening it and there are now stress marks on the bottom part, so I'm kind of worried. At least this isn't an issue when going between robot and limb modes, but I should be able to put the guy in care mode without fear of breakage, and I worry that Wildrider will have the same issue. I'll update with a fix if I can figure one out.

So, robot mode - I'll admit that I came into this with high expectations. With both Dead End and Breakdown being that last two Stunticons that I got, I only really knew them ahead of time from their online reviews, which decidedly leaned in favor of Dead End. In fact, Dead End probably has more "best of the team" appraisals than any of the deluxe Stunticons. Let's just say I didn't get a good first impression of Dead End. Out of  the package, he couldn't hold his foothandgun (too loose, even for all of his 5mm ports save, thankfully, the exhaust), he had loose shoulder and hip joints (not too uncommon) and his lower legs didn't hold together well in any mode. Suffice to say, I've put more nail polish on Dead End than any other recent transformer since I started doing that with Cybertron Unicron in 2006. Now that the polish has cured, he's a lot better, but he's still not as great in hand as he looks in photos. Makes me kind of second guess wanting to pick up Wildrider when he's released. Anyhow - one thing that jumps out to you about Dead End is that he kind of feels like a "grown up" version of Cybertron Clocker. It's not a one-for-one copy, but the upward hood on the back, the hollow lower legs from the back of the car, and arms from the doors all bring Clocker to mind. I do like how the lower legs open and close around the thighs for car mode; that's pretty neat and you kind of a lame hover mode from it. However, it also means that he pretty much has no feet - just little nubs that are even proportionally tinier than the feet Clocker had. A note about the arms - they are kind of short and the elbow joint is more restricted than you'd think. The arm is not designed to look naturally at rest when it's straight/in vehicle configuration - as such, you have to bend the elbow to make the arm appear straight and the door paneling prevents the joint from closing as much as it could. Even so, the arms are serviceable. I do like the smokestack weapon better in bot mode; more than anything else about the new Stunticon toys, it helps sell their image of a bunch of robot thugs. Since Wildrider also comes with one, I figure that they both (being the buddies that they are) jumped some poor Autobot with a semi altmode and ripped the smokestacks off of him. He does look a little out of place with the other teammates since they all have -purpose-built weapons, but as I said this will only further the connection between Dead End and Wildrider once I have the latter.

As a limb, Dead End is...ok. His leg mode is fine if a bit fat. I do like how the smokestack plugs into the same car mode port and it looks good that way, even if it interferes with Motormaster's foot when posing. The arm mode is not as good, mostly because it doesn't feel as solid as the other bots' arm modes. This is at least partly because he feet/the combiner forearm don't connect together that well, but the exhaust pipe that the foothandgun has to connect to has to flip a 180 for this mode and kinda-sorta float in the middle of this weird, partly empty forearm. Also, Dead End's own arms can't stay flush without inhibiting combiner articulation, but don't really look good nor are they very secure from moving around when you've got his shoulder struts pulled out to allow for said combiner articulation. Of course, I'm assuming these issues will be present with Wildrider as well.

Overall, Dead End is a bit of a let down, which is sort of amusing considering his personality. I don't care for the fact that, despite the mold's issues, it will be this mold that gets duplicated for the set as Wildrider instead of a stronger mold being duplicated. In the end, though, it's a good-looking toy, fits in well with the rest of the team, and it's also nice to finally get a real Dead End after years of mixed-up homages that conflate him and Wildrider.

Edit: I wanted to note that, after spending some more time with Dead End (and his newly acquired remold, Wildrider), I'm a lot more positive about this mold than when I wrote this review. 

- I figured out how to open the windshield without making myself stress about the stress...basically, push down on the very back of the roof panel that is part of the windshield piece. I have to do this with Wildrider too. Now I don't worry about going to and from vehicle mode, which is great because of how nice the car mode is.

- while the foothandgun placement in car mode is still lazy, it does allow you to use the post itself and the transformation hinge to use it as an anti-aircraft turret; pretty useful for the enemies of the Aerialbots.

- while Dead End himself definitely suffered from QC issues, these aren't inherent to the mold itself, as Wildrider didn't have to have any nail polish (though I may add some for the typical loose hips).

- lastly, I've found that keeping Dead End's arms stowed when he's in arm mode doesn't really hinder articulation much.

Tiny Magnus!

We saw a rumored listing for these earlier last week, and people pretty easily determined that these were the molds that would be used for these characters. I've got to say I'm loving them! These molds were part of the first legends toys made for G1, and now they are being repainted to give us a few more of those G1 dudes. Takara actually already made their own Cliffjumper repaint a few years back, and I'm not interested in him anyway (I don't think). The other two are where it's at, though! While I really would have loved some kind of Commander-class Ultra Magnus (even a repaint of T30 Optimus), this isn't too bad either and will sit well alongside legends Optimus and Motormaster. I have a fondness for "white Prime" Magnuses, but I also appreciate the blue legs on this one (a callback to Classics Magnus, I guess). I'm amused as hell by the box art too, what with its depiction of armored Magnus in his armorless colors (a notion that I actually dreamed up being used on Armada Overload as a way to produce a SG Magnus before FP made their own, different take on the idea). I'm really only disappointed by Magnus's lack of a weapon here, but Optimus didn't come with one either, so I guess the Mario Bros of the TF world get to punch their way out of trouble.

Skywarp gives us the chance to complete yet another Seeker trinity, which is amusing because the T30 Commander mold has a Skywarp repaint being released in the near future as well; hopefully both will be purchasable around the same time! Also Skywarp lucks out in that the mold has its own built in weapons, so he'll have an edge over Magnus and CJ in combat.

I just hope these guys will actually be easy to find at retail - I definitely prefer seeing these guy on Dollar General pegs for years than not getting them at all in the US, like some legion/legends waves of the past year and a half or so.

Awww yeah!

On tiny goddesses and being heavily armed

I've bought my first two latter-day RiD (the new cartoon sequel of TF: Prime, not the IDW comic series or the post-Beast Machines cartoon from 2001) toys. This show's toy line has not been the most impressive. It includes only two "normal" price points: a revived legion class and a renamed deluxe class ("warrior"). And while the deluxes do not really impress (some are worse than others, but none so far look like real knock-outs), the legion class looks just fine, and appears to pick up where TFP cyberverse left off, minus weapons and a complementary commander class. 

In short, I decided to pick up legion class Strongarm and Optimus Prime. Strongarm lives up to her namesake; the first Strongarm, from Energon, was deemed a "tiny god" back in 2004 by much of the fandom (I never quite got that, but it's a decent toy). This newer, smallest toy of the female police truck Strongarm is one of the "strongest" legion molds in a while, and that's saying something, as much of the TFP legion toys were pretty great. It's mostly about the articulation; it's nearly a rule that if s legion toy has elbow joints, it will lack knees of vice versa. Strongarm not only has knees, but also ball jointed shoulders and functional "elbows" (really additional shoulder joints, but whatever)! As such, she's pretty dynamic, especially next to her dead boss Optimus, whose only real poses are goose-stepping and looking like he's on a crucifix. Additionally, her door-wings (window-wings?) are adjustable too, adding to the dynamism.its really too bad she doesn't include a weapon, as that's her only shortcoming. I also appreciate her being molded with her faceplate activated; it looks great.

Optimus was a purchase that required more thought. He automatically came off as a downgrade, seeing as how there hasn't been a legion class Optimus since 2010 or so, shortly before the commander class was introduced. We now have commander Optimuses from DotM, TFP, Beast Hunters, and G1. While this new one is just, yes, an update of the same character that two of those moods already represent, I can't help but wish neo-RiD Optimus was a commander (this would have opened the door for a commander Grimlock, etc, as well). But as a legion Optimus, he's not bad. He's the first Optimus in a while that has a full cab/trailer alt mode that turns into a complete robot, Motormaster or Star Convoy style. The transformation is pretty neat too; he kind of unfolds like a flowe, with the only kibble being the cab on his back. I was tempted to get the deluxe version and may still, but this one will do well in the meantime. 

Lastly, I've found one more Combiner Warrior: Blackjack! He's currently attached as Optimus's chest armor (don't have Motormaster yet) with the help of some nail polish. As you can see, my Ultra Prime is a work in progress, and still needs legs. I look forward to completing the Stunticons soon, not just to put Menasor together, but also to see how Optimus looks with a full team of Decepticon limbs! But even now, with just two arms and two legends partners, he's got a ton of weapons.

Toyfair 2015 assessment! MERGE FOR THE KILL

OK! I had a pretty fun weekend - took Friday off from work, got (finally) Combiner Wars Powerglide and Bombshell to hang out with Dragstrip, Evac (Alpha Bravo) and Optimus, took my son on a 2-night "campout" on the USS Yorktown (got him Fireflight and his own Powerglide for Valentine's) and then got to have a belated date night with my wife last night. 

However, Toyfair 2015 also came and went, and some pretty cool stuff was shown!

My main interest here was, as expected, Combiner Wars. I'll go by size class:

Legends: 

- Warpath: a remold of T30 Megatron (the miner-based one with Chopshop), this one unfortunately doesn't interact with the larger combiner toys. It looks ok, but doesn't have the signature chest cannon, and other than being te same size as most other neo-minibots doesn't have much over the really nice deluxe from 2011. 

- Viper: this is a remold of Powerglide. The new part is the head, which is apparently like some kind of Cobra pilot helmet. The whole thing is a Cobra Rattler homage, even down to having a special symbol on the wings/chest. I normally wouldn't care much about this (the rattler deco doesn't exactly "wow" me), but it does give us another Decepticon target master, specifically one that can combine with Cyclonus's gun (see below)!

- Groove: downsized ostensibly for scale reasons, this is a pretty interesting take on the character. He's very lanky, such that he is reminiscent of HFTD Brimstone. He forms Defensor's chest armor. I like him pretty well, and may get him whether or not I go in for the whole Protectobot team. 

Deluxe: just the Protectobots were shown, sadly (I'm really looking forward to seeing the '84 team, plus anyone that gets designed to go with Cyclonus):

- Blades: Alpha Bravo with a new head, to no one's surprise. I was kind of hoping he'd at least get some new forearms, since we will will very likely get Vortex from this mold (and I'm sure he will keep the missile arms too). I also don't care for the fact that the first real Modern Blades toy can't do anything useful with his blades in bot mode, but I guess I'll just think of him as a gun fanatic. Looks good overall, particularly as part of Defensor, but already having Alpha Bravo has cooled me to Blades a bit.

- First Aid: pretty heavy retool of Off-Road, he's a small ambulance truck. Still, he's undeniably First Aid, the only somewhat weird thing being that he keeps Off-Road's axe. Love the head mold.

- Streetwise: another heavy retool, this time of Dead End. He's probably the team member I care about least, but he does look way more like the character than my Botcon 2010 G2 Redux version. Makes me wonder how they'll do Prowl.

- Rook: ok, the new guy! A white and blue SWAT APC. He looks pretty cool and has a neat Jaws of Life-type kind of weapon. He also has some molded-in arm cannon-things with 5mm port barrels, kind of like Cybertron Defense Hot Shot. However, he doesn't have actual fist holes, for whatever reason...not sure why he couldn't have both. Still pretty neat overall, and a good new addition (amusingly the ONLY new mold limb of the group!).

Voyager:

- Hot Spot: not bad! We already saw the basic look of the alt mode a few weeks back on the Fan Built Combiner app, and it's a longer airport kind of fire truck, giving Hot Spot an almost lanky, tall athletic look. The ladder is massive and has two detachable cannons, and it's pretty clear that he'll make a good Onslaught some day. Defensor himself looks pretty boss, especially considering that only 50% of him is made of new molds (and one of those is Groove). He looks very chunky in a good way, like he is heavily armored, which is pretty appropriate for a "Defensor."

- Cyclonus: aww, yeah! I was really looking forward to seeing this guy and it turns out that he's my most anticipated toy AFTER toyfair too! Cyclonus is a Silverbolt remold, and while I thought Silverbolt looked a little less than stellar, Cyclonus looks great. They did enough remolding to very nearly make it look like the mold was made for the character (the "robot chunks under airplane" engineering from Silverbolt is still there, though it matters less to me with Cyclonus's sci-fi alt mode). No new weapon, but that does allow Viper to connect with the combined mega-rifle, enabling Cyclonus to still serve as a targetmaster-wielder. The torso mode, which we have sadly not seen pictures of yet, is some version of Galvatron allegedly called "Galvatronus!" I did see that the torso armor is remolded to look less like Superion's and more like G1 Galvatron's, but the head remains a complete mystery. I can't wait to see if this toy actually shows up in the fiction, what with Galvatron hunting for the Enigma of Combination and all. Also, here's hoping we get a dedicated set of limbs to go with him, as we so far only have the Stunticons (and potential Combaticpns) in the normal Combiner Wars range for the bad guy's side. But that would be to ignore...

Titan Class:

- DEVASTATOR! A boxed set of all six Constructicons, each one a voyager-sized robot that all combine into a nearly G1-accurate behemoth of a combiner! I was pretty pumped for this, having seen the Nuremberg pics and my wife having agreed to by it for me for my birthday/Christmas. However, all is not perfect in Constructicon-land: the individual robots a very simple, probably more so than the deluxe combiner limbs, and Scrapper doesn't have any elbows! Long Haul only gets lateral elbow movement (not to mention having weird, but interesting proportions; he's reminiscent of Energon Demolisher in some ways). Everyone else looks pretty much like a bigger version of their G1 toy. Devastator's forearms turn into multi-missile launching guns for both Scavenger and Bonecrusher, and the jet wing chestplate separates into three different weapons as well (I understand that all the extra pieces can be carried in Long Haul's bed in altmode). Overall, though, we get a giant Devastator that has no real compromises outside of some engineering choices; that is, we get all six members (rather than just five, had they used the normal Combiner Wars layout), combining in the traditional way, and all in one fell $150 swoop. Which is about $30 cheaper than I thought it would be. Since I missed out on Metroplex, I'm still pretty excited about the prospect of getting this guy, especially since the Combiner Wars Clns seem a little outnumbered by the Autobots this year otherwise. Oh, and there is no Prowl interaction, but I'm pretty sure prowl being written off of the Constructicons and onto Team Optimus will be a big plot point for the comics, which will also necessitate Scrapper's resurrection, which they've kind of laid the ground work for.

Leader: oh, yeah - in all my excitement, I skipped over someone else:

- Ultra Magnus/Minimus Ambus: ok, I'll just go ahead and say that, like I kind of expected, I'm not totally thrilled with this. I really wanted the cab to transform into a smaller robot, whether that be Minimus Ambus or, you know, Magnus himself. Instead, what we get is a non-detaching cab that serves as a cockpit of sorts for a very small (maybe minicon sized) Minimus Ambus, who gets a hover car alt mode for himself. That said, here are the good things: IDW styling, weapons combine to make a hammer, the cab does at least end up in the right place in bot mode, we get another IDW-original character/Lost Light crew member, new G1 Magnus, etc. I do hope we can one day get a platinum edition or something where the cab has been replaced by one that changes into a small robot, but this is an ok try. I might get it, but I'm way more interested in the Combiner Wars stuff proper.