Transformers Prime Cyberverse Wheeljack & Starhammer

I think it's fair to say that the Dark of the Moon Cyberverse Action Sets were something of a mixed bag both in terms of toy quality & distribution. Here in the UK we only got the first wave. But Hasbro likes the idea of larger Cyberverse items for the figures to interact with so here we go again.

The Cyberverse vehicles were offered in the Argos catalogue in the UK for £19.99. The catalogue came out the end off January and stock was first available in store nearly four months later on May 14th! And that's the first anyone in the world saw them at retail! In way of apology Argos reduced the price on all it's Transformers toys by 25%-33% the following day bringing this down to a very reasonable £13.32, cheaper than the RRP for the action sets. Seeing as the Action Set boxes were about half the size you're getting a very reasonable deal. They've been sighted in UK TRUs as well and the case assortment is 2 x Wheeljack with Starhammer and 1 x Knockout with Energon Drill which says that there's a better chance of walking into Argos and getting passed a Wheeljack than a Knockout. I can testify to this: I've visited three Argos so far, they all had one toy and they were all Wheeljacks. Slightly worryingly when I went to several well known US Etailers to check the case assortment I was unable to find the Cyberverse vehicles listed.....

Inside the box comes the Legion sized Wheeljack figure, his two swords and two missiles. The Wheeljack looks decent enough, albeit with a much larger painted window on his chest than the larger deluxe toy. He's got ball jointed shoulders & knees, bending hips and ankles that bend as part of the transformation. Two types of plastic are used: white for most of the toy and dark grey for the upper legs, shoulders, wheels & waist/backbone piece. On his back are two 3mm peg holes which allow you to plug his swords into for storage - tip them the right way and the handles sticking over the shoulders look like the wings on the original Wheeljack toy. In fact this Wheeljack wouldn't look out of place alongside your Legends & EZ-Collection figures as a stand in Generation One Wheeljack.

The swords themselves are moulded in clear aquamarine coloured plastic, also found on the Starhammer vehicle, curved with a 3mm peg handle which Wheeljack can hold in each hand, yes Prime Cyberverse Legions have 3mm peg grips on both hands, unlike the Dark of the Moon Legions which only had one. There's two smaller pegs on the swords handles: one pointing outwards towards the cutting edge of the blade and the other pointing to the side. The swords are unique with the side handles pointing in opposite directions. If you get two identical swords then the toy's been packed wrong!

Transformation: Remove the swords. Fold the feet back under the lower legs. Pull the shoulders down. Fold the back panel up over the head. Peg the feet together and fold the waist back under the body putting the top of the lower legs along the underside of the chest. Fold the arms back to form the sides of the car.

Pretty decent car mode, screaming Wheeljack at you. The back peg holes are now on top of the car allowing you to mount the swords or any other Cyberverse weapons. The twin guns that come with Optimus Prime make decent dual cannons for him.

Onto the Starhammer.

Compare to the previous Action sets this is a hefty piece of kit, getting near to the sort of size of the Ark set. We have a central core body connected to an upright wing on each side, a little like a TIE Fighter in Star Wars. There's a 3mm Cyberverse post hole and a 5mm Mechtech size post hole towards the front of each wing plus a 3mm Cyberverse post on the outer edge & top of the missile launchers found to the rear of each wing.

The main core of the ship has a seat for a figure on the top of the vehicle. In front of that is the default position for the electronic light up weapon on the toy, which I'll come to in a moment. This is set in a 3mm wide slot which allows it to move backwards & forwards, setting into a large aquamarine cannon mounted on top of the cockpit hatch. This weapon is also mounted using a 3mm peg and can be removed to use as a hand weapon for a Cyberverse figure. There's a further 3mm Cyberverse peg port on the front of the toy. The Cockpit hatch, with a clear aquamarine oval window in the front, opens to allow you to sit a Cyberverse figure in it. Wheeljack is a perfect fit as you'd expect (but modern Hasbro Star Wars Pilots have sometimes been a bit dodgy at fitting in their own vehicles!) I've been experimenting with the Wave 1 Prime Legions and Bumblebee, Ratchet & Vehicon all fit fine and Arcee needs her backpack manoeuvring but Cliffjumper's hips don't allow his legs to bend enough to fit. Mounted in the underside of the ship are 3 red wheels that allow the vehicle to role along on a flat surface.

One of the main features of the vehicle toys is that they have a light up weapon aboard, termed an Energon Charger in the instructions. The one on this toy is moulded in clear aquamarine plastic and is attached to the main body of the toy by wires sealed in clear plastic that descend into toy through a hatch that can be raised to reveal a compartment for some weapons storage. Sadly the swords don't fit inside. The Energon Charger is activated by a button with an Autobot symbol on it causing the Energon Charger to glow with a green LED within. Why green? Apparently Blue LEDs cost more to produce - I can remember years ago owning a Star Wars POTF2 Obi Wan Kenobi toy with a green light up light sabre which was just wrong. So why didn't they use a clear LED? I've got freebie key rings with clear LEDs in (I use them to test lightpipes). A clear LED would make the Energon Charger glow the colour it's moulded in and any attached toy glow that colour instead of the green they'll glow if you use this weapon. Because yes, you can attack this to other clear toys to light them up. The front of the Energon Charger is a 5mm hollow tube with a 3mm bore down the middle. This allows you to plug Cyberverse weapons in, but with varying results depending on the weapon & colour. The tube also fits the odd ports on Cyberverse Optimus' back and also Minicon ports allowing you to light up the Powercore Minicons. The Energon Charger has 3mm handles on the top & bottom, plus two more 5mm hollow tubes on either side allowing it to be held as a weapon by either Cyberverse or larger figures or mounted on the Starhammer vehicle.

The Starhammer vehicle itself transforms: slide the seat on the top of the toy backwards. This pushes the base of the wings out to the sides, slanting them, and moving the missile launchers forward. Handle bars then fold back from the top of the missile launchers.

The resulting battle station mode is wide that the vehicle, with the bottom edge of the wings now being revealed to have the Cyberverse base connectors on them which have risen up to about the right level for them to be attached to other toys. There's an expanded deck section between the body and each of the wings allowing a figure to stand and hold on to the handlebars at the back of the cannons. They're mounted at the right height for Commander Optimus Prime to use but smaller toys, such as Legion Bumblebee can also use it is they're standing on some of the mechanism that moves the missile launchers forward. The missile launchers, moulded in a darker grey to the rest of the toy each take a clear yellow missile which is fired using a trigger on the top. The rear of each launcher has a slot which fits round the Energon Charger allowing it light the missile up.

The vehicle is made up of several different grades of grey plastic:

The cockpit hatch, wings & seat are made from the lightest grey plastic
A slightly darker grey makes up the majority of the vehicle body
An even darker grey forms the extending panels out the side of the body and the storage hatch
The darkest grey forms the missile launchers.

All the mechanical pieces that move the wings & weapons around plus the handlebars, missile triggers and wheels are an orangey red plastic while the ends of the missile launchers, main weapon, light up weapon & cockpit canopy windows.

That should give you an idea of what bits you could colour differently if Hasbro ever produce a new version of the toy.

Don't buy this toy expecting a collectors product: this is a good fun toy with play features and compatibility with other toys. It's fun. A fab toy to play with.

Beast Wars 10th Anniversary, Cybertron & United Optimus Primal

Beast Wars 10th Anniversary Optimus Primal

So why did Phil not buy this toy, and the Beast Wars 10th Anniversary Megatron, when they first came out? Well partially because the original Beast Wars Ultra Toys were so good, partially because I'd recently bought the superb Robotmasters versions but mostly because I just didn't like them, Optimus Primal especially.

The Ape isn't that bad but there's far too much grey here whereas the original Primal beast mode is all black..... and a pure beast, this one has robotic parts everywhere including the robot's chest stuck behind it head! It's almost a Transmetal 2 style Optimus Primal mixing up both organic & robot parts. No my biggest problem with the toy is the Ape's accessory: a huge flying surfboard thing for it to ride on (the board has 5mm pegs, there's 5mm peg holes in his feet) OPTIMUS PRIMAL DOES NOT RIDE A JET PROPELLED SURF BOARD THING! Transmetal Optimus Primal does but this isn't Transmetal Optimus Primal, this is the original version and he doesn't. There's a lot of plastic in that weapon and that affects the size of the rest of the toy bringing it down to a deluxe figure when Megatron's beast mode is getting on towards the older Mega sized toys.

This is what colours of plastic have been used to make up his beast mode:

Black: hands, outer forearms, face, back, crotch, outer upper legs, lower leg, foot.

Grey: hand guards, inner forearms, outer upper arms, chest, back of the head.

White: inner upper limbs, shoulder & hip ball joints and much of the internal construction.

Red: toes, plus joints on surf board.

Silver: surf board.

There's no grey on the original toy. Loose that for black and it would look much better straight out the box. The red toes are *slightly* odd too, I'd make them black as well. I also think the cream on the chest & the face somehow doesn't quite work. Checking the original Ultra Ape both are grey paint applications over black plastic. I refer you to my thoughts above....

Articulation isn't bad: ball joints at shoulders. elbows, wrists, hips & knees with bending ankles & toes and an independently ball jointed big toe. The angle of the struts with the hip's ball joints on is a little odd, diagonally down instead of out to the sides, and means that sometime the limb moves oddly when you turn it at this joint.

TRANSFORMATION: Pull the face and the chest forward, fold the face back onto the back of the chest. Split the crotch down the centre & fold to the sides. Fold the top of the back down. Fold the back of the head/robot chest back, causing the beast arms to spring together at the shoulders and the beast legs to separate at the hips. Bring the beast arms together to form the robot legs, folding out the hand guards to become the front of the feet. Stand. Fold the beast's chest onto the robot's bottom (yes I do see what the beast head is now kissing!) Fold the beast legs to the sides of the body to become the robot's arms. Open the flap on the robot's chest. Fold the beast's back backwards between the shoulder blades to form the robot's back, fold the beast's crotch halves over the sides of the robot. Fold the chest forward over the robot's head & close the flap. Fold the big toes inwards to form the robot's thumbs.

The Robot mode is basically a decent Primal likeness. The most obviously wrong bits are the feet, big square flaps completely unlike the slender white feet linked to the legs by a sliding red bar that you get on the original. The head, moulded in grey plastic, opts for cartoon accuracy and depicts Primal with a mouth. There's a lot of the grey plastic visible, it could have done with some blue paint round the back too. But it isn't the worst Primal head ever by a long way. The arms exhibit one of my pet peeves for transformers: if the arms bend then the top of the moulded hand points out to the side. But Primal doesn't hole his weapons in his fingers like most Transformers do, if you want him to use a weapon then he had a 5mm peg hole in each palm. With the arm bent t the elbow the peg hole faces up so he's holding the weapon the right way up even if it's not held in his hand. Beast leg articulation becomes robot arm articulation and vice verse, but we also get a ball jointed neck added into the mix. The same comment I made about the odd angle of the beast's hips also applies here. Sadly he lacks the fold out shoulder pads of the original Ultra Optimus Primal which alters the look and the shape of the toy quite a bit.

Primal lacks the swords, missile launchers and skull headed morning star of the original. Instead the surf board transforms - via a Jungle Cyber planet key - into a huge missile launcher which is so big he can't hold it properly especially as the posts for the beast to stand on are awkwardly placed for the robot to hold.

Both Primal and Megatron lack the DVDs & combining robot parts that came with the six other toys in the Beast Wars 10th Anniversary toy. Instead they're packaged with miniature spaceships, Optimus Prime coming with a small version of the Axalon, the Maximal spaceship.

Now I have it in my hands Primal isn't a bad figure. There's little there that's really wrong that changing the colour of some of the plastic and loosing the oversized accessory wouldn't cure. It's better than the other swap arms for legs Primal, the Beast Machines deluse and is easily the best of the three Beast Wars remakes (this, and Universe Cheetor and Dinobot) that I've reviewed so far.

Optimus Primal was sold in the USA in 2006. It was not sold in the UK or Japan, but an almost identical version, minus the spaceship was released in Japan in 2012 as Transformers United UN-31 Optimus Primal, not Beast Convoy as the Japanese version of the toy was originally known. The only obvious difference between the 10th Anniversary and United toys is the presence of a small Maximal sticker on the inside of the back plate.

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Cybertron Jungle Planet Optimus Prime

The presence of the Cyber Planet keys on both the Optimus Primal & Megatron 10th anniversary toys shows that they were developed with an eye on the Cybertron toy range. Sure enough each toy shows up in that toy line as a repainted version.

Here's the colour swaps made to Optimus Primal:

Black (hands, outer forearms, face, crotch, lower leg, foot) stay black

Black (back, outer upper legs) becomes brown

Grey becomes brown

White becomes creamy yellow

Red becomes creamy yellow

Silver becomes black.

A good comparison between the two versions of the toy can be found in this blog entry.

I'm not sure they went quite far enough here, I'd have made all the black parts brown. The remaining ones stick out like a sore thumb and makes me wonder if there wasn't some sort of miscommunication between Hasbro & the factory here as we speculate may have happened with other toys.

Transformers Chronicle EZ Collection Series 2

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Transformers Chronicle EZ Collection Series 2

I was proper excited about the second edition of Takara's Transformers Chronicle EZ Collection. The first had given us a Megatron without a nasty orange tip and a surprise Thundercracker repaint of RTS Legends Starscream, both of which are now doing seriously silly money on eBay. So when Collection 2 was announced with a black & white image that showed multiples of a couple of toy moulds we knew we'd be in for a treat. Then the colour images showed up and any remaining preorders went in seconds. Then BBTS realised they'd mispriced their pre orders and relisted them at the "proper" price. Then when the sets actually came out HLJ sold out before they'd managed to fulfil all their preorders which left some of us scrambling around for a set.

Anyhow they're in hand now. My Mastercase of 24 contained two cases of 12 stacked on top of each other. Each case is black, with grey Generation 2 Autobot & Decepticion symbols on them. My son Jonathan (aged 5) took one look at them and said "Transformers!"

Here's how the 2 cases are laid out:

TOP CASE
BACK
	1	2	3
1	Prime	Prowl	Skywarp
2	Megatron	Rodimus	Hound
3	Silverstreak	Starscream	Silverstreak
4	Hound	Prowl	Rodimus
FRONT
BOTTOM CASE
BACK
	1	2	3
1	Prime	Starscream	Megatron
2	Skywarp	Rodimus	Skywarp
3	Silverstreak	Megatron	Prowl
4	Hound	Starscream	Prime
FRONT

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Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime is a repaint of RTS Legends Optimus Prime, who had already been released in Japan as part of Transformers Chronicle EZ Collection Series 1. I was a bit surprised to see another Optimus Prime in this set, expecting a white Ultra Magnus or black Scourge/Nemesis Prime instead. But back he comes, this time as a G2 version. We loose the blue paint off the front of the legs, giving him black legs, get a nearly black painted head, a slightly brighter shade of red and a small G2 Autobot symbol on his left shoulder.

Not hugely different then. Didn't set my world on fire.

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Prowl

RTS Legends Prowl was the one "new" RTS Mould not used in Transformers Chronicle EZ Collection Series 1, I presume because Jazz was included and, as I intimate in the review they share, both toys are very similar. Jazz, being a more popular character in Japan, won it and Prowl turns up here.

Save for swapping the rubsign for a painted Autobot logo RTS Prowl & EZ-Collection Prowl are identical.

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Starscream

It was a bit of a surprise when the use of the RTS Legends Starscream mould in Transformers Chronicle EZ Collection Series 1 turned out to be Thundercracker and not Starscream himself. Not that we're objecting, for western fans Thundercracker was the star of the show in the previous case. Starscream does turn up here and at first glance he's all but identical to the RTS Legends Starscream I already have. Yes the rubsign is gone, replaced by purple Decepticon symbols on each wing with the bottom pointing forward: the correct way round if you ask me because it means they're the right way up in robot mode. But a close look at the toy shows that the whole head is now painted black: on the RTS version and EZ Collection Thudercracker the sides were left the colour of the majority of the rest of the toy. This means the head's location sticks out somewhat in jet mode.

Another which is too similar to the original toy for me to get excited about this time out.

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Hound

Universe Legends Hound was one of the first new mould Legends created for the Universe series but was never released in Japan at the time. His case mate Jazz was in Transformers Chronicle EZ Collection Series 1 and he turns up here. Looking at a picture you'd dismiss Hound out of hand but put him side by side with his predecessor and actually both colours have plastic have changed. Previously he used a mid green for the robot head, body & lower legs, all of which form the Jeep mode's body, and a darker green for the robot arms, upper legs, feet & wheel. EZ Collection Hound's vehicle body parts become a much darker green while the previously dark green part become a dark grey, almost black.

Big improvement, and makes the original western version look plasticy by comparison.

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Rodimus

All of the Generation 1 mould in the last two waves of Universe Legends were reused in the two Henkei Minibot sets released in 2009. Bumblebee was repainted as Cliffjumper (Cliff) in the C-18 Minibot Attack Team with Beachcomber & Brawn (Gong) while Warpath, Wheelie & Cosmos (Adams) were released as the C-19 Minibot Spy Team. The one G1 mould not used in Japan from these two waves was Rodimus. He was reused twice in the west, as the Target Dark of the Moon Smokescreen and Wal*Mart Dark of the Moon Rodimus. The colouring on this version is vastly different with the red plastic becoming a more cherry red, the orangey yellow flames becoming a brighter yellow and the black & gold paint applications becoming a much more uniform orange.

Much better than the original, well worth your money.

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Skywarp

The second use of the RTS Legends Starscream mould in this case the inevitable Skywarp repaint. Swap Starscream's grey for black, blue paint plus the red wing edging for purple & make the previously red chest & faction symbols silver.

Job done. You can't go wrong with a black repaint and this one's a classic. A quick glimpse at eBay shows he's currently doing EZ-Collection 1 Megatron & Thundercracker prices!

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Streak

The Prowl mould has two repaints: Bluestreak and Smokescreen and it was kind of inevitable one of them would get used as a repaint for the RTS Legends Prowl mould. Bluestreak won. Because he's Japanese he uses the Streak name and thus avoids all the Bluestreak/Silverstreak naming problems.

From the Prowl colours black - be it plastic or painted - remains the same. White becomes a silvery grey *except* on the upper legs where it's now painted cherry red as are the horns on the head. Gone is the lightbar, but there's a square of grey plastic now occupying where it once sat.

He's slightly darker than what you might expect for Bluestreak but still a very good representation of the character.

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Megatron

It safe to say that the biggest shock when the colour picture of Transformers Chronicle EZ Collection Series 2 was unveiled was the colours used for the Japanese version of Universe Legends Megatron. The original Universe toy uses a darker version of the colours on the Large G2 Megatron Tank, later reused with only minor changes as Megastorm, and I suspect either the colours of the previous Legends toy or the G2 version were expected. Not so, what we got is a purple toy, closer to Combat Hero Megatron/Archforce. The camouflage print from Universe Legends Megatron is preserved, now in black, and a Generation 2 Decepticon symbol adorns his chest.

I love the Archforce toy & colours (though would love to see a green version) and Legends Megatron was probably my toy of 2008. This is just superb and the star of the set for me.

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Overall Verdict

Top Set. Prime, Prowl & Starscream didn't do much for me but Prime's slightly different enough to make you want it. Hound is surprisingly better, Rodimus more obviously so. The three new coloured versions are superb. Well worth getting a set, especially if you can source one for around the £40 including shipping I paid for mine.

Roller & The Ark

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Autobot Roller

For more photos CLICK HERE

Roller is essentially a robot skeleton, thin even by the standards of the Bayformer toys. The white plastic used for his arms & upper legs doesn't help! His lower legs, obviously vehicle tracks, and the body & head, a single molded piece, are cast in grey plastic which doesn't look to be the same as any of the greys that are used in the Ark's vehicle shell. The lower chest is painted gold while the shoulders & head are painted blue. The head is very Prime like, as is fitting a toy who's only previous name use was as a vehicle with the original Optimus Prime. It's not just the colour, because the head possesses a crest, face plate and ears though a lot of the moulded detail is lost in it'd paint job. His articulation isn't bad: both knees bend and both hips are ball joints as is his left shoulder. His right shoulder turns and the elbow on that arm bends inward. Unfortunately his right hand, a 3mm c-clip claw, is orientated so the open face points to the side of the robot, not forward, which makes you think that a ball joint at the right elbow would have been better allowing the lower arm to swivel round. On the side of the lower arm is a scientific instrument that looks like a moulded together version of a ball missile & launcher with the tail of the missile pointing out the back! The tail is a 3mm bar for adding extra weapons and there's an extra 3mm under the arm too. The robot itself is bigger than a Legion class figure but not quite as big as a Commander so the chances of it being released by itself might be slim. He fits perfectly into the Ark's cockpit in robot mode.

Fold the inner halves of the lower legs forward to give Roller a tracked robot mode.

To Transform into vehicle mode: Fold his left arm across his chest so the hand is over his crotch. Oh dear. Pull his right shoulder away, there's a slot underneath it which meets a tab on the body, then bend back and swing round so the right arm is above his head. Fold the inner lower legs down so they point out the bottom of the legs. Fold the legs forward 45 degrees at the hip and then the lower legs forward 135 degrees at the knee, locking the slot on each lower leg onto the tab on the shoulder. Place on a surface with the robot's chest pointing down. Fold up the solar panel & radar dish.

Roller's vehicle mode is a space rover vehicle, similar to those being used by NASA for unmanned exploration. It's tracked, with a wheel at either end of each track, and a manoeuvring arm sticking out the front. The arm swivels at it'd base and then has three alternating joints down the length of the arm, the last of which is the elbow of the robot's right arm: I mentioned changing this to a ball joint above and doing so would have no impact on this mode. The vehicle mode can roll down the Ark's ramp perfectly well.

The only remotely similar vehicle mode Transformers to this that I can think of are Micromaster Countdown and Armada Comettor. It's always nice to get something a bit different but he feels a bit unstable: in particular the tracks don't peg into the side of the body that well. It might help is the hips or, more especially, the knees of the robot mode locked at the angle they were meant to be for the vehicle mode. But the vast majority of people who own Roller won't have bought the set he's in for him anyway.

Roller was sold in 2011 with the Dark of the Moon Cyberverse Ark playset. In Japan this set is numbered CV-01 and was released in July 2011.

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Cyberverse Ark

The Ark has been a part of Transformers history since th word go featuring in both the comic & cartoon versions of the story and reappearing in Beast Wars & Armada. So it's not a surprise to see the Bayverse having a shot at it. What's more surprising is this ids the first version of the Ark to interact with other Transformers figures. It's only previous toy representation was a Titanium miniature which bore more of a resemblance to MB's Starbird toy than the fictional ark! I thought that Hasbro had gone for the double here as this new version bears a big resemblance to the Star Wars: Clone Wars Magna Guard Ship but I am assured by someone who has seen the film that the Ark toy looks like what appears on the screen even if I can't find an image on the Interweb to back that up.

Transformers has a history of vehicles that can work with smaller toys: Action Masters & Micromasters come to mind and, to a much lesser extent, Armada. But this is the first time for a while Hasbro's had a real good go at it. It's 22cm x 22cm x 8cm in size so while it won't take larger toys it's on the right sort of scale for Legends figures and the Cyberverse figures it was made for. On the front of the ship is an opening cockpit. Sitting a figure inside makes a noise and activates a space ship cruising sound. Yes, I have broken the habit of a lifetime and put batteries (2xAA) in s toy I'm reviewing! Roller fits in perfectly as do most Cyberverse Legion figures, with a few exceptions. Commanders have proved more troublesome, but Optimus Prime fits if you shorten his legs. The size looks large enough for a Star Wars figure: my Y-Wing pilot fitted in ok, but not only would Admiral Ackbar not fit in but his head popped off as I attempted to get him in and now it won't go back OK onto the body of my prized Mon Calamari officer!

Besides the cockpit is a small button that when pressed fires the guns under the ship which light up accompanied by an appropriate noise. To the left & right of the cockpit are a sizeable weapon array consisting of a quad gun with a missile projecting out of the middle and an array of moulded missile lubes. One of the quad guns is a missile launcher, with a trigger projecting out the top while the other is non functional which is a bit of a shame. However each quad gun & missile array is removable when the Ark is in base mode and since the quad guns are otherwise identical they can be swapped. Each weapons unit is attached via a 5mm post which means they can be used by other Transformers toys. The Ark itself has four 5mm peg holes mounted into the hull which the weapons can be attached to. There's an additional two guns supplied that can peg into these holes: each gun bends where it's attached to the 5mm peg but the connection is very poor and easily come apart. On the top of each gun is a 3mm bar allowing them to be held by Cyberverse toys or to have extra weapons attached. The 5mm peg holes are also subject to varying quality control: the pegs struggle to fit into several of the holes and when you have got the pegs back in removing the extra guns becomes a two step process: try to pull the gun off, leaving the peg behind and then remove the peg with a pair of pliers! In addition to the 5mm holes there are three 3mm Cyberverse post holes on each side of the toy for attaching Cyberverse weapons to the ship. There's two 3mm bar as well, but these are both on the same side of the ship and are intended for attaching extra Cyberverse base toys when you transform the ark.

Transformation: pull each side of the toy out, causing the centre of the toy including the cockpit, to rise up forming a tower and sounding the transformation noise. Fold each half of the side out further to expand the bas area. Fold the ramp forward at the front of the toy. Fold the cockpit down to form a platform in the tower. Raise the repair bay on the left hand side of the toy & fold out all five pillars on the space bridge on your right.

In base mode the ark expands out into a semi circular platform formed of five segments. At the front of the middle segment is a ramp, with the tower at the rear and a gun in the middle. To it's left is a segment with a raised repair bay & one of the weapons set and to the left of that there's another segment which is empty space. I'd have stuck the repair bay on this as the opposing segment on the far right has the space bridge with a flat platform segment separating it from the middle. Even just a floor panel, the same as the blue panels with hexagonal holes in that cover the middle three segments, would have improved the appearance.

The cannon, in the middle of the central segment, is mounted on a base that turns 90 degrees to either side. The cannon has both a 5mm & 3mm peg socket on the top of it. One the cannon's turntable base are two Minicon ports either side of the cannon. To the right of the ramp is a button which when pressed causes the cannon to light up. Placing a car on the top of the ramp causes the lights either side of the ramp to glow and an alarm to sound. Pressing the button to the left of the ramp causes the top of the ramp to lift propelling any car in place down it to the sound of weapons firing and the guns either side of the ramp lighting up. The lower half of the tower is a jail cell, with a pair of spring loaded doors. Half way up is a platform for figures to stand on with the cockpit window behind it producing an effect similar to the large window behind the Emperor's throne on the Death Star in Return of the Jedi. The tower platform just sits there, and while adding extra weight to it might cause it to sag, a few 3mm Cyberverse post holes round the edge to plug the smaller, lighter weapons into might have livened it up a bit.

The repair bay is little more than a raised table with a 3mm Cyberverse peg hole at each corner, one of which can be used for the little plastic arm supplied with the set. Good luck getting that to go in! With the exception of the main gun there's no other new 3mm holes in this mode, but there's several 5mm ports: one on the top of the ramp, one now exposed on the top of each of the moulded missile bays, two hidden in the floor pattern of the central segment, two unintentional ones using the screw holes at the back of the central segment and one each on the outer edge of the toy. The space bridge teleport platform is just moulded detail and doesn't have a function, you feel it's just wasted space that could have been replaced by a pop up cannon or even just another flat platform like the middle three segments, with another covering the opposing exposed segment on the other side to give a solid floor right round the playset

The Ark is designed to be used with other Cyberverse playsets and each other outer segments has four connectors for attaching other toys to it: two along each side and two at the rear. As per all the Cyberverse playsets the clips are on your left and the bars on your right. Unfortunately both bars & clips are sunk into the bodywork of the base mode meaning you can't connect Arks together side to side to form a complete circle.

Overall: nice spaceship and decent base. There's a few places where the detail lets it down like the lack of floor plating on the outer base segments, the add one guns that come apart too easily and the inability to connect two arks side by side. Nice to see a couple of Minicon ports on the base mode, but would it have hurt them to add a couple to the space ship's hull? On a similar note, and this is really critical of them, but how much cooler would the toy have been if that ramp at the front had had Micromaster base connectors at the bottom and on the outer edges of the base mode? Kids could ignore them and the fanboys could go sqweeee!

See here and here for more pictures.

The Dark of the Moon Cyberverse Ark playset was sold in 2011 with Roller. In Japan this set is numbered CV-01 and was released in July 2011.

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Repaints

Hasbro have dropped strong hints there's a gold coloured repaint of this coming down the line.

Dark of the Moon Cyberverse Commander Powerglide

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Dark of the Moon Cyberverse Commander Powerglide

When pictures emerged from the 2011 toyfair one of the things that drew the most attention was Cyberverse Commander Powerglide. It appears some people weren't 100% happy with Universe Ultra Powerglide. I'll give you that the initial version was the wrong colour but it's been repainted twice (once each in Japan and the USA) in the correct colours. People moaned it was too large (they moaned that Universe Legends Warpath and Cosmos were too small) and wanted a new version at deluxes size. I'll bet they'll be upset that this one's too small as well! I thought it a bit odd that the Movie line was going for an obvious G1 reference so early on, it's almost as if there wasn't enough confidence in the Movie product. As it turns out this seems to be what people want: he sold out within hours of being advertised at Big Bad Toy Store and on the only two occasions I've seen Cyberverse Wave 2 on the shelves the Powerglides (1 per case of 6) were gone. (OK, I found some in sealed crates in an overhead rack in Swindon's Tescos)

Cyberverse Powerglide has got the look of Minibot Powerglide down to a tee: Purpley red all over with grey arms, upper legs & weapons. He's got bending ankles, ball jointed knees & hips, turning inner shoulders & ball jointed outer shoulders, bending elbows & wrists that bend in. He comes with two hand weapons formed from the vehicle's missiles. One is a pair of missiles connected by a 3mm bar to a third missile, the other is a cluster of four missiles folded together and held by a peg. If I have one complaint about the robot it concerns the shoulders & the body: The shoulders are attached to panels that peg on to the body but the peg connection isn't the strongest and they can easily come off.

Transformation: Fold the feet into the front of the legs. Fold the head down into the chest bringing the nosecone into place with it. Fold the waist down and back. Unpeg the shoulders & fold them down so the panels stick out to the sides. Rotate each shoulder panel by 180 degrees. Fold the shoulder panels down & bring them together. Fold the hands into the forearms. Swing the arms down so they point forward along the plane's body. Fold the arms up and swing the wings round & peg them onto the body of the jet. Bend the legs at the knee & hip and bring them forward onto the back of the jet body to form the engines. Fold both missile units out and attach to the slots under the wing tips, with the peg fitting into a hole in the folded up arms.

Vehicle mode is a pretty good A-10 Thunderbolt which is what it should be. Purpley red all over save for the arms, stored under the wings, and the missiles. There's some lovely detail on the toy including a chin gun, moulded cannons under the wings and three sets of fold down landing gear. The plane isn't without it's problems: it's back heavy and tends to tip backwards if left on it's landing gear and the wings don't attack that securely to the body.

Not a bad Powerglide at all, and probably the best of the first six Cyberverse commanders.

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Dark of the Moon Cyberverse Commander Green A-10

Powerglide has a repaint scheduled. The purple/red is swapped for green and the grey of the waist & shoulder panel hinges becomes bronzey orange. I don't know it's name, who it's for or when it's due - all we have is that picture from Botcon.

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Dark of the Moon Cyberverse Commander & Action Set Optimus Prime

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Cyberverse Commander Optimus Prime

Cyberverse takes the two smallest sizes of Transformers, the Legends and Scouts, and renames them as Legion & Commander using them nearly exclusively as smaller versions of larger toys. The Deluxe toys become Legions, the larger toys become commanders. Over the entire line the hands are molded with 3mm c-clips to use with a new 3mm standard of weapons handle.

Cyberverse Optimus Prime comes in robot mode but as per usual we'll start with the vehicle mode. As per usual with Movie Primes, he's a long nosed truck, mainly red but with a blue cab and flame details. The truck feels elongated overall, with the cab in particular feeling too long. The flatbed at the back of the cab has a 3mm bar mounted at about the point where the trailer hitch would be: the bar is set so it runs front to back. There's another longer bar running along the back of the cab. Either can be used to attack weapons with c-clips, but the one of the flatbed is used here with the jet pack supplied with him which gives the truck cab wings and engines like a jet plane. I'm told this comes from the films but I think it looks very, very silly. On the top of the pack are a pair of 3mm holes which can be used to mount Optimus' twin guns on to give him some firepower in vehicle mode.

Transformation: Pull the nose of the truck forward. Fold the sides of the rear of the truck cab out and forward till they're flush against the sides of the front of the cab. Fold the front of the vehicle down to form the legs, rotate at the waist 180 degrees and peg in under the cab. Push the waist forward. Fold the top of the rear of the cab down revealing the head. Separate the flatbed down the middle and fold up onto the robot's back. Unfold the arms.

Prime's robot mode is nearly the same height as my RTS Windcharger but considerably less bulky: his shoulders come out as far as Windcharger's chest does. The height is achieved using an extension to the legs: I think this makes him look too tall and the robot works better with the extension retracted. The blue in robotmode is confined to the chest, with the red on the lower parts of the limbs and black/painted silver upper limb pieces. His articulation included ball jointed shoulders & hips plus bending elbows & ankles. In theory his waist turns on a ball joint, but the stability of the toy relies on the waist being pegged in properly when it faces front. Unfortunately it's a little hard at times to get the small connector into the slightly smaller hole!

His hands in this mode are 3mm c-clips allowing him to hold his weapons or hold onto 3mm bars on the other toys. I understand why the Scouts in Energon all had 5mm peg hole hands but a peg hole that size then dictates the size of the arm and thus the hand. I've liked many of the Scout class toys but always felt the Basic class used previously and slightly smaller was better. The Commanders feel more like a return to that scale. Prime's jet pack, using a different c-clip, attaches to the trailer hitch 3mm bar and looks far better in robot mode. Once again the weapons can be mounted on the backpack. With the jet pack removed you can still mount the guns on him courtesy of a 3mm hole on each side of his back, formed from the underside of the flatbed whose halves don't quite mesh together in this mode due to the trailer hitch sticking out of his bottom.

Overall: I'm not 100% keen on the aesthetic of Movie Primes. The vehicle mode looks too long and I don't like the way the flatbed halves don't mesh together. The main thing wrong with this toy is the price: It's not a £9 toy. £7 maybe. If you want an Optimus Prime try and skip this one: the action set version looks much better value for money.

Optimus Prime is a "get used to it" toy. It was sold as a preview toy in the USA with a pair of 3D glasses, is packed 3 per case of 6 in the first wave of Cyberverse Commanders, returns in the second wave, is repainted with new weapons in the third wave *and* is included as a minor repaint with a new transforming trailer piece in one of the second wave Cyberverse Action Sets.

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Cyberverse Action Set Optimus Prime

Now when you think Optimus Prime, you think truck: a cab towing a trailer. Yet in recent years trailer less Prime cabs have become more and more common. Combat Hero Optimus Prime doesn't have one but he has got a massive cannon on his flatbed. It's not until 2002's Armada Supercon that the floodgates really open following which Energon 2-Pack, Universe Spychanger, Masterpiece, Robotmasters, both Classics Voyager & deluxe and Reveal the Shield deluxe come with no trailer. In addition no version of Movie or Animated Optimus has ever had a trailer till now. So when it was announced that in Dark of the Moon Prime would have a trailer many people were pleased.

The Cyberverse Action Set takes the Cyberverse Commander Optimus Prime as it's base. Prime looses the jetpack and the pair of guns for this release, and has his deco simplified with no flames and bright plastic colours. But essentially it's the same commander toy so your decision on whether to buy the Commander or not hinges on how much you like the accessories and whether you want to help clear the shelves of a substantially overpacked toy.

The new trailer is mainly silver with pale blue edges and front. A wheel array is under the rear but only one of the two wheel pairs turn. Connection is via a c-clip under the front of the trailer, but the C-clip is fixed in place, unlike those seen on many modern weapons, so the trailer is fixed in it's orientation to the cab. Fixing this would have been simple but I can see that may have made things more difficult later. On the front of the trailer is a 3mm bar for added on weapons. There's a long clip and a bar on the rear of the trailer which will let him just about tow Bumblebee's APC. On the roof is a 5mm peg hole for Mechtech and other weapons and a 5mm peg. Sadly the peg isn't a Minicon port, that would have been nice. Most of the roof of the trailer will pull away (eventually) allowing you to see that there's a missile launcher and missile on the underside which can then be pegged into the 5mm peg hole which has remained in the remaining roof pieces.

The Trailers two alternate modes are far better defined than Bumblebee's APC's base modes were. Transformation starts with removing the roof/missile launcher and un-hitching the trailer. Separate the middle of the trailer and fold down to the sides. Unpeg the grey arms and swing the sides of the trailer out to the sides. Fold the panel the arms are connected down under the trailer so they point down. Fold the side panels of the truck out to the sides and back do they point away and forward from the front of the trailer and their fronts slot into the front of the trailed. Fold the wheels out from under the back of the trailer to form a ramp leading down from the now raised platform. Peg the missile launcher into the 5mm peg hole.

The Base mode you get is a ramp (yeah!) with a V shaped section of Wall sticking out behind it. You'll need to swing the cannon out to the sides to get some higher vehicles onto the platform and only shorter ones will fit due to the space at the rear of the platform being taken up by the support for the missile launcher. The platform deck has 4 3mm halls for Cyberverse weapons.

The second alternate mode for the trailer is a power up for the Cyberverse Commander Prime. Fold the ramp so it points down at an angle of 90 degrees from the ramp. Unhook the trailer sides. Remove the missile launcher and fold it's support back. Raise the front of the trailer up. Stand on the wheel assembly. Clip the trailer hitch on Prime's back into the c-clip on the transformer trailer. Slide each foot into the clips on the wheel base. Fold the arms forward and rotate the black pieces so the 5mm holes are on top. Slide Prime's hands over the handles then turn the trailer sides down so that the Autobot Symbol faces the right way up.

Prime's Assault Vehicle Mode isn't a proper robot formed from a combined cab and trailer like Ultra Magnus or Powermaster Optimus Prime, more like a person in a mech suit like the Power Loader in Aliens. Both sets of arms move well together which is better than on some similar toys I've seen where as soon as the figure is holding on it immobilises both sets of arms. The right arm ends in a claw while the left has a double barrelled cannon. There's a 5mm peg hole on the top of each and another peg hole on each "foot". There's a 3mm bar on each shoulder and another one on the top of the 3 barrelled launcher above the robot's head.

Just adding a trailer to Prime would be enough to please some people, but to get a base and an OK power up out of it as well is a good effort. I don't feet either mode is quite perfect: the base isn't as good as Bumblebee's APC Base and there are better power ups to robot out there. But still for the size it's a nice toy and there's a feeling that the more Cyberverse pieces you have that you can connect together, the better.

Dark of the Moon Cyberverse Action Set Bumblebee

I have not gone out of my way to own Movie Legends Bumblebee's but have ended up with two different moulds in two packs which I've bought for other toys. Movie 1 Legends Bumblebee with Battle Damage came with the superb Scorponok while ROTF NEST Bumblebee came with Shadow Striker aka EVIL Universe Wheelie. Truth be told I've not exactly bought this set for the Cyberverse Legion Bumblebee either. A new mold, Bumblebee's third movie legends version, it looks like the Camero used in the film.

Transformation is easy: the doors and front wheels pull out to form arms, the bonnet folds forward to become the chest, the legs unfold and the feet fold down.

As you mignt be able to tell from that, his articulation has had a major upgrade from the ROTF model with bending ankles & knees, ball jointed hips & outer shoulders plus inner shoulders that swing back. His left hand has a c-clip shape moulded into it for him told hold Cyberverse weapons. He's presently stood in front of me touting Ironhide's combined blaster. Bumblebee comes with a V shaped jetpack that clips round his back. Sadly he can't wear it in car mode.

But it's not the figure you want me to talk about is it?

Bumblebee comes with what's labelled as an Mobile Battle Bunker. Once you transform it into vehicle mode, it's a green APC towing a grey trailer. There's space on the trailer and the roof for a Cyberverse vehicle: Ironhide's sitting on the back of mine with Barricade riding on the roof. On the front of the vehicle is a 3mm bar and matching clip: you could connect two of these nose to nose, have him towed by Optimus Prime's trailer or mount weapons on the front. Littered over the vehicle are a number of 3mm peg holes, three on each side and two on the top, for Cyberverse weapons to be plugged into. I've got Prime's Blasters plugged into my roof holes and still have room for Barricade. The instructions show Bumblebee's jet pack attached to the top of the vehicle but I can't find any way to properly attach it so have stored it under the trailer where it fits nicely. He comes with one weapon you can peg in to the holes: a missile. When not in use the missile is also stored under the trailer. If you get the balance right Bumblebee can just about hold it. The missile fits into a launcher formed by folding the upper car deck up & forward then swinging the car plates down 180 degrees. The launcher then sits over the front of the vehicle, and a 3mm bar is exposed on it's stem.

By folding out the missile launcher, then folding the ramp onto the back of the APC and facing the cannon backwards a mobile armoured missile platform can be formed.

For his official base mode one remove any added and stored weapons from the APC mode. Turn the vehicle onto it's roof, then turn the trailer so the top faces up. Fold the trailer down to form a ramp. Split the cab of the APC in two down the middle and fold to the sides. Raise the towers out of the APC cab halves.

Basically it's a ramp. We like ramps. And as a bonus it's a ramp with a launcher! At the top of the ramp is a platform and at the back of the platform is a little black lever that when pressed raises the platform catapulting any vehicle on it down the ramp. The towers each have a 5mm peg hole in the top of them allowing additional larger Mechtech weapons to be mounted there. The 3mm bar and c-clip connector have ended up on either side of the base mode allowing it to be attached to any of the other Cyberverse bases. However due to the way the back of the base is made from the opened out APC cab it should be possible to connect a pair of these bases back to back to form a larger structure. If I've one complaint about the base mode then it concerns the towers: They're obviously 6 barrelled Gattling Guns and my inclination is to fold either them forward or swing the cab halves forward so they point in that direction.

Base Mode 2 is formed by taking Base Mode 1 and folding the missile launcher out from underneath it, up the back of the base and pointing it forward over the ramp. Bumblebee or another Cyberverse figure can then stand behind the base and hold the missile launcher using the 3mm bar handles at the rear of the launcher.

This set is top stuff, especially when you get a few other Cyberverse sets to link it up to. Because the set includes a Legends/Legion size toy, the accompanying base is larger and more substantial than the bases that come with the Commander figures in the wave 2 Action Sets. If you're going to own the Cyberverse bases you need at least one of these to form part of it.