Arms Micron Capsule Series Wave 3
My box of the Arms Micron Capsule series wave 3 arrived this week courtesy of HLJ.com who supplied both of my previous waves no problem. However the box they sent me this time contained:
4 x Wheeljack (peachy orange capsule)
3 x Starscream (purple capsule)
2 x Green Dobo (yellow capsule)
1 x Red Dobo (blue green capsule)
NO RATCHET! NOT HAPPY! So if any UK based fan is reading this who can sell me a Ratchet Micron/swap for a Starscream/Wheeljack Micron I'll be very happy & grateful.
Wheeljack
Near perfect likeness of the character with blades protruding from the ends of the arms. Articulation: ball joints at hips and shoulders, plus the shoulders fold forwards across the chest as part of the transformation. His right shoulder has a purpley red trapezoid Autobot spark crystal (It's a bit hard to say what the exact colour is) while there's 5mm sockets on his left shoulder and outer sides of both knees.Transformation: Fold the back of the legs down under the feet and clip the legs together. Fold the arms down straight at the sides, then fold in at the shoulders. Fold the backpack up to cover the head.
Wheeljack transforms into a Kunai, a Japanese tool which can also be used as a weapon which rather suits Wheeljack's dual role as warrior & technician. We get a 5mm peg in this mode, on the base of the weapon, and an extra socket on the back. The shoulders (crystal and one socket) end up on the base of the weapon while the sockets on the knee are on he side of the blade.
My one complaint is there is a definite front & back to the weapon mode.
Decent blade weapon and robot mode. Well worth owning.
Starscream
I'm not keen on Starscream's Prime form and the Micron version is even worse looking like a Star Wars Lego Super Battle Droid figure. The robot mode features the wings folded back which just unbalances the toy and causes it to fall over backwards. The ball joints on the toy at the shoulders and hips are a bit loose compared to the other Arms Micron toys. There are no real accessible 5mm Micron pegs or sockets available in this mode, all being ruled out by the wings being closed together. Fold them out to the sides and you get a better balanced toy as well as 5mm pegs on the end of the wings, another on his back, a 5mm socket behind his left wing and a yellow hexagonal Decepticon Spark crystal behind his right wing.Transformation: (if necessary) fold the wings forward and out to the sides. Push the hips up. Fold the arms up so the shoulders cover the head and the hands clip into the top of the wings. Fold the legs up so they clip into the bottom of the wings.
The transformation won't work if the hips haven't been pushed up first - it took me a while to crack the trick with the hips so I spent ages being frustrated that I couldn't get this toy into weapons mode. Even now I have I can't get the limbs to stay attached to the wings properly.
Starscream forms a Boomerang wing a 5mm peg at each end and in the middle. The 5mm socket and spark crystal end up on opposing sides of the wing. The weapon mode is a bit something of nothing but works better as a jetpack - try it on the Wheeljack Micron, with the backpack folded halfway forward. It would make a very good chest plate for a Power Core Commander but he's missing a 5mm hole in his chest to make this possible.
Robot's got issues and I don't like the design. Weapons mode is weak. Worst Arms Micron Capsule toy since the monochrome beasts in the first wave.... possible worst of the lot.
Dobo
Onto the Decepticon animal in this wave. Dobo is an dragonfly with four ball jointed wings. Between the wings is 5mm socket - there's another under the body and a third under the end of the tail while there's a 5mm peg under the head as well as one under each of the larger front wings. The Yellow/Green Trapezoid Decepticon spark crystal is mounted on the top of the start of the tail.All the Decepticon Arms Micron Capsule animals have two colour variants and like Dado he mixes both colours:
Colour 1: Body & Tail
Colour 2: Wings & Tail Core
The colours chosen this time are Green & Red so we get a green dragonfly with red wings and a red dragonfly with green wings which brings to mind the Beast Wars toy Jetstorm and his Beast Wars II repaint Tonbot. Very Nice!
Transformation: Fold the wings forward, locking the two larger ones together. Extend the tail.
Dobo's weapons mode is a gatling gun with six gun barrels arranged in a circle at the end of the tail. The barrel rotates nicely, but that means the 5mm socket on it moves round the toy. There's a pair of 5mm pegs under the folded back wings but it's probably best to hold the weapon by the peg underneath the rear of the weapon, the insect's body, or mount it on either the socket located just in front of the peg or the one on top of the insect's body.
You can have some fun with two of these toys, one in each mode. You can plug the weapon into the insect by sliding the peg under the insect into the socket on the top of the weapon. Or you can shorten the weapon to insect length and match the peg & socket at each end of the toys so the insect is carrying the gatling directly underneath it.
Easily the star of this set, but I'm worried about the long term durability of the wings which are very thin and have a disturbingly small connection to the ball that locks them into the body.
