Phil's Transformer Reviews

Thursday, 19 June 2014

Generations Legends Skrapnel & Reflector

You'll probably be surprised to learn that this toy is the first proper reinterpretation of the Insecticon Shrapnel, which seems odd for a toy that was released 29 years ago and was a part of the earliest years of Transformers toy and media line! His colleagues both have newer versions: Bombshell became a European Actionmaster while Kickback featured in Fall of Cybertron. There were a few insects in Beast Wars, notably Waspinator who became the go to character for an insect, plus one in Energon and Prime: Beast Hunters but apart from that it's been a seldom used alt mode type till the 30th Generations line which has five so far .... OK two of those are Waspinator but....

Skrapnel looks pretty good in robot mode straight out the packet but lets concentrate on his insect mode first. Close the mandibles behind his head. Fold the chest upwards so his head is covered. Fold the feet down. Fold the sides of the legs onto the front of the legs. Peg the legs together. Fold the waist back 90 degrees. Turn the legs at the hips so they face forward and then bend the knees. There's a tab on the back of the combined lower legs which fits into the hole on the now exposed top of the waist. The back of the robot is now the bottom of the insect so lay it on it's back. Fold the pairs of insect legs out to the sides. They won't feel like they can fold that far but the base of the legs needs to be parallel in relation to the surface it's on: excessive force may be required the first few times but you'll get a nice satisfying click when they lock. Fold the arms under the toy, bending them slightly, and peg onto the underside of the toy.

Essentially Skrapnel's insect mode is his G1 robotic stag beetle but with better inset legs: job done. Actually there's a nice nod to the very poor legs on the original toy here: each heal has a wheel moulded into it., Due to the size there's not much in the way of poseability here: the mandibles move out to the sides and that's it. The toy's pose in beast mode is on a slant front to back with the front slightly elevated. On the top of the toy is a single 5mm peg hole that can be used to mount Skrapnel's companion.

Whereas Skrapnel has his origins as a Waruder in the Diaclone toyline (he was Kuwagatorer) his companion comes from the other side of the fence: he was originally a Microchange toy. Skrapnel's companion is named Reflector which was originally the name of the combined camera mode of Spectro, Spyglass and Viewfinder. The cartoon and toy designs for these characters differ, and indeed in the cartoon they look very similar, but the presence of a camera lense on his chest suggests he's based on Viewfinder with the colours being close to what was used in the animation. Reflector's articulation is a little limited but his arm do swing up from his sides.

His alternate mode is the combined camera mode of the original Reflector with a MASSIVE telephoto lense: Lay his robot mode on his front with the arms folded down to act as handles for Skrapnel or another toy to hold. Alternately turn Reflector the other way up and use the fold out 5mm peg for Skrapnel to hold him... but it does look more like a canon than a camera this way up.

But we're not done yet: Reflector has a proper weapons mode: from the upside down camera mode fold the camera lense down which will cause the spring loaded front of the robot mode to fold forwards forming a gun to peg into the insect mode or be hand held by Skrapnel. The gun itself is a very similar shape to the Shrapnel's original grenade launcher .

Reflector's a nice package: a character that's not been done before, ok robot (for the size), good alt mode and clever weapons mode. One of the better companions in the Legends line.

To transform back to robot mode unpeg the back of the insect and stretch out to form the legs. Separate and move the top of the back out to the sides. Fold the feet up. Unpeg the arms and fold out to the sides. Fold the rear legs back behind the toy. Fold the chest down, revealing the head, and fold the mandibles out to the sides.

They best way to describe the robot mode is to say "Just like the original, but with more articulation". He's got ball joints at his knees, hips, elbows & shoulders, plus the bending ankle used in the transformation and, unlike his case mate Tailgate, a head that can turn. I've found it hard to get a grip on the head so have ended up turning it by slipping a screw driver into one of the moulding holes on the back. The head matches the original in that both the face and the visor are silver: it's a bit hard to distinguish them so I think some red on the visor to make it match the cartoon version wouldn't go amiss here, but that's an easy change to make if you've got a steady hand. The arms, previously formed from the original Shrapnel's impersonation of insect legs, now have an insect leg hanging off each of them with both rear pairs of legs folded behind the toy. The chest hatch was previously clear and could open to accommodate a Diaclone driver. Now it's just a yellow paint application on the black body.

Verdict: Accurate articulated Shrapnel makes for a good toy, with Reflector being the icing on the cake. It's probably in the cold light of day a better package than Swerve but there's something that's just soooo good about Swerve that he's still my favourite toy this year.

Possible Repaints

The easiest thing to do here would be to paint Shrapnel various shades of green and release him as Beast Wars Insecticon. But if you removed the mandibles and remoulded the chest & head he could make a decent Bombshell: Swap the black and purple colours on Skrapnel and you're most of the way there. Then have Bombshell's antennae formed from his gun that plugs into a peg hole on the under side of the chest armour and can be mounted behind his head.

Tuesday, 17 June 2014

Generations Legends Tailgate with Groundbuster

Tailgate originally started out as a repaint of Windcharger. Unfortunately till now neither of Windcharger's subsequent versions (Alternators and Reveal The Shield) resulted in a new Tailgate. The only new Tailgate that there's been since 1986 is The Prime Cyberverse Legion, a repaint of Cliffjumper. However in recent years Tailgate has become a popular character in the More Than Meets The Eye comic so we now have a new Legends version.

As usual for Transformers toys these days he comes packed in robot mode. I'm still sticking to my ancient review style of looking at the vehicle first so we've got to transform him: Fold each foot back and rotate each leg in 90 degrees at the knee. Rotate the thigh pads so the wheels face back. Fold the back panel down. Swing the legs out to the sides and fold the waist back to form the rear of the car. Straighten the arms and then rotate the forearms in at the elbow so the fist holes face inwards. Swing the shoulders up above the head so the shoulder halves lock together forming the front of the car and the arms lock into the back panel as the doors. Fold the legs under the car: the thigh panel should tab into the back panel & doors while a groove in the foot should lock into the inside of the doors.

The thing that strikes me about the transformation is that both limbs need rotating round a ball joint something you don't see happen too often!

Tailgate's vehicle mode is a white car designed to look broadly similar to, but not exactly the same as, his original Trans Am form. The rear of the car has an large exhaust arrangement made from the waist of the robot. The white of the car body is broken by the grey of his windows and some cyan blue flames on his bonnet, a detail inherited from his recent Transformers Prime Cyberverse Legion version. I'm not keen on them. Any ideas on how to remove them without harming the rest of the toy? They panels they're on are just the shoulders so I could easily pop them off their ball joints and soak them in something without harming the rest of the toy. On the central panel of the bonnet is a small cyan blue Autobot symbol and a 5mm socket which can be used for mounting his companion Groundbuster.

I've seen people say that Groundbuster is loosely modelled on Micromaster Neutro but I think 2003's Japanese Crush-Bull is a better colour match, both being blueish bulldozers. Transformation to robot mode is easy: stand on his rear with the underside facing forward and raise the treads as arms. The arms are moulded inside the treads but don't take up all the space and when swung up the treads look too big as arms: maybe having the arms as a cut section of the treads would have worked better. There's a hole on the inside of each arm at about the level of an elbow but annoyingly it's slightly too small for a 3mm Cyberverse peg.

Groundbuster's weapons mode if formed by folding the top of the bulldozer forward and folding a 5mm peg down from the back of the vehicle to form a grabbing claw thing. I'll be charitable and say it looks like a piece of bomb disposal equipment, maybe a small nod to Tailgate's supposed function in the More Than Meets the Eye comics. It can be hand held or mounted on Tailgate's bonnet using the 5mm peg hole but, to be honest, it's the most useless companion weapon yet in the Generations Legends series.

Just for a laugh I tried putting my clear blue Feral Rex FOC Grimlock "Frost" blaster on the front of the toy: he looks quite fun with a giant cannon!

Really the only negative comment More Than Meets The Eye fans might have about the vehicle mode is it is a traditional Tailgate Earth vehicle mode rather than his Cybertronian one seen in the comic.

Transform back to robot mode: remove the weapon, pop the legs out from under the car. Fold the sides of the car out and down to form the arms. Rotate the lower arms outwards. Fold the back panel up. Fold the waist up into place. Fold the feet down and rotate the legs in at the knees. Swing the thigh panels round so the wheels face front.

Tailgate's robot mode is definitely Tailgate but it's not quite his original robot mode and it's not quite his comic robot mode, as seen on the MTMTE#12 cover, either. We'll start with the head, which is the MTMTE version in white as opposed to the silver of the original toy. This had worried me in the pictures before I got the toy as it seemed to merge with the white panel behind it. That's not the case when you see the toy in the plastic with it being distinct from the reverse of the back panel, actually the underside of the car's front window. In fact there's moulded detail on the panel that's been completely hidden in all the photos I've seen. The shoulder lack the pointedness of the original car and the comic versions having wide flat tops formed from the front of the car. We've got the front wheels on the sides of the shoulders as per both versions. The chest is a pale blue like the comic, but the waist is grey and has the odd looking exhaust pipes sticking up from it in a vaguely suggestive manner. The upper legs are grey, reminiscent of the thin silver chrome legs on the original toy, but with the rear of the car sides hanging off them. This doesn't quite work for me, I prefer MTMTE's bulky white thighs with the wheels on the side. Aesthetically I prefer the robot with the car sides reversed so the wheels face backwards. The lower legs and feet are a close match for the MTMTE version, except the lower legs are blue here and not white. Note the sloped ridges on the front of his legs, reminiscent of the slatted rear windscreen of his original vehicle that formed the lower legs on the original robot.

Articulation: ankles bend forwards and back, and he's got ball joints at the knees, hips, shoulders, which also shrug at the body, and elbows. No head rotation sadly..

Tailgate's had a rough ride at the hands of some fans who are decrying it as the worst of the Generations Legends, usually without being clear why. I like it. A Lot. It's definitely Tailgate in both modes despite the robot's deviation from the MTMTE character model. The articulation is good, bar the head, and the transformation does something interesting with the ball joints that you don't see too often.

Good toy. Another hit for Generations Legends line.

Possible Repaints

The obvious way to go here is a repaint, and remould, as Windcharger, his G1 anticendant. alternately break out the all black repaint as Wipe Out, a Japanese Transformers United toy which I discover was Trypticon's minion in Marvel Transformers US #27/UK #111 & 112.

Then of course there's a whole world of Mexican Minibot repaints......

Friday, 4 April 2014

Cyberjets

Transformers Cyberjets

Phil loves the Cyberjets.

I can remember the day I first saw them: I was working in Merton Park and used to drive to Wimbledon for a walk around the shops at lunch time. In the town centre, where The Entertainer is now, was a little independant toy shop which was on my regular route. One day I walked in there and they had a range of new small Transformers jets on the shelf. Now I have a thing for small TF jets: It amazed me that there never did them in the early years of the line as a counterpart to the mini Autobots. The first range of small jets, the Aerialbots in 1986, went to the Autobots. The first small carded Decepticon jets are Triggercon Windsweeper and Dual Targetmaster Needlenose in 1988, and the first range of small carded jet is The Predators in 1992 followed by Skycorchers in 1993 afteer which it had gone quiet again for a couple of years. So confronted by small jets I decided I could only really afford one of them. Which to buy? Hooligan, Skyjack or Spacecase? I went for Hooligan, mainly due to the plane mode's resemblance to Jetfire.

I went back to the office, I think I may have been there by myself for the afternoon, and decarded my new toy. And was absolutely blown away by it:

1) Ball Joints ! Ball joints had showed up the previous year (1995) on the hips of the Laser Rod cars and the Stealth Bomber/Fighter. The Cyberjetss are the first to use ball joints for all their joints (with one exception) This represents a huge step forward articulation wise for TFs. Some of the larger early TFs were quite well articulated but in general articulation on G1 TFs isn't good - especially bellow the waist - as each point of articulation requires multiple parts and thus has a cost at assembly. Some TFs are effectively bricks - Powermaster Optimus springs to mind as a G1 TF that would be stunning with a few more points of articulation. Ball joints allow a full range of articulation with just 2 pieces - each limb part involved. You even get some bonus articulation thrown in - a ball jointed elbow effectively serves as both an elbow and a rotational bicep joint in that it allows the lower part of the arm to move up and down (which you'd expect at an elbow) but also allows movement from side to side. They pop out easily preventing breakage for the most part and a worn ball and socket joint can be easily restored with a bit of clear nail varnish. Make no mistake, this is a gigantic leap forward for TFs as you can now get some good action poses out of your toys - this is the point where TFs truly become action figures.

2) Light Pipes ! I love lightpipes. It's a simple action feature adding real value to a toy. This is where there's a piece of coloured clear plastic running from the eyes/visor etc on a toy through to the back of the head. Light shines through and makes the eyes glow. The only down side is a clear coloured panel in the back of the head but to me that's an OK price to pay. It's also been used effectively on Star Wars Jawa figures and most modern R2 & R4 units. Light pipe eyes first show on the Euro G1 Turbomasters and Predators in 92 so were quite common by the time the Cyberjets showed in 1995

3) Marble missile launchers ! We'd had a string of weak missiles, then huge oversized missiles. These missiles are long, yes, but they look a reasonable size for the launcher, and don't have any springs involved. Nice touch.

4) Landing Gear ! Each plane has 3 sets of fold down landing gear (which previously would have been a treat on larger toys)

5) Missile storage ! It's a small thing but each of the Cyberjets can stow their spare missiles on the vehicle mode.

6) Swing Wings ! Swing Wings had been done precisely ONCE on Transformers before and that was on the much larger Jetfire. Never has such a feature been attempted on a transformers toy this small and it's this that puts Hooligan above the other Cyberjets.

To this day Hooligan is in my top 5 Transformer toys EVER and I don't think the design has been topped for a jet toy. I think there's better decos of the toy mould but Hooligan still wins out because he was the one I encountered first, he's the toy that is the big step forward.

Of course the next day I went back and grabbed the other two. They're fabulous toys in themselves but inevitably they're overshadowed by Hooligan. And as much as I loved Hooligan what I *really* wanted was that same toy done in the Jetfire colours. When a repaint of Hooligan appeared as Jetfire it was frustratingly in the wrong colours. It wasn't until 2004's Robotmasters release of R-Blade that I got what I wanted. Robotmasters, in the same initial release in July 2004, also gave me Ligier, the correct Mirage colours of Machine Wars Flipchanger Mirage which was another repaint I'd been yearning for for years, so I'm extremely grateful to that line.

Since the initial release Cyberjets have been redone en masse several times, first in Generation 2 as Autobots in contrast to the initial Decepticon release, then Robotmasters (two Cybertron and one Destron) and finally in Universe (one Autobot, two Decepticon). Hooligan also makes a solo repaint appearance in the Botcon 2005 set,

Here's how each toy is named in each release:


	G2 D	G2 A	RM	TFU	Botcon
Swing Wing F-22 Raptor	Hooligan	Jetfire	R-Blade	Wind Sheer	Ricochet
Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk	Skyjack	Air Raid	Delta Seeker	Air Raid
Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut	Space Case	Strafe	X-Gunner	Space Case

Now because these toys have been released in series together, and the same parts appear in the same colours across the series, we can come to the conclusion that these toys are in general gang molded. In fact the only part that seems unique to each jet is the main colour of the jet body:


	G2 D	G2 A	RM	TFU
Upper Limbs & Bodys	Red	Blue	Red	Burgundy
Landing Gear	Black	Black	Black	Yellow
Launchers & Hooligan's Wings	Black	Black	Black	Burgundy
Missiles	Yellow	White	Yellow	Yellow
Lightpipe Eyes & Canopies	Orange	Yellow	Blue *	Yellow
Hooligan	Orange	Grey	White	Silver-Grey
Skyjack	Black	Black	Blue-Green	Blue
Spacecase	White	Green	Silver-Grey	Grey

* The Robotmasters release of the Cyberjets has different lightpiping for each jet: R-Blade is Blue, as per the normal for Autobots/Cybertrons, Delta Seeker is red and X-Gunner has purple eyes but a blue canopy. We'll conclude that the clear blue is thecolour used for the set, because it appears on more than one toy and either new or extra pieces were made. Somewhere in parts bins there may be several colours of unused Cyberjets lightpipes & canopies. But the Robotmasters and TFU sets would be in production at around the same time: it's possible new parts may have been made. The TFU set is the only one where the landing gear isn't the same colour as the launchers.

But seeing this information laid out brings to our attention something that completely passed me by on their initial release. After the colour of the jets themselves, the second most dominant colour is the upper limbs which unites them as a teamset. For the Decepticon Cyberjets it's red, which is a colour most commonly associated with Autobots. Seen by themselves, not an issue. However then look at the Autobot repaints: the colour used there for the upper limbs is a pale blue. Really you'd have to say that that's more of a Decepticon colour.

Has there been some sort of factory mistake and the wrong toy been released at the wrong time under the wrong names?

From just the limb colours you'd be thinking probably. But there's another factor in play here too. Both Jetfire & Strafe feature G2 Decepticon symbols on their rear stabilisers. These are the only toys in the first two sets of Cyberjets to feature faction symbols. So I think you have to conclude that Hooligan, Skyjack & Space Case are actually Jetfire, Air Raid & Strafe and vice versa!

So Jetfire is now Orange, Air Raid Black and Strafe White, all with black limbs. Black & Red is sensible for Air Raid: the black suits his vehicle mode, and both black & red were used on Aerialbot Air Raid. So now I'm looking at Jetfire and thinking "Why is he orange? He'd be better in white. Like Strafe is." Now White and Red kind of make sense for Strafe as they were used on his original Technobot version. But is you look at the Technobot he's got orange missiles, a frequently used colour on the Technobots. Is there a second factory muck up here? Should the swing wing jet have been white and red, with blue highlights, as a Jetfire homage and the Space Case repaint been the one in orange with the Tigerstripes?

I'm forced to conclude that Cyberjets have been at home to not one, but two mistakes. The Autobot repaint set, looks designed to be quite a tight homage to the original names used once you swap the colours round. Unfortunately they came out the factory wrong. Then, either to cover the initial error, or as a second mistake the Autobots get released as Decepticons and vice versa. which further leads me to think .... If they've got the Autobots wrong should the proper version of Hooligan be green and Space Case grey?

Now I've got my authentic G1 Jetfire courtesy of Robotmasters..... But how about a Strafe with an orange tigerstripe vehicle mode?

Wednesday, 5 March 2014

Generations 30th Legend Starscream & Waspinator

Starscream and Waspinator

When Reveal The Shield launched it's Legends line they used Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron & Starscream. The same four characters form the initial four releases in the new Generations Legends size - A scout class robot and a smaller "Minicon" size robot.

So how does Starscream fare?

As seen in the package he's not too bad, but we need to look at the Jet first and to do that we need to0 transform him: Peg the legs together, fold the feet & heels together and fold the tail fins out to the sides of the legs Fold the wings back and clip them into the legs. Fold the shoulders out to the sides and down, attaching a slot on the back of each wrist to a peg on the underside of the wings. Fold the middle of the chest up to form the cockpit and the nose-cone out from underneath it. If necessary attach the null ray cannons.

I say "if necessary": this is the first Starscream it's possible to Transform with the null rays attached!

Instead of Generation 1 Starscream's tradional form, The F-15 he's now presented in his movie vehicle mode the F22 Raptor. It's a decent solid jet with rear wheels molded into the robot's knees while there's a fold down landing gear under his nose. The null rays are under the wings, but pegged into the sides of the jet fuselage. You can, just about, mount them either side of the cockpit too in a pair of screw holes but the fit is a bit loose. On mine you can turn them upside down and they won't fall out. The bottom of the null ray peg is a 3mm peg so they can be held by Cyberverse characters. There's holes on the sides of the weapons that look like 3mm pegs holes but are slightly too large. The top of the null ray handle is a supposed 5mm peg but mine feels larger than that: I've tried it on a few 5mm peg holes and had trouble fitting it in. Sadly the 5mm peg hole on the back of the jet is a prime example (and it is a 5mm hole: I've tested it with other weapons) so the only thing in the packet you can attach there is Waspinator

At first glance Waspinator and Starscream are an odd pairing. But Waspinator was possessed by Starscream's ghost during the Beast Wars episode Possession and then Transmetal Waspinator's vehicle mode is modelled after Starscream's F-16 mode. Waspinator's insect mode isn't too bad with the traditional dark green body and a lime green used for the forelegs and tail sting.

Transformation is simple: fold the sting up, stand on the back of his abdomen and fold the beast head down. Simple.

What you get looks like Waspinator again, albeit with the majority of the abdomen visible between the legs. The only real articulation is the arms which can raise. Yes the legs can turn at the hips but they're linked and the adomen remains in place. His hands are 3mm peg sockets so he can hold Starscream's guns or any other Cyberverse weapon.

From here push the top set of wings together to extend the weapons mode gun barrel then fold the stinger under the feet and forward to form the weapons handle. Fold the head up to lock the barrel in place.

Hmmm. Yes it's a round looking gun. Not the best gun mode and it looks very odd mounted on Starscream's back. The colours clash hideously too which doesn't help!

In fact Waspinator is probably the worst of the first four, indeed six, Generations mini robots/weapons. Rounded organic shapes don't lend themselves to be shrunk down.

To transform back to robot mode fold the landing gear in, then fold the nose-cone down under the cockpit. Fold the cockpit down and into the cavity in the jet fuselage, which is nicely detailed inside. Unpeg the arms and fold the shoulder panels up into place. Fold the wings onto the robot's back, fold the tails fins back, separate the legs and fold out the feet and the heel spurs.

Starscream's robot mode is essentially the same as the Generation 1 version but a more stylised version, less blocky, with less parallel lines. It's identifiably Starscream still with it's red body, cockpit on the chest, grey limbs, and blue hands & feet. The wing panel folded onto the back displays the Decepticon symbols the right way up, something of a bugbear of mine on previous versions like the Transformers Collection Anime, Robotmasters and even Masterpiece versions. The articulation is good: ball joints at shoulders, elbows and hips. The knees bend - why no ball joints here? - and the ankles & heels pivot. His hands are moulded with a 5mm hole and can hold his null rays by the 5mm ring at the top of the peg but the fit is VERY tight which, see above, appears to be the fault of the ring on the weapons rather than the fist hole. This turns what should have been a great feature into an annoyance.

Starscream's not a bad toy..... The problem is at this size he automatically invites comparison with The Cyberjets and despite being 18 years older they come off better by having moving heads, ball jointed knees, lightpiped eyes, clear cockpits and firing missiles. Throw in the problem with the hands holding the weapons, plus Waspinator's position as the worst companion/weapon, and I'm left with a not so good feeling about a toy that is OK. It just could have been a lot better.

Starscream and Waspinator were sold in the second 30th anniversary Legends wave alongside Megatron & Chopshop. This wave hasn't reached the UK yet. In Japan Starscream and Waspinator were sold in a 2-pack with recolours of Megatron & Venom.

Acidstorm and Venim

when it comes to Starscream recolours the first two cabs off the rank are usually his 1984 compatriots Skywarp & Thundercracker. So when Acidstorm's name turned up on a list of names from Hasbro's customer service computers I did wonder about how long the line was going to last if they didn't think they could do both Thundercracker & Skywarp.

Acid Storm swaps pale green plastic for grey and black for blue. I'm not sure what colour the red plastic pieces, the chest and the null rays, are as both appear to be painted on the pictures I see. Venim (why not the more correctly spelt Venom?) swaps Waspinator's dark green for black and light green for purple creating an insect in the G1 Insecticon colours. Phil needs an actual Waspinator toy in these colours now!

It looks OK if nothing spectacular but extra Decepticon plane troops are always welcome.

Future Repaints

I mentioned Thundercracker and Skywarp above: If Hasbro won't do them maybe we'll see them in a 2 pack like Robotmasters Skywarp & Thundercracker 2-pack. A third option would be Sunstorm.

As for Waspinator the most obvious route to go down is Beast Wars Waspinator's repaint Buzzsaw in yellow/black or purple. A more out there suggestion would be a black insect body and blue limbs as Bugly.

Wednesday, 12 February 2014

Generations Trailcutter & Hoist

Generations 30th Anniversary Trailcutter

Poor neglected Trailbreaker. He's probably had the least amount of remakes before this figure of any if the Diaclone Autobots: just 2011's RTS Legends Trailcutter and 2013's Beast Hunters Cyberverse Trailcutter spring to mind. I've seen it argued that Universe Spychanger Ironhide is meant to be Trailbreaker but you could argue that it's also a homage to the then unreleased in Transformers Diaclone Ironhide colours. He didn't get a reissue till 2008 (Sunstreaker, Mirage and Wheeljack are still waiting). Classics Updates of the Diaclone cars started in 2006 with Mirage, followed by many more in Universe 2, Generations and Reveal The Shield. Left on the shelf at the start of 2012 are just 3 of the Diaclone Cars: Trailbreaker, his mould brother Hoist and Skids all of which are due updates in the 30th anniversary portion of the Generations line.

The 30th Anniversary deluxe when released in the USA came packaged in robot mode with a comic book. In Trailbreaker's case it was Spotlight Trailbreaker, underlining how he didn't want to be known as being just the robot who produced forceshields. The UK/European version omits the comic book (boooo! :-( ) and, somewhat ironically, shortens his bio note down to just one line: "Deploys an Impenetrable Force Shield"! If you're after the spotlight comic that should have come with him then Download it here from Comixology OR Order the Dark Prelude tpb containing it from Amazon (which also contains the comics for all the other toys in Generations 30th Anniversary deluxe Waves 1 & 2).

To transform into robot mode: Turn the head round and fold down. Pull the chest up. Fold the body back at the waist. Fold the feet in and slide the lower legs up over the upper legs - it's hard to describe this joint, a hinge bellow the knee connected to lower down the inside of the leg - but Universe Sideswipe *really* needed it. Straighten the arms. Fold the shoulders inside the underside of the chest/bonnet locking them together. Unfold the sides of the lower arms. Fold the hands in. Fold the arms into the car with the sides of the lower arms becoming the door. Fold the handle into the shield and lock onto his back.

That's a lot easier to describe than it is to do. The arms in particular are a pig to get right!

Trailcutter's vehicle mode resembles the original Trailbreaker Toyota 4WD Hi-Lux camper truck. There's diagonally mounted windows between front and side windows which change the look a lot bit the main difference is the appearance of two guns projecting over the front window and the force field projector array, usually found behind the robot's head, on top of the vehicle. I can cope with each if they were fold out extras but they look odd here. His doors each gave a 5mm peg hole in them, with another mounted in close proximity just behind each door. There's another two 5mm peg holes on the top of the vehicle, so you can tool him up with any spare weapons/Minicons that you can find. Why two holes on the top? They're close next to each other so it's hard to mount two weapons in them. One in the middle would be better as we'll see much lower down.

To transform back to robot start by removing the top portion of the flat bed, with it's attached missiles, to form his shield from which a handle folds out. This leaves you with a pickupish truck which boded well for a decent Hoist repaint. Fold the arms down from under the vehicle and then out to the sides. Fold the hands out and fold the forearms closed. Pull the back of the card out to the sides slightly and back to form the legs. Fold his feet out. Fold the Front of the car forward and then down to form the robot's chest. Lock the arms in place with the shoulder plates notching on the vehicle's wing mirrors. Fold the head up and turn round.

Trailcutter's robot mode is quite a chunky chappy. Comparing him to his original version most of the distinguishing features are there just moved around and modified a bit. He's mainly black, with some red (knees, elbows and shoulder paint) and grey (upper legs and hands). But somehow he just doesn't feel like Trailbreaker. I can't quite put my fingers on what it is though! Generally he holds together well but the shoulder plates can come unpegged and you'll occasionally get a wrist panel flopping open. Articulation is good: bending knees & elbows, swivel bicep, turning waist, ball jointed hips & shoulders and a turning head. The head includes a blue lightpipe for his visored eyes and features a grey face more along the lines of the cartoon model than the faceplated original toy. He's got 5mm peg holes on each shoulder, wrist and knee plus another in the top of his head array, which can pivot backwards, and another pretty inaccessible in his back. You can use the head array plug to mount the shield on..... but to do this the array needs to be folded back. There's no way to get the missiles pointing up and the array facing forward which means it's impossible to duplicate what is for many the signature look of the original toy. The shield has a handle that can be folded out for Trailcutter to hold as a traditional shield or it can be pegged into his wrists as a double barrelled weapon. Again there's no way to simulate Trailbreaker's missile hands look.

Trailcutter is, to my mind, a good toy. He's probably had more playing time than any of my other Generations toys. He's just not a great representation of Trailbreaker. There's too many features that are limited or not quite right.

Trailcutter appeared in the Generations 30th Wave 1 case with Megatron, Orion Pax and Bumblebee who were all packed at 2 per case. This wave is the only Generations 30th deluxe wave to reach the UK, exclusively through Toys R Us, where they're missing the comics. He was sold in Japan in a 2 pack with his repaint Hoist.

Generations 30th Anniversary Hoist

G1 Trailbreaker's repaint and considerable remould Hoist has had a fair few versions over the years. It's the default name for a Transformers tow truck, but most of them haven't been green and orange like the original (I'm still waiting for a properly coloured version of the flipchanger) or have been green versions of a non tow truck toy like the Legends Hoist created from Legends Trailcutter with no alterations to the vehicle mode. The best version of Hoist is probably ROTF Hoist which hits most of what I need from a Hoist dead on.

So how does Generations Hoist do?

Badly. Very badly.

Gone is the shield and missile array. The head's been replaced too, with something that looks like Hoist's G1 head, and that isn't too bad, if a little thin. Black becomes green and red becomes orange so well done on getting the colours right. It's what replaces the shield that's the problem. It's a towing hook on an arm. Just a towing hook. It plugs into the back of the cab and doesn't really stretch much over the back of the vehicle. The hook and the arm pivot, and there's another pivot half way along. To be honest the vehicle mode just looks like there's something missing with all of Hoist's bright orange towing gear not there. The missing missiles, that pointed over the cab with Trailcutter, draw attention to the back of the head poking up through the top of the cab something that's not nearly so noticeable with Trailcutter!

Robot mode is nearly as bad. The towing hook becomes a gun, which is ok but Hoist never had a gun, he had wrist mounted missiles/tools. Gone are his signature wings behind the head something I'd hoped to see on a Generations version.

Honestly I feel conned. Much less plastic than Trailcutter, it doesn't feel decent enough value for money. He'd have worked better with Trailcutter's shield in orange and the hook hanging off the back of that. (that then would mean the tow arm would be lopsided, because there's two holes). I ordered Hoist cheap off Amazon.com with his wave mate Thundercracker and by the end of the day he arrived he was in the toybox.

Hoist shipped with Thundercracker and various wave 1 repaints. He wasn't sold in the UK (Amazon.com if you need one) and by the looks of it some online retailers had their orders shorted of this wave. It's a cheap repaint wave but Thundercracker is the better toy having all the parts the original does and a huge weapon :-) In Japan Hoist was sold in a 2-pack with Trailcutter.

X2 Toys XT-003 Strength Equipment

It seems I wasn't the only person who felt that way about Hoist because X2 Toys very quickly announced an add on kit for both Hoist and Trailcutter.

The main part and selling point of the set is an add on for Hoist: it fits over the back of his truck bed building it up and providing a hole for the tow arm that allows it to sit further back. It totally changes the look of the vehicle mode. Once attached it remains in place when you transform the toy, folding down to form a backpack. From the backpack mode you can fold out a pain of wings, mounted on ball joints, to give Hoist his signature look. Top stuff. It's a simple piece but it improves the toy no end.

Hoist also comes with a replacement hand cannon: tab it into the underside of his right fist and then rotate the fist back into the wrist straightening the cannon out. Another missing element added into our toy. The hand cannon can have the gun/tow arm mounted on it to form a bow, which is nice, and in vehicle mode stores on top of the added on tow gear piece. Well done for integrating in both modes. The original version was grey, like the toy, but there's a second chromed version out there. Beware of the peg: I tired to mount it on the hole on the side of the wrist but it's slightly too big and stressed the peg hole :-(

Of course Trailcutter can use the hand cannon too but he has his own cannon which is more a two piece job made of a black plastic panel, which pegs into his left wrist, and a gun barrel, which like Hoist's cannon, is either grey or chrome. It looks decent in place, and like Hoist's cannon stores in vehicle mode by folding up and pegged into the top of the toy.

The final piece in the set looks like a little black gun and can be used as such by either toy. as well as storing on top of the cannon add on in vehicle mode. However the peg hole on top of the gun, which is set further back than the handle, hints at an alternate function. Insert the gun handle into the inaccessible 5mm hole in Trailcutter's back, with the barrel pointing down. This has the effect of moving the socket back and up so that you can plug the shield into it which gives the robot his "missiles behind the shoulders" look while allowing the array on his head to be turned forwards. It's a little piece of plastic but it does a very effective job.

I'm not keen on third party Transformers toys: Transformers is a Hasbro/Takara/TakaraTomy/Songkong toyline. However I do like some of the various add on kits and this is a particularly good one. It boosts both toys, especially Hoist, by adding in fan favourite features that Hasbro didn't include. I'd say this kit is a must if you got Hoist!

Future Repaints

The obvious Hoist repaint, his Machine Wars version is probably a no go due to being too close to Trailcutter's colours and having been done on another toy for Botcon 2013. However MW Hoist was repainted in Yellow as Hubcap, green and purple as Car Robots Wrecker Hook/Towline, Clear Orange and Green as Car Robots promo Wrecker Hook and Black, Red and Blue as Robotmasters Wrecker Hook.

Then we break the Diaclone colours out: The Hilux Wrecker (what became Hoist) was also available in Red & Yellow and Blue & Yellow while the Hilux Camper (Trailbreaker) had additional Yellow and Blue versions.

While most of them may not be suitable for retail I'd lay money on there being Botcon versions down the line!

Wednesday, 5 February 2014

Generations Waspinator

Waspinator

It's always a bit of a worry when Hasbro does a new version of a Beast Wars toy. 10th Anniversary Optimus Primal and Megatron can't decide if they're Organic or techno organic, with Primal in particular being a cross between the Beast Wars Ultra and Transmetal versions. Then Universe Cheetor and Dinobot are just poor toys. we've not had a Beast Wars update since till we got Rhinox, Waspinator and Rattrap as part of Generations.

In fact this deluxe Waspinator isn't the first Waspinator in the Generations line. He's already been a Minicon in the Legends line with Starscream. A seemingly odd tie in on the surface but one that makes plenty of fictional sense: In the Beast Wars cartoon Waspinator was at one point possessed by the ghost of Starscream.

Waspinator comes with a copy of Robots in Disguise issue 22 which Waspinator appears in. Unlike all previous Waspinators he's in robot mode straight out the packaging so we'll need to transform him to look at his beast mode first:

Fold the stinger part of his gun under the barrel and peg it into the wasp's abdomen. Fold the chest & head up and forward, folding the head into the robot's back/wasp abdomen. Pull the shoulders out to the sides locking both halves of the beast head together. Fold the shoulder joints under the toy with the arms pointing forward then turn the the beast legs to point forward too. Fold the robot waist down and rotate, via it's attachment to the abdomen, through 180 degrees. Fold the waist back against the abdomen and fold the abdomen down. Fold the legs forward at the knee and bring the robot feet & heel spurs together pointing straight out the end of the leg. Fold the insect legs so they point out the end of the legs. Fold the arms out to the sides then fold the upper legs up to fill the spaces in the sides of the abdomen. Bring the arms back along the body so the pegs on the elbow sink into the holes on the thorax and the rectangular peg on the wrist locks into the outside of the robot knee. Fold the robot feet under the beast head.

There's a few really scary moments in that transformation: folding the shoulders in, folding the abdomen down and anything that involves touching the insect legs: they are easily the scariest looking part of a transformer toy I have seen in a long time. They feel sturdy enough but no part that thin is ever going to survive being manipulated long term. They are strong enough to support the Wasp mode by themselves though. The wasp mode looks superb: articulation is limited to the ball joint at the base of the fore legs and the rotating joint at the base of pairs of back legs. The wings are each mounted on a ball joint to allow them to move but the ball joints in turn are link to a mechanism powered by a button on the wasp's back: press it and the wings flap forward and back. The beast mode is surprisingly solid: the arms pegging into the sides secure everything in place. The downside here is that the robot's hands are visible near the base of the abdomen. The toy's pose is bent a little, like a wasp about to sting, so it fits nicely into the hand to operate the wing gimmick. Compared to the original Waspinator the beast mode is a huge step up: the robot legs integrate much better, there's clearly six insect legs on the toy and the gimmick is a lot of fun. The only downside is due to the orientation of the wing's ball joint it's harder to pose the wings: the ball joint allows for turning and up/down movement but won't allow for forwards and back: that's provided by the mechanism.

To transform back to robot mode start by popping the arms out to the sides. Fold the legs back, fold the abdomen back then fold the robot waist forward and rotate 180 degrees. Fold the waist up to meet the underside of the thorax. Fold the feet forward and the insect legs up. Fold the robot shoulders out to the sides. Fold the insect arms up behind the robot arms. Fold the insect head forward onto the chest, revealing the robot head, and peg into the waist. Push the shoulders in to split the beast head in two to reveal the robot chest. Pull the top of the back of the abdomen off and fold out the sting to form his gun.

To this day I still think the original Waspinator robot mode is satisfactory: it's one of the close ones to it's cartoon appearance. The head on the 10th anniversary repaints was painted better but that's about all that I thought needed improving. Thankfully, unlike previous Beast Wars toys, they've not mucked about too much here. Essentially Waspinator's robot mode is a slimmed down version of the original which has been accomplished by reducing the size of the central chest piece. We've lost original Waspinators robot head too but the mutant head, the one he used in the show, is now a near dead likeness for the cartoon. Thankfully he's kept his lightpipe eyes and the multifaceted panels used for the large bug eyes look superb lit up. I use the light off my phone's torch: they light up with the light pointed directly at the pipe but if you point the pipe down, reflecting the light off the body plastic, they glow green. The other major loss in robot mode is the missile launcher but the stinger here looks really great with it's clear barb. The stinger is two weapons in one really: it can be held with the stinger fully extended or folded back, as in beast mode. He can't hold his original weapons: the fist size is now 5mm as opposed to the 4mm (approximately) that it was before but that does mean he can use his Minicon self or any other Minicon/Arms Micron/5mm weapon.

Articulation: I think every range of motion on the original is replicated on the new version, plus some additions: the ball joints on the neck, shoulder and hips are still present. The bicep swivel & bending elbow are replaced by a ball jointed elbow and he gains a turning wrist. The knee ball joint is replaced by a thigh swivel & bending knee and the foot & heel spur now pivot at the ankle.

Top toy in both modes. Transforming between them is a little worrying though!

Waspinator was available at 2 per case in Transformer Generations 30th anniversary deluxe wave 3 (2014 deluxe wave 1). This wave hit US stores before Christmas and was quickly cleared out. Many online retailers didn't receive their full allotment from Hasbro: I got fed up waiting for BBTS to receive theirs a month and a bit after US on shelf sightings and ordered off eBay. As usual this wave doesn't appear to be scheduled for the UK market. However Waspinator is scheduled to return, along with Scoop, in Generations 2014 Wave 5 alongside new toys Arcee & Chromia and Hasbro UK have announced this case as shipping April 2014 so there's still a chance for UK fans to get him. Waspinator is available in Japan as Transformers Generations toy TG-30 where he has a more metallic finish.

Future Repaints

The most obvious repaint for this toy is to follow the Beast Wars example and redo him, with a new robot head, as Buzzsaw but for goodness sake get the purple right and use the original US shade rather than the muted Takara one which, along with the grey instead of green, sucked the life out of the toy. A very similar looking toy would be to go with yellow and black, with another new head, as Beast Wars Bumblebee, a choice I'm really surprised never got made during Beast Wars. Black and red would give us Transmetal Waspinator while grey and blue would give us a version possessed by Starscream. How about in black as Pretender Bugly? Or a big retool as Dirge Gun?

Colour schemes I do not want to see on this toy: Fox Kids Waspinator! (Though the clear blue wings are fab!)

Tuesday, 4 February 2014

Generations Skids

Skids

Poor Skids. 1 per case in the G1 toys. Underused in the cartoon. Dissected in a US comic, sent to another dimension for 100+ issues in the UK comic. And last of the Diaclone inspired Autobots to get a "classics" update.

His new Generations toy comes packaged in robot mode and packed with a copy of More Than Meets The Eye 22, which features Skids. MTMTE 2, his debut issue in that series, might have been a better choice as there's a frame from that that this toy owes a lot of debt to!

First up: Skids is misassembled straight out the packet: his hips are on the wrong side. This limits his poseability: his legs swing back not forward at the waist. If you look straight at him, and turn him to your left you'll see a little R for Right on *his* left hip, and if you turn the other way a L for Left on *his* right hip. So pop both legs off at the hips and swap them over. The pop both legs off bellow the hips at the thigh swivel and swap them back.

So to transform him into car mode remove his hand guns. Fold the blasters down under his wrists. Fold the missile pods on his shoulders back then pull the back plate down and store the shoulder cannons in his back. Yes that's a lot of guns! Fold the chest forward, fold the head down into it (there's some nice detailing inside the chest) and then fold the chest back up into the space where the head was. Rotate each foot 180 degrees so the toes point backwards. Fold the foot out to the sides and up. Fold the toes on each foot in. Peg the lower legs together and rotate the waist 180 degrees. Push the shoulders in so they lock with the sides of the chest to form the car's bonnet. Peg the arms into the hips, there's a pin joint mid bicep that lets the arm bend slightly in. Fold the legs forward to become the back of the car. Swing the robot backpack wings back so they're flush with his side windows to form the car doors. Fold the back plate down to fill the gap on the top of the car. Fold the car doors into place and manipulate everything so it locks. Peg the guns onto the sides of the car.

Skids' vehicle mode is a car, which looks a little like his Movie version or a squashed G1 Skids. He's got a blue body shell which, if I'm honest, is far too lighter blue for Skids. It's almost a blue/green original Seaspray blue. Could do with being darker: this might be a "double dip for the TakaraTomy version". Present are the white and red stripes down the sides. He's got painted headlights: yellow at the front, red at the back, a silver grill and red wheel hubs. On the sides of the car just in front of the rear wheels is a 5mm peg hole on each side. Use these to mount his weapons on, or indeed any other weapons: I think Universe Tankorr/Octane's twin cannons might work quite well. Officially it's part of the transform, but you can fold the sides of the car up as gull wing doors. Finally the windscreen can slide up and back, which triggers the spring loaded folding out of his robot mode shoulder cannons allowing them to fire out the front of the car!

There's just a little bit more here than you get with the average Generations (classics etc) vehicle mode, I like this a lot. The only downside is there's a step somewhere in the transform that's causing slight stress marks to appear on the slatted rear window.

Transform back to robot mode: remove the weapons, raise the doors and swing the lower door panels out to the sides. Fold the rear of the car back to become the legs: it's best to fold both the knee and bellow the knee joint back to their maximum position. Fold the toes down. Swing the rear wheels and their arches down under the toy to form the feet. Yes just like the original Skids his wheel are face down in his feet! Turn the feet round so the toes point up. Unpeg the arms from the legs then pull the sides of the front away from the bonnet till there's a gap of about 5mm on either side. Raise the roof of the car and spin the waist round 180 degrees. Fold the front of the car right the way forward, fold the head out and then fold back to form the robot chest.

You've now got the standard unarmed Skids robot and it's a good robot: while different it's got enough hints to the original Skids - the car front chest, door wings etc - that you're comfortable with it being Skids. Articulation is generally good: ball jointed ankles, ratcheting knees, thigh swivel, ball jointed hips, waist, ball jointed neck, shoulders and elbows. The shoulders though have caused some people problems. For a start they need to be pull out to the sides to give maximum mobility, a step that has evaded a few people looking at the toy. Then the large shoulders have a habit of colliding with the back panel. Or the wings. And when they don't the forearms will inevitably collide with the protruding chest or the lights sticking out the side of that. You're never going to be able to raise the arms to the sides much anyway so the poseability in the arms is limited despite the articulation. Some people have reported problems balancing the toy: most of these can be solved with the hip swap and/or making sure the mid lower leg joint is right the way forward. I've found having the car's main window folded onto the back, as opposed to being raised, can overbalance the toy slightly.

For some reason I really associate Skids with having Hot Rod esque exhaust pipe guns on his arms. This hasn't been helped by Movie Clocker so at least one other Hasbro designer has the same thought. It's here again on this toy with his wrist guns stowed as a pair of tubes under his arms.

It's time to weaponise Skids: Fold the twin guns out from under the arms. They're geared so folding one out should fold the other. That's a bit of a pain actually because there's plenty of situations I can think of where just folding the outer one out would be good as the inner one keeps colliding with his chest! These guns are reminiscent of the twin electron blaster on the original Skids toy. Next fold the outer portion of the shoulders forward to reveal moulded missile pods as seen on the comics version. Pulling the back panel down and then up again should release the dual cannons which will spring up over his shoulders, again as seen in issue 2 of More Than Meets The Eye. Then there's his hand guns: the larger one is modelled on the G1 toy's Liquid nitrogen rifle. The smaller one is modelled on the Binary Gun/Nudge Gun that Skids was carrying when he arrived in MTMTE issue 2. Both guns have a 5mm peg handle and a 5mm side peg to mount on the side of the car mode. The barrel of the binary gun can also slip into a corresponding hole in the back of the nitrogen rifle to form a larger combined weapon.

For a bit of fun look at the soles of Skids' feet. As well as the hub of the wheels facing down there's also the two 5mm holes from the side of the car. That then means that Skids can use a 5mm peg as a foot stand. It's time to dig out a few Armada toys and Beast Wars X Optimus Primal's Surf Board to see how Skids looks riding them.

Skids isn't a perfect toy: there's a few flaws, annoyances and issues. But he is a very, VERY good toy, lots of fun to play with and lots of extra toys to pack in. Well worth getting....

... Unfortunately that might be an issue now: He appears in the Transformers Generations 2014 Deluxe Wave 1 (Generations 30th Deluxe Wave 3). This wave hit US stores before Christmas and was quickly cleared out. Many online retailers didn't receive their full allotment from Hasbro: I got fed up waiting for BBTS to receive theirs a month and a bit after US on shelf sightings and ordered off eBay. As usual this wave doesn't appear to be scheduled for the UK market so if you want one you are going to have to pay a rising import cost to get it.

Crosscut

Fortunately if you're interested in the toy, as opposed to the character, there is a repaint/remould due. Skids was originally a Diaclone toy: The Honda City Turbo, available in several flavours. But that toy is a modified version of the Honda City R diaclone toy, which had a different head. When Skids was reissued in Japan in 2002 as Transformers Collection 3, the accompanying e-Hobby repaint used one of the Diaclone colours schemes with the modified head and called it Crosscut. So when a repaint of Generations Skids was needed Crosscut was chosen and rather handily Crosscut has recently appeared in Robots in Disguise issue 25, which is included with him.

Crosscut is an easy set of colour swaps: silver for blue, black for grey and some red paint with a new faceplated head.

Looks great!

Crosscut is 2 per case in Generations 2014 deluxe Wave 3, packed with 3 each of Tankor and Rattrap. This case has yet to be released anywhere at time of writing but Hasbro UK have announced this case as shipping April 2014 giving hope that the UK may actually receive this toy! I'll believe it when I see it.

Future Repaints

There's plenty of room for Skids repaints looking at recent repaints of the original Skids toy: Quantum Operative Skids, a green version based on his Movie colours or even Screech, a homage to Movie Skids twin Mudflap.

However for me I think the direction they should go it to look at the Diaclone Honda City R and Honda City Turbo. There's an unused in Transformers Red colour scheme, with blue head and hands. Apply that to the Crosscut version of the Generations toy and you end up with a very nice looking Optimus Prime toy. If you then painted Crosscut in black he'd make a really good vehicle mode Optimus Primal, with the shoulder cannons and wrist guns hommaging the similar features on the original Ultra Ape.

Hasbro, I have money for you!