Tag Archives: Hasbro

#3339: Autobot Rewind

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

AUTOBOT REWIND

TRANSFORMERS: TITANS RETURN (HASBRO)

Soundwave’s not the only Transformer to get his own cassette boi sidekicks. He’s got the Decepticons covered, but over on the Autobot side, there’s Blaster, who gets his own selection of the little guys. In recent years, whenever one of the tapedecks and their cassettes showed up, you could be sure the other wasn’t far behind. For Titans Return, it was Blaster who was first out of the gate, and, by extension, so were his sidekicks. Among them was Rewind, who was, at the time, getting a bit of focus in the More Than Meets the Eye comics from IDW. That seemed like a pretty good justifiable for a figure, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Autobot Rewind was part of the first Legends Class-scale assortment of Hasbro’s Titans Return line, which hit in 2016. Legends Class is roughly the same size as the modern Core Class, which certainly made this a larger than usual Rewind.  In robot mode, he stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and has 11 practical points of articulation.  Rewind debuted this mold, which would subsequently be tweaked and re-used for both Rumble and Frenzy.  Curiously, it was never used to make Rewind’s fellow Autobot cassette, Eject, despite the two classically sharing molds.  The design for this guy was based on Nick Roche’s design for Rewind in More Than Meets the Eye, which was a good focus for the character, so it made a lot of sense.  The difference between this guy and Frenzy is the head, which for Rewind has a plate over the mouth, which makes him all extra sleek and stuff.  That’s fun.  The mold is genuinely one of the best for this style of the cassettes, and just one of the best cassette bot molds in general.  His color work matches up with Rewind’s usual color scheme, and is pretty striking overall.  He’s packed with a small rifle, which works with one of his transformations.  As with all of the TR-era cassette bots, Rewind’s first alt-mode is a data pad, which is vaguely cassette looking, and gets some stickers to help with the overall effect.  He also gets a second alt-mode, which uses the rifle in order to turn Rewind into a tank.  It’s honestly a pretty effective one, and I really dig that they did the two alt-modes here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting the Greatest Hits Soundwave, I was really settled in on just one of each of the cassette molds.  Since I had Frenzy, I didn’t need to track down Rewind.  Or, at least I thought.  I then sat down and read through most of More Than Meets the Eye, since it’s rather Magnus heavy and all, and I grew to quite like Rewind’s portrayal.  So, when one was traded into All Time back in 2020 or so, I went ahead and grabbed him.  I do really like the mold, and it’s distinctly different enough from Frenzy to make it worthwhile to me to have both.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3334: Bumblebee Cassette Pack

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

BUMBLEBEE, FRENZY, BUZZSAW, & HOWLBACK

BUMBLEBEE: GREATEST HITS (HASBRO)

What good is a Soundwave without his cassette buddies?  Well, not so good, I suppose.  Sort of thing you don’t like to see happen, really.  So, whenever Hasbro does a new Soundwave, there’s invariably some sort of cassette component included as well.  Just to really sell the gimmick.  When the Titans Return Soundwave mold was retooled for a Bumblebee tie-in, they could have let people just try to track down the TR cassettes, I suppose, but where’s the fun in that.  And, more importantly, where’s the money in that?  So, instead, we got a whole companions set, just for that guy.  Nice!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Bumblebee Cassette Pack was part of the Target-exclusive Bumblebee: Greatest Hits line, which was under the umbrella of Hasbro’a larger Bumblebee movie offerings.  It was specifically designed to coincide and go along with Soundwave and Doombox from the same line…for the most part.  The set includes three cassette boys, Frenzy, Buzzsaw, and Howlback, who are clearly meant to go with Soundwave.  However, it also includes a Bumblebee, who is not at all in scale with the other stuff, and really just exists to put a Bumblebee in the set, since it was tying into his movie and all.  It’s still a tad odd, though.

Bumblebee was a re-deco of the Age of Extinction High Octane One-Step Changer Bumblebee.  It’s *a* movie Bumblebee, but it’s not the one seen in the movie at all.  I mean, I guess it *kinda* works for Bee at the very end of the movie.  Ah, I’m overthinking it.  In robot mode, he’s about 4 1/2 inches tall and he’s got workable articulation via universal joints at the shoulders.  He’s not very mobile, but that’s not what he was designed for.  He gets an okay approximation of his later film robot mode, albeit a bit chunkier, and with some notable hollow spots.  Again, given that he’s built for play more than accuracy, it’s not bad.  His transformation is, as advertised, one step.  Essentially, he folds and unfolds much like a butterfly knife, with the top of the car/chest being spring-loaded to flip it into place for each respective mode.  It’s admittedly pretty fun.  His main change-up is the color scheme, which sticks more closely to classic Bee than the initial release, which was predominantly black.

With Bee out of the way, we get to the real meat of the set: the cassettes!  The first of them is Frenzy, in his proper blue color that Frenzy is always supposed to be, because Frenzy is blue.  Always.  Right?  Right.  Rumble, the other humanoid cassette, was released on his own during Titans Return, but poor Frenzy was left out in the cold until this release.  In robot mode, he’s about 3 1/2 inches tall and he has 11 workable points of articulation.  Frenzy’s actually quite posable given the scale and construction, especially when compared to the rest of the set.  His mold began as Titans Return Rewind, before getting a new head for its release as Rumble, and then that version got a full re-use here.  It’s a pretty decent mold, and honestly one of the best when it comes to the cassette bots.  Certainly the most advanced of the TR era molds for the cassettes.  His color scheme is very, very blue.  I like that a lot.  There’s a decent amount of smaller work going on, and I dig the gold accents.  Application’s pretty clean, but the paint is prone to a bit of wear, especially on the face.  His main alt-mode is a “data tablet”, which is largely an excuse for a rectangle shape that works as a stand-in for a tape.  He gets some stickers with actual cassette details on them, which are very cool.  Frenzy gets a second alt-mode, which turns him into a tank.  Both transformation sequences are rather intuitive and generally pretty fun.

Next up is Buzzsaw, the not-Laserbeak bird cassette, who’s largely notable for being included with Soundwave’s original G1 release.  Interestingly, while Frenzy was thus far uncovered in this style, Buzzsaw had already been done during Combiner Wars.  His robot/bird mode can sort of move at his neck and wings, but not a ton at either.  His bird mode is pretty clunky.  It’s always a little clunky, but especially in this instance.  The color scheme is duller than the CW version, with more black and actual gold.  It’s not bad, and honestly a little closer to the vintage version, I suppose.  Buzzsaw’s first alt-mode is the data tablet again; fairly similar to Frenzy, though the actual layout of the pieces is different.  He also gets a sort of tank-looking thing as his third mode, which doesn’t work quite as well as Frenzy’s.

The last of the cassettes is Howlback, who’s like Ravage, but…not Ravage?  So, you know, there’s that, I guess.  Howlback’s robot mode has movement on the legs, but like Buzzsaw, her motion is generally pretty restricted.  You can get her standing, but that’s really about it.  It’s another rather clunky mold, but I’ve honestly felt that almost every Ravage mold was rather on the clunky side.  So, you know, this one just fits with that, I suppose.  Howlback gets the data tablet alt-mode, which is again chopped up a little differently than the others, but results in the same general end.  Howlback also gets a third mode, which is not a tank, but is instead a plane.  The bird doesn’t turn into a plane, but the jaguar does.  It’s again pretty clunky, but it’s at least unique and different.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting a really good deal on the Greatest Hits Soundwave, I found myself in the market for some cassettes to go with him, and this was the most economical option at the time, provided you were able to find it at retail.  Which I did.  Hahaha.  Bumblebee is sort of unneeded, but fun enough.  Buzzsaw and Howlback are limited by the format a bit, but okay.  Frenzy is the real star, like, far and away.  He’s just really good, and holds up even after going through several Cassette boi style changes.

#3332: Yellowjacket

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

YELLOWJACKET

MARVEL LEGENDS — MARVEL STUDIOS: THE FIRST TEN YEARS (HASBRO)

“The new lead of Pym Industries, Darren Cross, threatens to sell his highly weaponized Yellowjacket suit to the criminal organization Hydra.”

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s second phase was, amongst other things, characterized by a slightly lackluster batch of antagonists.  There are a variety of reasons for this, chief amongst them being that most of them weren’t really designed for long-term use, so they were sort of designed as disposable.  Since there wasn’t much investment into them, they were largely left untapped for toy coverage.  Ant-Man was particularly light on coverage, with only a few different versions of Scott in the main suit (and even then, they were all kind of inaccurate), and nothing barring Minimates for the film’s main antagonist, Darren Cross, aka Yellowjacket.  Fortunately, he was on the short list for the the First Ten Years sub-line of Legends from 2018, so he wasn’t *totally* left out.  I’m looking at that figure today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Yellowjacket one half of the Ant-Man-themed two-pack that made up entry 8 in the Marvel Studios: The First Ten Years sub-line of Marvel Legends, with the other half being a slightly updated version of Scott Lang in the Ant-Man suit.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation on the main body, plus an additional 14 points of articulation on the backpack and its arms.  The core figure is a little bit restricted, especially by modern standards, but was fairly average for 2018, I suppose.  Given that Yellowjacket’s not a particularly agile character in the film, he’s pretty workable with what he’s been given.  Yellowjacket sports a sculpt that was all-new to him, and which has not been re-used since this figure.  It’s honestly a pretty strong one.  Yellowjacket’s entire character was completely reworked for the film, and that extended to his costume, which only kept trace elements of Hank Pym’s Yellowjacket costume from the comics, instead building something that’s a far more armored up, and a little bit more menacing.  Since this figure was released a few years after the film, he’s got the benefit of being more accurate than the basic Ant-Man had been at the time of the initial film tie-ins.  Some of the exact line-work of the suit’s design isn’t a 100% exact match, but it’s definitely very close, and the detailing is honestly pretty impressive.  They’ve included all of his hexagonal texturing on the yellow sections, and I particularly like how the helmet and its nested visor design have turned out in figure form.  The paint work on Yellowjacket’s not too terribly involved, since it’s really just doing the two-toned thing.  It generally handles it well, though, as the application’s all pretty clean, there’s no notable missing details, and I do dig the metallic yellow.  There’s a slight discrepancy in the exact shade of the yellow between a few spots, but it’s overall rather minor.  While the Ant-Man in this set got an unmasked head, Yellowjacket went without.  He did, however, get a re-used mini Yellowjacket from the 2015 Ant-Man release, so that was nifty.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I passed on this figure when it first hit, largely because I just wasn’t feeling the need to pick up another Ant-Man just to get this one.  Given his minor nature in the overall scheme of things, I felt alright about that decision, but I did still *kinda* want one.  Thankfully, I was able to get my hands on a loose one when he came through All Time.  This figure’s a little bit dated compared to more recent releases, but he’s honestly a bit better than I was expecting him to be, and I’m glad I got the chance to grab him!

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3329: Soundwave & Doombox

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

SOUNDWAVE & DOOMBOX

BUMBLEBEE: GREATEST HITS (HASBRO)

Let’s jump back to the faraway year of 2018.  There was a new Transformers movie, Bumblebee, and after five prior live-action offerings of diminishing success, this one was a slightly different approach.  The scale was largely brought back, and focused almost entirely on the title character in his own smaller-scale adventure.  However, the initial cut of the film had a brief appearance from Optimus Prime, who now sported a more G1-inspired design than in previous installments, and when word of this design got out, fans wanted more G1-inspired elements.  This led to the film’s prologue on Cybertron, which sported a whole ton of G1-ish looks.  They were largely absent from tie-in toys, since they were all pretty last minute, but there were a few things thrown together to not leave them totally out in the cold.  Given the film’s ’80s setting and emphasis on music, it’s not terribly surprising that Soundwave made his way into the tie-in stuff, even if he didn’t have a musically-based alt-mode in the movie.  And I’m a sucker for Soundwave stuff, so, you know…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Soundwave and Doombox are a Leader Class release from the Target-exclusive Bumblebee: Greatest Hits line, which was part of their larger Bumblebee movie offerings.  He was the only of the three offerings from the subline not to include a Bumblebee of some sort, and was presumably chosen because of his thematically appropriate alt-mode.  Also, because he’s Soundwave.  Always have Soundwave.  And Magnus.  Him too.  Always have both.  I’m getting side tracked.  Just talking about the Soundwave today.  Calm yourself down, Ethan.  In his robot mode, Soundwave stands about 10 inches tall and he has 19 points of workable articulation.  This release is a retool of the Titans Return/Legends Soundwave mold (itself a retool of Titans Return Blaster).  The only change-up for actual sculpting between the releases are the leg panels, which mostly serve to change up how he looks in his alt-mode.  The mold is definitely a very G1-esque Soundwave, albeit one that’s perhaps a little more rudimentary and boxy when compared to more recent updates to the look.  He gets a bit more kibble on his back, keeping a rather noticeable handle protruding from his shoulders.  He’s also got a fair bit of hollow construction, which was more prevalent at the time of the mold’s original release.  He’s certainly a nice, chunky figure, though.  His color scheme was adjusted to fit a bit more with how he ended up looking in the movie, or at least an approximation of it.  It’s a little darker and greyer than typical G1 figures, which is of course more on par with the usual movie stylings.  Soundwave was packed with a blaster rifle, his usual shoulder mounted cannon, and a sort of a stand-in piece for his usual tape-deck-inspired associates.

Soundwave’s primary alt-mode isn’t his original tape recorder, but it’s closer than other updated modes, since it’s a boom box (a mode he inherited from the Blaster that used the mold first).  It’s honestly a pretty good alt-mode.  The transformation’s not too complicated, and everything folds up and into place pretty convincingly.  The updated leg panels change the detailing of this mode’s speakers, going from the mesh-style to the slit style.  Not crazy important or anything, but it does at least add some variety to him.  Since this mold began as a Titans Return release, his head is a Head Master, so it’s removed during transformation and can turn into “Doombox”, who’s a little mini version of the classic Soundwave look.  He’s obviously a lot less detailed, but it’s a fun gimmick.  It also works really well with Soundwave’s third mode, which turns him into a base, which can be used with any of the Head Masters.  The stand-in for the tape deck can be used as a vehicle for Doombox, which is honestly a lot of fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve had this figure since he was still at retail, and I just never got around to reviewing him.  I know, bad Ethan.  I had gotten a gift card from someone at work, and happened upon him at Target, which was enough of a justification to grab this guy.  He’s never been my go-to Soundwave or anything, but he’s surprisingly fun, and he’s a good showcase of the gimmicks from this era of the line.  And, most importantly, he’s another Soundwave.  Hard to beat that.  Unless you’re a Magnus.

#3323: Mara Jade

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

MARA JADE

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Mara Jade was once Emperor Palpatine’s Hand, his most-trusted assassin. Five years later and now a successful smuggler, the last thing Mara expected was to stumble upon her former arch-enemy: Luke Skywalker.”

The post-Jedi Star Wars Expanded Universe had within it a good number of characters who rose to prominence, despite not being a direct part of any of the on-screen adventures of the franchise.  One of the more prolific examples was Mara Jade.  Introduced in Heir to Empire, Mara served as a foil to Luke, as the two eventually went from enemies to lovers.  Given her quite interwoven story with Luke, Mara was one of the first major “casualties” of Disney moving away from the Expanded Universe.  Unlike Thrawn, her compatriot from Heir, Mara has not, as of yet, made the jump to Disney’s official canon.  Her presence in the franchise as a whole has been a bit down played in more recent years, but she’s gotten her second figure since the Disney take-over, which, if you’re counting, brings her total number of figures up to a whopping four.  But hey, Black Series coverage.  That’s pretty cool.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mara Jade is part of the third round of the comics-inspired sub-line of Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series.  While prior assortments have had four figures, this one’s down to three.  Hey, at least Mara finally made the cut.  She’s officially branded “Legends,” denoting her outside of canon status.  Mara is based on her appearance in Dark Force Rising, allowing her to be a direct follow-up to Luke from Heir, by virtue of being the next entry in that trilogy.  It translates to her still wearing the all-black get-up that she’s best known for, so it works fine by me.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  Mara’s posability is a little more restricted than some more recent figures from the line, but not terribly so.  A lot of it has to do with her construction, which re-uses a good chunk of  parts from Jaina Solo (who is, entertaining, the first figure to use the “Legends” classifier).  She shares the torso and legs with that release and gets a new head and arms to differentiate things.  It all works a bit better than I’d expected; many of Mara’s prior figures have looked a bit tossed together, but this sculpt flows rather nicely.  The head sculpt doesn’t exactly have a spot-on likeness of Shannon McRandle (the model who “portrayed” Mara on book covers and trading cards in the ’90s), but it maintains enough of the traits to feel appropriately like the character.  It’s certainly closer than any prior attempt.  The only slight nit is that the hair’s maybe a tad flatter than it should be, but it’s minor.  To further differentiate Mara from Jaina, Mara gets extra add-ons for her shoulder harness, bandana, and goggles.  They can also be removed, if you want a more streamlined look.  Mara’s color work is generally on the basic side, largely relying on molded colors, especially for the bulk of her outfit.  She gets the now standard face printing, which is suitably clean and life like.  Mara is packed with her distinct purple lightsaber, as well as a small blaster pistol.  It’s a bit on the light side, but it’s standard at this point for this branch of the line.  At least both of her accessories are actually for her, which is more than could be said for Luke.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Honestly, a few years ago, I probably wouldn’t have picked up Mara at all.  I’ve not really had any direct interactions with the character.  I do have her Expanded Universe figure from ’98, but that one’s more fueled by nostalgia than anything.  That said, Rebels got me more interested in Thrawn as a character, so I wound up buying his Black Series figure.  I then got the Heir Luke figure, since I was buying others from the first comics assortment.  At that point, I was two figures deep on this set, and Mara was kind of the main missing piece.  She’s the strongest of the three, so she was certainly worth the wait.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3321: Clone Trooper – 41st Elite Corps

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

CLONE TROOPER — 41ST ELITE CORPS

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“The clone troopers in the 41st Elite Corps are led by Clone Commander Gree and Jedi General Yoda. The troopers are equipped with specialized gear for combat on jungle worlds such as Rodia, one of the planets to which this unit is assigned during the Clone Wars.”

People love Clone Troopers, and one of the things people particularly love about Clone Troopers are all the fancy colors you can get them in.  For their first appearance in Attack of the Clones, their colors corresponded to a rank structure, which was maintained in the 2D Clone Wars series.  By the time of Revenge of the Sith, the colors were modified into being unit markings, so when it came time to do to the 3D Clone Wars, they decided to retroactively make the the Phase I colors line up to units.  And that’s the way that Commander Gree inherited the 41st Elite Corps, whose design was previously that of the Clone Sergeant.  Which means that the figure I’m looking at today isn’t a Sergeant, but rather a member of the 41st Elite Corps.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper was initially released as figure 26 in the first run of the Clone Wars tie-in line, as part of the fifth and final assortment of the original run, and numerically the second-to-last of the figures in that set (Kit Fisto was the last figure in that first numbering, something he’d repeat when he also wrapped up the Phase III Black Series run).  The 41st was the re-released early into the next run, as figure 04, in an assortment entirely populated with repacks moving to the new packaging style.  He was the line’s third generic clone in the main run, following the all-white and the 212th.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  From a structural standpoint, this figure is identical to the 212th, complete with the newer style of helmet.  It solidified the plan to keep the adjusted helmet going forward, after the Space Gear Trooper threw some things into question.  Beyond that, it’s all really down to paint.  This guy swaps out the orange markings of the 212th for a somewhat subdued green.  He’s still got a much cleaner armor set-up, as became the norm for the Clones in the line.  Unlike the 212th, this guy’s shading also remained consistent with the Commander Gree figure later down the line, so they matched.  Yay!  The figure is packed with a small blaster rifle, as well as debuting the D-6 rotary blaster in this line, complete with a launching missile.  You know, for all those missiles that the rotary blaster launched.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Though I definitely wanted one of these back in the day, the 41st was never one of those figures I was able to track down.  Thankfully, I got a second chance when All Time got a huge Clone Wars collection in a few years back, so my collection didn’t have to go 41st-less forever.  He’s a basic figure, but he does what I need him to, and I’m always game for more green!

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3316: Magnaguard

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

MAGNAGUARD

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“The bodyguard droids for General Grievous are trained by the cyborg general himself. He has had their memories and combat libraries wiped clean so that the droids can learn battle techniques rather than rely on stored programs. This has resulted in more sophisticated — and lethal – droids.”

When the battle droids were first introduced in The Phantom Menace, we just had the two main versions, standard and Destroyer.  Attack added Super into the mix, and Revenge of the Sith further added the Magnaguards, the robotic bodyguards for General Grievous.  Though only a small part of Sith, they were repurposed for Clone Wars as well, giving them a little bit more to do during its run.  It also gave them a shot at more action figures, and I’m never one to complain about that.  So, let’s look at one of those action figures!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Magnaguard is figure #22 in Hasbro’s Clone Wars tie-in line, as part of the fourth assortment within the first year of figures.  This was the first of the two Magnaguards in the line.  This one was more on the basic side, stripping away the cloak and headdress that they had in the movies.  Those pieces were added for the next release.  The figure stands a little over 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  As an early run non-Clone, his articulation is a little imbalanced.  The movement on the upper half, especially the arms, is really solid, and quite cleverly implemented.  Below the waist, however, he lacks anything beyond basic hip movement, which is frustrating, but it’s also just where the line was at this point.  At the very least, he was actually able to stand, unlike the basic Battle Droid mold.  His sculpt was all-new, and it’s honestly a pretty strong one.  It takes the Magnaguard animation model, and translates it quite nicely into plastic form.  The front and back of the torso have removable plates, allowing for more of a glance into the figure’s inner workings, which is definitely a lot of fun.  The paint work on the Magnaguard is quite impressive.  His base color is a gun metal grey, with a lot of brushing and washes, giving him lots of highlights and shadows, and really bringing out the details of the sculpt really nicely.  The Magnaguard was packed with his staff, which has electricity effects attached, as well as a large missile launcher, which mine doesn’t have.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was always intrigued by the Magnaguards in the movie, but none of the toys really lived up to their coolness in my eye.  This one was the first one that I really felt came close to that, so it was one I made a point of tracking down at retail.  He was slightly beaten to the punch of “best droid in the line” by the IG-86 assassin, but he was still a nice step forward for the droids, and a very nice figure in his own right.

#3311: Padmé Amidala

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

PADMÉ AMIDALA

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Padmé has worn many mantles during her young life, including queen, senator and warrior. To each role, she brings her characteristic poise and intelligence, whether she is in the midst of a diplomatic discussion or facing a menacing encounter with an enemy.”

Hey, it’s a Padmé review.  Oh man, is Ethan gonna use the same over-used gag he used the last time he reviewed a Padmé?  No, I don’t think so.  I lost the will to keep doing that joke.  It’s really a shame.  Okay, that’s the only time, I swear.  Anyway, since The Clone Wars is a prequel-era story, Padmé is unsurprisingly a recurring player in the series.  Her focus was a little heavier on the earlier side of things, which meant she was also an early addition to the tie-in series of figures.  I’m taking a look at the first of her figures today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Padmé Amidala is figure 20 in Hasbro’s Clone Wars tie-in line. She’s the second figure in the line’s fourth assortment, still during the line’s first year.  This was Padmé’s first of two figures in the line.  This one was based on her repurposed outfit from the end of Attack of the Clones, which is really one of her most consistent designs, so it made sense for starting out of the gate.  The figure stands about 3 1/4 inches tall and she has 10 points of articulation.  Compared to the rest of the line up to this point, Padmé’s articulation was a rather notable step down.  She wound up with the worst of both worlds, lacking the elbow joints like Ahsoka and Asajj, but also lacking the knee and ankles like the initial Jedi releases.  It makes her a rather stiff figure.  Not exactly a ton of fun to play with.  The sculpt is at least an okay offering, I suppose.  She matches up pretty well with her animation design, and the work is generally pretty crisp and clean.  She’s really scrawny, but that’s kind of just how the design works.  The paint work on Padmé is pretty basic stuff.  The application is pretty clean for the most part, and all of the important details are covered.  Nothing super thrilling, but it’s what it’s supposed to be.  Padmé is packed with her small blaster, a droid blaster, her cloak, and a removable headdress.  She’s got some trouble holding the blasters due to the shaping of the grip on her hands, so the clear bands used to hold them in the package were almost a necessity to keep things in place.  The headdress piece stayed in place surprisingly well given the hair, and the cloak is a pretty solid piece on its own.  There’s even a cool printed pattern on both, which is really fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t recall much about getting this figure.  She sort of falls into the era of just grabbing figures as I saw them, usually in batches.  I think with this one, I probably grabbed her at the same time as the 212th Clone, who would have been my main interest of the purchase.  She’s not exactly one of the line’s star pieces, and kind of shows some of the overall weaknesses of the line as it went into its mid-run.

#3308: Dinobot Slug

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

DINOBOT SLUG

TRANSFORMERS: LEGACY EVOLUTION (HASBRO)

I’m getting to the point now where my Transformers reviews are infrequent enough that I’m honestly not the greatest at coming up with compelling intros for them anymore.  Mostly I talk about how long it’s been since the last one, and that’s kinda boring, right?  And sure, I can stumble my way through a “let’s prattle on about the complex differences between this and that version of Ultra Magnus or Soundwave” intro, but what happens when I’m out of that comfort zone?  This.  Rambling.  Meta.  Yikes.  Alas, there’s just no helping it, I’m afraid.  One of the subsets of Transformers in the G1-incarnation is the Dinobots, a group of Autobots that turn into, you guessed it, dinosaurs.  The main one is Grimlock, who I’ve looked at previously, but there’s a whole contingent, which are slowly being done in Studio Series, and before they’ve even wrapped up there, they’re also being done in Core Class!  So, I’m looking at one of the little guys, Dinobot Slug, today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dinobot Slug (formerly Slag, before that word’s use as a slur in the UK led to a rebranding) is part of the first 2023 Core Class assortment for Transformers: Legacy, which is now brandishing the additional Evolution heading for the year.  He’s one of two Dinobots in the line-up, the other being Dinobot Sludge.  That’s not bound to get confusing at all!  In his robot mode, this guy stands just over 4 inches tall and he has 10 practical points of articulation.  As you might expect for a character with this chunky a build, his movement is a bit on the restricted side, but he generally manages pretty well; the most notable things are the lack of elbows, and the iffy movement of the neck, but those aren’t terrible.  Also, in his robot mode as shown by all the official shots, the waist joint is rendered motionless by the back, but if you flip the back pieces up, you can make use of it.  It also simulates the “wings” that prior versions of the character had, so it’s honestly how I prefer him to be.  The sculpt is an all-new one, which is quite G1-inspired, of course.  He’s a bit more kibbly than, say, the Studio Series equivalent, but given the scale, he makes for a good recreation at this size.  Adding to his out of the box quirks, he also had the upper legs reversed when I opened him, but since they’re on ball-joints, they’re easily swapped back to the way they’re supposed to be.  Or are they?  The innards of the thighs, the part stamping indicates that they’re meant to go as they were assembled out of the box.  So…umm…it’s a toss-up?  I personally like them the way I have them, so I’m leaving them that way.  So there.  As per usual, Slug’s alt-mode is a robotic triceratops.  It’s not a terribly difficult transformation, and the end result is a fun little chonky boi, so I consider that one a win.  He also gets an additional mode, which turns him into the upper torso and head for Volcanicus, the combiner that all of the Core Class Dinobots are going to add up to.  I’m not planning to get the others, so it doesn’t really do much for me, but I guess it makes for a nifty bust sort of thing?  Sure, let’s go with that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back when the Studio Series Dinobots started, I was still pretty deep into Transformers stuff, so I was actually entertaining the thought of picking them all up.  By the time Slug hit, I was already moving away a bit from the line, but he was a triceratops, and that’s, like, my favorite dino, so I wound up grabbing one of them…who then proceeded to sit under my desk for over a year, untransformed, unphotographed, and unreviewed.  I felt like maybe I wasn’t really fully appreciating him the way I should, so I decided it might be time to let go of him, right around the time that this one got shown off, meaning I could still have a triceratops, without needing to go to Leader Class scaling for him.  I honestly wasn’t expecting a ton from this figure when he came in, but he’s one that I find myself surprisingly impressed by.  He’s just a very fun little guy.  I dig it.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3307: Soundblaster

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

SOUNDBLASTER

TRANSFORMERS: LEGACY EVOLUTION (HASBRO)

You gotta love those guaranteed repaints, don’t you?  Yes, since the vintage line, Soundwave has had the potential of at least two uses of any G1-inspired mold, thanks to the introduction of Soundblaster, Soundwave’s goth-phase upgrade, in 1987.  We don’t *always* get a Soundblaster for every Soundwave, but there’s enough to at least give him proper updates in the main scales every few years.  The War For Cybertron trilogy got him for the Siege mold, and now, Legacy is getting its own fancy new Soundblaster.  Yay, fancy new Soundblaster!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Soundblaster is part of the first 2023 Core Class assortment of Legacy, which is the fourth overall Core Class assortment for the line.  This one bears the additional Evolution branding that’s running on all of Legacy figures this year.  In his robot mode, this figure stands 3 1/2 inches tall and he has 15 practical points of articulation.  The mold on this guy is a total re-use of the Kingdom Core Class Soundwave, which is more or less expected.  For the full Soundblaster effect, he should technically get a re-tooled chest door to add the extra space for a second cassette, but it’s not the first time its been omitted on him for the sake of an easier repaint.  Whatever the case, the Core Soundwave is a very strong mold, and quite possibly Hasbro’s best modern update on the G1 design, so it makes for a pretty fantastic figure.  The change-up for this figure comes down to the paint scheme.  It’s not drastically different, mind you; largely it’s swapping in black for the original figure’s blue.  There are a few other differences, like the chest door being purple this time around.  They’ve also cut a number of the smaller paint apps that Soundwave had, which is a little bit of a bummer.  It’s not major, but it’s still a little frustrating.  Soundblaster gets the same two cannons as Soundwave, done up in colors to match the new scheme.  While Soundwave came with a non-transforming Laserbeak cassette, Soundblaster gets the same piece redecoed to be Buzzsaw.  Yay, we finally got a Buzzsaw!  Sure, he’s non-transforming, but is that the point?  As with his mold-mate, Soundblaster’s alt-mode is his usual mini cassette player.  It’s still a pretty simple transformation, and aside from the feet still sticking up, it’s a good set-up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Core Soundwave is honestly my favorite modern-era Soundwave figure, and I’m just a really big fan of this mold in general.  I don’t *need* another use of it, but I’m also not going to fight against it if it’s right in front of me.  Which, you know, it was, because it came into All Time, and there it was.  Being all cool and Soundblaster-y.  Honestly, I wasn’t sure how much excitement I’d get out of a figure I already kinda had, but he’s still a ton of fun.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.