Tag Archives: Transformers

#2030: Autobot Sixgun

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

AUTOBOT SIXGUN

TRANSFORMERS WAR FOR CYBERTRON: SIEGE (HASBRO)

While the Transformers brand as a whole is, admittedly, based on a gimmick from the start, Hasbro likes to introduce additional gimmicks as the line continues.  Each entry in the Prime Wars Trilogy had a gimmick, be it Combiners, Titan Masters, or Prime Cores.  This new War For Cybertron trilogy is starting up with a slightly more relaxed gimmick of accross the board compatibility of parts.  While a lot of this is tied in with effects parts and more accessories, there is also a subset of figures, dubbed “Weaponizers,” designed with interchangeability and cross compatibility in mind.  I’m looking at my first of those, Sixgun, today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Autobot Sixgun is the last figure in the second deluxe wave of the War for Cybertron: Siege line.  He’s the second Weaponizer in the line, following Autobot Cog from the first assortment.  Like Cog, Sixgun also began his life as an accessory to a large-scale Transformer, in this case Metroplex.  In his robot mode, the figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and has 20 points of articulation.  Sixgun’s original figure was rather rudimentary in his bot-mode, so this one starts with that and builds it into something a little more worthy of a proper figure release.  For instance, now he has actual hands! Sixgun’s design is notably more robotic than his assortment-mates, and generally feels a little more inhuman than we tend to see with an Autobot, but it’s a cool design nonetheless.  He’s also got a sturdy build, and lacks any real hollowness like we saw on some of the others in this set. Sixgun’s alt-mode is listed as a tank, but looks a bit more like an aircraft of some sort.  It’s a rather different design than the other alt-modes I’ve looked at, partly because you arrive at it in a rather different fashion.  Instead of a solid transition from one form to the other, Sixgun’s transformation is reliant on actually breaking him down into a number of smaller parts, and then re-assembling them in his vehicle mode.   It’s more akin to building a Lego set than to actually transforming.  It does mean that there’s a lot less guessing and skill to transforming him than the average Transformer, but on the flip side, it means he’s not one that you’ll want to swap back and forth so much, since every transformation is another chance to potentially lose pieces.  As a weaponizer, Sixgun’s sculpt is also pulling triple duty, since he’s not just a robot that transforms into a vehicle, he’s also meant to accent and augment the other figures in the line.  Via the same disassembly process that comes into play for his main transformation, Sixgun can be reconfigured into assorted armor set-ups for his fellow Autobots.  By far, my favorite set-up is the one that results in a giant fighting fist, but hey, I’m easy to please like that.  And, while the colors aren’t exact matches for each other I personally found Sixgun to pair best with his assortment-mate Ironhide.  He actually transitions well to an assortment of accessories for something that works as well as he does as a figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I didn’t quite get pulled in by Cog, something about Sixgun just really spoke to me, especially when I found out about that giant hand configuration (from Max, so this one’s his fault again). He’s definitely a different style of figure than the rest of the assortment, but he’s still very fun.  Now I just have to decide if I want to keep him as a robot or as an accessory.

I picked up Sixgun from All Time Toys, where he is still currently in stock, here.  If you’re looking for Transformers, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2029: Prowl

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

PROWL

TRANSFORMERS WAR FOR CYBERTRON: SIEGE (HASBRO)

When I say “horrific,” you say “death!”  Ah, yes, what better way to start out a Prowl review than by putting all of the potential Prowl fans reading up in arms immediately?  You know, by reminding them of the horrifying, fire out of the eye-sockets, death that befalls him in Transformers: The Movie‘s opening minutes?  Man, didn’t that suck?  It’s okay, I think people may have gotten over it.  They’ve had 33 years.  Well, I mean, I haven’t.  I’ve had a few months, because that’s when I finally saw the movie.  Of course, since the movie is also my only real exposure to Prowl in media, I guess it’s a bit of a wash.  Whatever the case, I’m reviewing a Prowl figure today.  So there.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Prowl is the third figure in the second deluxe wave of War for Cybertron: Siege figures, joining fellow ’84-er Ironhide.  Prowl is another classically inspired design, though he does sport the most signs of Cybertronian design work peeking through.  In robot mode, Prowl stands 5 1/4 inches tall and he has 22 practical points of articulation.  When I initially saw photos of Prowl’s robot mode, I thought it looked a little bit lacking.  Something about it seemed a little slapdash and unfinished, especially those lower legs.  Certainly he seemed like he’d be a step down from his comrades.  Well, hang on there guys, because I was actually quite wrong.  Prowl’s sculpt is definitely one of those that needs to be seen in motion to truly appreciate.  It’s actually  pretty clean, sleek design, that holds together nicely.  Sure, the legs do seem a little hollow, and if you catch the torso at the wrong angle, it’s not going to look so great, but when this guy is posed well, he looks really, really nice. And speaking of posing?  Yeah, for my money, Prowl is rivaled only by the Voyager Optimus in terms of range of motion.  There’s a lot of poses to be had with Prowl, and they only help to further improve the look of his sculpt.  Prowl’s traditional alt-mode is a police car, and this figure experiments with that.  Like Sideswipe, Prow has to somewhat tweak things and get a more sci-fi influenced version of his classic alt-mode, something that maintains the spirit of his original design, but doesn’t feel out of place with the new setting.  I actually really dig the alt-mode here, and I think it’s really one of the ones to best capture the Cybertronian feel. I particularly dig those translucent wheels! Also, this marks the easiest transformation I’ve dealt with on these guys.  I didn’t need to consult the instructions at all, and it feels nice and smooth the whole way.  He’s definitely one I can see myself swapping back and forth pretty frequently.  Prowl is packed with a W-45 Acid Pellet Strikeblaster…which is a gun with the light bar from his alt-mode strapped to it.  It’s goofy as hell, but a fun piece nonetheless.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Okay, Max got off the hook yesterday, but he most certainly does *not* today.  See, I was on the fence with Prowl, because of the slightly odd look in the promo shots.  But then Max got his early, and let me mess around with the figure a for a little bit.  It was really, really nice, and I absolutely couldn’t turn him down when I finally had my chance to get one.  I gotta say, I don’t have a huge attachment to the character, nor was I expecting much out of this figure, but he’s kind of my favorite figure from this assortment.  He’s just so much fun.

Prowl came from All Time Toys, where he is still currently in stock, here.  If you’re looking for Transformers, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2028: Chromia

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

CHROMIA

TRANSFORMERS WAR FOR CYBERTRON: SIEGE (HASBRO)

Hey, remember how I’m looking at a bunch of Transformers this week?  Yep, well, let’s do some more with that.  For the first two years of Transformers, it was decidedly a masculine-driven line (not exactly uncommon for the time, and, admittedly, none of the Transformers *technically* had genders, at least initially).  It wasn’t until well into the cartoon’s second season that we got our first decidedly female robots in disguise in the episode “Search for Alpha Trion.”  The very first of the fem-bots to appear on screen was today’s focus, Chromia!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Chromia is the second figure in the second deluxe assortment of War for Cybertron: Siege.  Despite her early appearance in the franchise, Chromia didn’t receive any figures for two decades, and this one is only her fifth figure since her creation.  In robot form, the figure stands 5 1/4 inches tall and has 21 practical points of articulation.  Chromia is heavily influenced by the various members of Elita-One’s crew released during the Power of the Primes line, though she is actually a distinct sculpt, and notably lacks the combiner feature of those figures.  This has been somewhat to the ire of some longer-term collectors, but for a newbie like me, I don’t mind a fresh start so much.  Of all the Siege figures I’ve looked at so far, this is the one with the most compromised robot mode in the effort to facilitate the transformation.  There’s a lot more kibble this time around, there’s no getting around it.  In Hasbro’s defense, Chromia’s smaller, and curvier design means that there are less opportunities afforded for easy places to hide vehicle elements.  I suppose it’s possible they could have streamlined her a little further, but I don’t think the end result looks *too* bad.  Really, if it weren’t for that huge honking backpack, she wouldn’t look all that bad.  In fact, I’m quite impressed by the movement on some of her joints, particularly the neck joint, which allows for quite a bit of expressiveness with the figure.  Chromia’s alt-mode is sort of a Cybertronian sports car/minivan thing.   The transformation is overall pretty simple, though I did have a few slight hangups with mine that made her more difficult to shift back and forth.  I don’t foresee myself swapping her back and forth all that much, due to these difficulties.  Chromia is packed with an RT-5 Anti-thermo Blaster, SR Hushfuze, and 2 EMP-Grenades, which pretty much translates to a blaster and a whole bunch of attachments that can configure into all sorts of differently shaped guns.  Quite frankly, this is probably my favorite part of this whole figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I have a tendency in my Transformers reviews to discuss how they are, very frequently, decidedly Max’s fault.  That’s not the case with Chromia.  In fact, Max even attempted to dissuade me from getting Chromia at all, when I announced my plans to grab the set of Wave 2 Deluxes.  I, however, was not to be deterred, mostly because I kinda wanted a fem-bot of some sort, and also because I don’t hate Chromia’s design.  Ultimately, yes, she’s the weakest of these figures, and there’s a good chance she may well be the weakest of the line.  And while I can’t exactly sing her praises, I do still kinda dig her, and I think she goes well with the rest of the set.

Chromia came from All Time Toys, where she is still currently in stock here.  If you’re looking for Transformers, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2027: Ironhide

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

IRONHIDE

TRANSFORMERS WAR FOR CYBERTRON: SIEGE (HASBRO)

If I’m gonna do this whole up and coming Transformers fan thing, I’m gonna need to actually stay on top of all these Transformers I’m buying, don’t I?  Indeed I do, so let’s just go ahead and do a whole freaking week of Transformers, shall we?  Fasten your seatbelts, guys!  …and then verify that the seatbelts that you’ve fastened are in a real car, and not one that’s actually a robot in disguise…because Transformers, right?  Anyway, I’m kicking off this week of Transformers with one of the earliest Autobots, Ironhide!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ironhide kicks off the second Deluxe assortment of the War for Cybertron: Siege line.  He continues the line’s heavy G1 influence, and is in fact one of Ironhide’s most show/comic accurate figures ever (I mean, hey, this one actually has a head, which is more than can be said of his original release).  In robot mode, the figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 22 functioning points of articulation.  As you may have noted on the height, Ironhide stands a half-inch taller than Sideswipe, and by extension, the rest of the Deluxe offerings for the line so far.  Since Ironhide’s typically not depicted as being small, it makes sense, and its an interesting exploration of what can be done within the set “scales.”  Of course, there do have to be some trade-offs to get him up to that larger size, so Ironhide has a few more hollow spots than some of the others.  The legs and forearms are the primary spots of said hollow-ness.  For the legs, he’s got panels that fold into place to hide this, so that works well enough.  The arms have no such coverage, so there’s just a big opening at the back of each forearm.  It’s a little obvious, but careful posing is enough to make it look alright.  The rest of the sculpt is a solid offering.  He’s boxier and more war-torn than the likes of Sideswipe, befitting the nature of the character.  He’s also suitably bulky, which I definitely dig.  On the flip-side, I don’t so much dig the panels that flip down on the outer sides.  They look a bit extraneous, and right out of the box, they actually don’t properly fit in the hinge they’re attached to, which means they stick out even further, and slightly warp the upper leg.  They can easily be removed, though, so it’s really only as much of an issue as you let it be.  Classically, Ironhide turns into a van, and this figure follows suit, more or less.  As with others in the line, his alt-mode is tweaked to have a Cybertronian flair to it.  The transformation for Ironhide is pretty straight-forward and easy, and for my first time I didn’t actually have to consult the instructions, which is pretty good for a novice like me.  The end result is effectively a brick with wheels attached.  It’s not complicated, but I feel it.  Ironhide is packed with the W-35 LR Doomblast Forge Launcher, which is a big gun that also turns into a big hammer.  I can’t stress how much I love this extra.  It’s really, really cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After branching into the Siege line with Optimus and the two Leaders, I started scoping out upcoming releases, and Ironhide quickly found his way to the top of my list.  The final figure has some small flaws, but for the most part, I’m quite happy with the final product.  He’s high on my list of favorites for a line of figures that I’m already thoroughly enjoying.

II picked this guy up from my friends at All Time Toys, where he is still currently in stock here.  If you’re looking for Transformers, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2007: Autobot Jazz

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

AUTOBOT JAZZ

TRANSFORMERS: STUDIO SERIES (HASBRO)

“Autobot Jazz brings all he’s got to defeat the Decepticons”

Sometimes, the time is really right.  For review #2007, I’m jumping back to the year 2007.  2007 was a weird time.  We had two Marvel movies, which isn’t that odd these days, but they were neither one an MCU entry (because the MCU didn’t exist yet).  But before Marvel could re-brand their film franchises, another one was just starting up.  That July saw the release of the first of the oft-reviled Michael Bay Transformers films.  I was never a huge Transformers fan, but I was still in the audience opening weekend, and I still came out…less than satisfied.  In fact, I think a good argument could be made that the film scared me off the franchise for a bit.  Needless to say, I generally avoid Bay-inspired figures, though I’ve made my first exception for the subject of today’s review, one of my personal favorite Autobots, the aptly named Autobot Jazz!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Autobot Jazz is a Deluxe Class offering from Hasbro’s Transformers: Studio Series, where he is numbered figure 10, and hit shelves in July of last year.  Given his demise during the first film, Jazz has been less lucky with releases since the original 2007 line.  This figure marks his first domestic release since all the way back in 2010, which is a pretty big deal.  In his Robot mode, the figure stands a little over 5 1/4 inches tall and he has 19 practical points of articulation.  Size-wise, he’s just a little bit taller than Bumblebee.  Given the scaling and price-point, Jazz is a fairly respectable recreation of his robot mode from the movie.  Not all of the details match up 100%, but the general proportions are there, and the robot specific parts are pretty much spot on.  It’s really the remaining elements of the car form that are slightly throwing off the look, and mostly limited to the arms.  Ultimately, it’s just down to needing a little bit of compromise to actually make things work at this scale and in order to maintain transformability.  While Jazz’s original alt mode was a Porsche, for the 2007 movie, it was changed to a Pontiac Solstice, which is still a reasonably sporty model, though it’s decidedly less distinctive.  Whatever the case, this figure maintains its accuracy by giving him the proper alt mode.  The transformation between the two forms is a little less tricky than the Bumblebee, but still a little more fiddly than the Siege figures I’ve been getting.  Overall, though, it was less frustrating than I was anticipating.  The end result is a pretty decent little car, though, like Bumblebee, he’s got a tendency to pop apart at the seams from time to time.  But, as is the usual case, I was more in this one for the robot mode.  Jazz is packed with his crescent cannon, which he can either hold in his left hand, or his hands can flip into the forearm to allow it to attach directly to the wrist.  It’s a nice little feature.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Jazz was an impulse buy.  Well, he was as close to an impulse buy as I ever really get.  I saw him at Walmart on my way home from work and passed.  Later that same evening, I was out to dinner with Super Awesome Fiancee, and passed by the Walmart again, at which point I caved and went back for him.  Though I’ve never really cared for most of the Bay film designs, Jazz is one of the few I didn’t hate, and his death in the film was perhaps one of my biggest complaints about it.  This guy makes for a pretty decent toy, and I’m glad I went back for him.

#1996: Sideswipe

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

SIDESWIPE

TRANSFORMERS WAR FOR CYBERTRON: SIEGE (HASBRO)

In my trek into the world of Transformers, I’m kind of making my way through all of the standard classes.  I looked a Voyager Class first with Optimus, then followed that up with some Leader coverage with Magnus and Shockwave.  With the second wave of Siege product hitting right at this very minute, I’m going back and doing a little bit of catch-up, and jumping into the Deluxe Class with today’s focus, Sideswipe!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sideswipe is one of the four figures in the first Deluxe Wave of War for Cybertron: Siege figures.  Like the rest of the line so far, he’s heavily influenced by his G1 design, which is really about as prominent as Sideswipe gets.  In his robot mode, the figure stands 5 inches tall and has 20 workable points of articulation.  Where many of the Siege figures are worn-in and battle-torn, Sideswipe’s robot mode is actually pretty clean and slick.  There’s some definite polish to the sculpt, and a lot of people have brought up that he almost looks like a mini-Masterpiece figure in this regard.  Still, as a lower price-point figure, there are some hollow sections of construction; the legs form in a way to conceal them, but the arms are just hanging out there.  Fortunately, the off-white plastic somewhat masks this issue, so he doesn’t end up looking too cheap. Sideswipe has a little bit of back-kibble where the roof of the car folds up on his back.  Like Optimus, it’s clearly there, but it’s svelte enough to not really ruin the figure’s silhouette.  Sideswipe’s original figure turned into a Lamborghini.  They obviously don’t have many of those around on Cybertron, so this figure instead turns into a slightly more generic Cybertronian sports car.  It’s not actually too far removed from Sideswipe’s usual alt-modes, but it fits the overall aesthetic of the line pretty well.  Sideswipes transformation into alt-mode was definitely the easiest of all the Siege figures I’ve picked up.  It’s quite intuitive, and not as involved as some of the others, making swapping him back and forth a rather easy endeavor.  Despite the simplicity of the transformation, the alt-mode is still a very nice piece in its own right.  It matches the robot for sleekness and holds together well.  Sideswipe is packed with two blasters, the W-10 Photo-Pulser Proton Launcher and the W-5 Gyro Blaster, which can be combined into the RR Gyrofuse Axleswitch Hyper-Blaster.  They can be held in his hands, or mounted on his shoulders, depending on your fancy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Sideswipe was almost my first Siege figure.  When All Time first got in the deluxes in December, I came very close to buying him, but he ended up selling before I had the opportunity.  When the second round of them arrived in January, I had already gotten Optimus, but I felt like maybe the moment had passed.  You know, like a fool.  He ended up coming home with me a few weeks later, because I just kept finding myself looking at him.  I’m glad I bought one, because oh boy is he a nice figure, and a nice car.  I think this is the most I’ve enjoyed both forms of a Transformer.

As mentioned above, I picked this guy up from my friends at All Time Toys, where he is still currently in stock here.  If you’re looking for Transformers, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#1991: Soundwave

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

SOUNDWAVE

TRANSFORMERS (HASBRO)

So, this Transformers thing…it doesn’t appear to be going away, does it?  Like last month, I am once again bookending a month’s reviews with Transformers.  Today’s offering is slightly different, however, because rather than looking at something new, I’m actually looking at something quite old.  About as old as a Transformer can possibly be, in fact.  It’s no secret that Soundwave is my very favorite Transformer, so it’s probably not a huge shock to see me go back to his beginnings, and take a look at his vintage figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Soundwave was released in 1984, as one of the line’s first Decepticons.  He was a re-working of the Microman Micro Change Cassette Man figure, and is actually one of the least changed imports the line had to offer, with only minimal re-tooling and some slight changing of his color palette.  In his robot mode, Soundwave stands 7 inches tall and has 15 workable points of articulation.  Though his sculpt is certainly boxier and more rudimentary than more modern offerings from the line, Soundwave is probably one of the best sculpts of the 1984 line-up.  He’s pretty posable, and maintains that sort of retro robot feel without getting too goofy or basic.  He’s also a rather sturdy feeling figure, which is certainly nice to find in a figure that’s 45 years old.  I particularly like the metal feet, which help to keep him up and standing.  There’s also virtually no kibble left over from his alt form which is downright impressive on such a figure.  Said alt form is, of course, that of a micro cassette player.  Cassette Man was part of a line of figures meant to be mini robots masquerading as everyday items.  While Soundwave in the show had to rely on some weird mass-shifting to go from one form to the next, the toy just sticks with letting him be a realistically scaled player, which is certainly a neat idea.  His transformation from one form to the other is pretty straightforward, which was a relief to a relative Transformers novice such as myself, and the cassette player form is a convincing one.  I mean, it’s not like it’s super complex or anything; it’s really just a box, but it does that whole box thing pretty well.  Soundwave, like many earlier Transformers, foregoes paint for more decals and the like.  For the most part, they’ve held up well, but mine is missing his Decepticon logo (which was actually replaced by a rubsign decal for figures released in 1985 and beyond).  Soundwave was originally packed with a shoulder cannon, a handheld weapon, and one of his cassettes, Buzzsaw.  My figure only has the shoulder cannon, which is really the most important to him personally.  Soundwave included an “action feature” of sorts as well; the door on his chest is spring loaded, allowing for a proper ejecting of any cassette-based associates.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This Soundwave was traded into All Time alongside a larger collection, and spent a good couple of months just sitting back behind the counter, just the see if anyone might as to purchase him.  No one did, and I found myself sitting there fiddling with him one night, at which point I realized I kinda didn’t want to put him back.  So, home with me he came.  He’s somewhat dated, but still pretty darn awesome, and I’m honestly pretty happy I snagged him.  I mean, what kind of a Soundwave fan would I be if I didn’t have the original?

#1981: Soundwave

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

SOUNDWAVE

TRANSFORMERS: BUMBLEBEE (HASBRO)

Alright, I’m gonna level with your guys: you might want to get comfortable with the Transformers reviews.  Because there’s probably going to be a substantial uptick in them going forward. Read them at your own peril.  It’s okay, though, because I’m going to ease everyone into them, you see.  I’m not just jumping into Transformers willy-nilly. I’m going to be placing a lot of focus on the one Transformer that’s not odd to see around these parts: Soundwave!  Yes, he’s without a doubt my favorite Transformer, and as with all of my favorite characters, I’d like perhaps to own every version of him.  A man can dream.  And chipping away at that dream is today’s figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Soundwave is part of the overarching Transformers: Bumblebee line that came out of December’s Bumblebee film, in which Soundwave made a brief appearance.  He’s from the Energon Ignighters Power Plus Series‘ third wave, which just started showing up in the last month or so.  It features this guy here, alongside Autobot Ironhide.  He’s ostensibly based on Soundwave’s look in the film, but it’s a much looser interpretation than others.  I’ll touch on that in a moment.  Unlike most of the Transformers I’ve looked at on this site, where it’s a robot figure that turns into a vehicle, this one is kind of an inversion.  The vehicle mode is the real focus, with the robot mode there as more of a gimmick.  In the film, Soundwave doesn’t have a vehicle mode (that we know of), so this one makes one up for him, settling on a van that’s actually a pretty sensible choice if you don’t want to go for the classic cassette player, since it still kind of keeps that music theme going.  It fits the overall retro feel of the rest of the Bumblebee stuff, to be sure.  In van mode, Soundwave measures 4 1/2 inches long, 2 inches wide, and 2 inches tall.  All four wheels are actual, working wheels, and the back doors of the van are designed to spring open when the top of the van is pressed down, revealing some impressive looking speakers.  Paint on the van-mode is mostly pretty sparse, but he does have a decal in particular that I love: the mural on the side.  It features a cheesy ’70s-esque painting of a jaguar and a bird, homaging Soundwave’s usual companions, Ravage and Laserbeak, which I just think is the coolest thing.  Soundwave includes an “Energon Ignighter” piece, which is the gimmick for the whole line.  It drops into place through the roof of the van, activating the spring-loaded doors and allowing for a motorized pull and release movement.  Fitting with the overall theme of this release, the ignighter is shaped like a boombox, which is another fun touch.  Soundwave’s transition from van to robot is a fairly simple process, largely consisting of turning him over so that you can see the hidden robot that was under the van.  His appearance is certainly inspired by the classic Soundwave look, just like the movie, but I can’t really say the two designs are all that close.  If I had to guess, I’d say he was probably patterned after early designs for the character.  Whatever the case, he’s still pretty recognizeable as Soundwave, which is the important thing.  He’s not particularly poseable; you can pretty much only move him at the elbows, though there’s some slight shifting to be had in the shoulders as well.  Like I said, the robot’s not really the main focus of this release; he’s more a gimmick than anything.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: this is Max’s fault.  No, really, I swear it is.  See, he preordered one of these for himself on Amazon, but then found one in-store, and decided to grab that, but was unable to cancel his order.  So, boom: extra Soundwave.  Shame he doesn’t know anyone who would want a Soundwave… In actuality, I had actually wanted to track one of these down, because I dug that sweet van art.  It’s gimmicky, and not going to be anyone’s #1 version or anything, but for a Soundwave fan like me, he’s a fun addition to the collection.

#1961: Shockwave

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

SHOCKWAVE

TRANSFORMERS WAR FOR CYBERTRON: SIEGE

You didn’t think I was done with the Transformers reviews, did you?  Of course not, that would be preposterous.  The Transformers are my new life.  They give, they take, and I am merely their humble servant…wait, no that doesn’t quite sound right, does it?  Joking aside, Transformers sure do have a way of forcing themselves into a collection.  They’re a little like potato chips: you can’t have just one (unless you’re me and you don’t actually like potato chips all that much.  I’m weird).  Fortunately, for all of us who feel an undying need for multitudes of Transformers, Hasbro has a tendency to release multiples of them, all at the same time.  Crazy, I know.  I’m mixing things up a bit today and taking a look at a prominent Decpticon fixture, Shockwave!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shockwave is the second of the two figures in the first Leader Class wave of the War For Cybertron: Siege line. The line is very definitely G1-inspired, and so is Shockwave…after a fashion.  I’ll get to that in a moment.  Right out of the box, in his fully-kitted robot mode, Shockwave stands just shy of 7 inches tall from his feet to the top of his head, and he has 30 points of practical articulation.  Shockwave’s out of the box design takes his G1 appearance and sort of amplifies it.  He gets a lot pointier, and of course gets the extra arms as well.  It’s a decent, rather menacing sort of look, and further adds the that inhuman charm of Shockwave.  As we saw with Ultra Magnus, Shockwave is full of a lot of small detail work, which makes him a little more kibbly than the very clean Optimus figure, though it certainly works for Shockwave.  Shockwave may lack the traditional face, but that doesn’t mean Hasbro skimped on the detailing on the head.  It’s chock full of details, and, most impressively, features lightpiping to keep that single eye constantly bright.  So, where does the G1-inspiration hit?  Well, like Magnus, Shockwave is at his core a Voyager-sized figure, with extra attachments meant to bump him up to the Leader size.  While Magnus’ armor transforms him into an almost completely different figure, Shockwave’s extra parts just enhance the base figure.  You can remove the shoulers/extra arms, the backpack, and the “shoes”, and you’re left with a figure that’s a rather spot-on recreation of the original Shockwave.  The resultant figure is a lot more basic, and will slot right in with Voyager-sized figures such as Optimus.  The extra armored parts can then be re-formatted into a goblin glider-looking thing, so they aren’t just sitting in a pile in a corner, like Magnus’ are when he’s stripped down.  Because of this, I find myself most drawn to this configuration for the character.  Of course, the distinction between these two modes is far less drastic than it was on Magnus, meaning switching between them is also a far simpler process.

From his stripped down robot mode, you can transform Shockwave into his next alt-mode.  Like his leader Megatron, Shockwave’s G1 toy transformed into a gun.  With current safety standards, this is less feasible in a modern market, and would result in detrimental changes to the entire figure.  So, Shockwave does *not* turn into a gun, but is rather a Cybertronian battle cruiser of some sort.  In his stripped down form, this cruiser looks vaguely like a submarine, I suppose.  Oh drat, I seem to have left it flipped over for my photo.  Well, would you look at that, it seems to look vaguely gun-shaped when flipped over.  That’s crazy.  Certainly, this is just a coincidence, since Shockwave *doesn’t* turn into a gun.  If, by chance, someone were to try and use this as a gun, I would note that the handle does seem kind of small for the average collector’s hands.  But they definitely wouldn’t be using it as a gun.  Because it’s not.  It’s a submarine–no, sorry, Cybertronian battle cruiser.  For his next mode, you can add the various armor pieces into the mix, which gives the build some wings, thrusters, and more pronounced front end, all of which make for a more distinctly battle cruiser-looking shape.  It’s actually a pretty cool design in its own right, and of the three I’ve looked at so far, this one does seem to have the alt-mode that most fully embraces the Cybertronian vehicle aesthetic.  Shockwave lacks any addition weaponry, but given the ability of the armor to go into the drone/glider configuration, he still feels decently armed.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This one is once again Max’s fault, but I’m willing to give him a little more of a pass.  After I agreed to pick up his Ultra Magnus, he also found Shockwave elsewhere.  In this particular instance, he said he was prepared to take the second Shockwave, but I was, at this point, starting to feel a little more committed to the idea of grabbing a Shockwave of my own.  I don’t have quite the connection to Shockwave that I do to Magnus, and of the two, Magnus is undoubtedly my favorite.  I feel like he warrants the Leader Class treatment a bit more than Shockwave.  Shockwave definitely feels more like a more basic figure with some extras thrown in than a full-fledged higher tier offering.  That being said, there’s still a lot more to this figure than there would be at the Voyager price-point, and I don’t feel like he was overpriced.  He may be my third favorite of the three I have from this line, but that’s not a shot at him in the slightest.

I picked up Shockwave from my friends All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for Transformers, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#1960: Ultra Magnus

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

ULTRA MAGNUS

TRANSFORMERS WAR FOR CYBERTRON: SIEGE

Well, I started this month off with a Transformers review; might as well finish it with one.  I know, another Transformers review, and so soon after the last one.  I’m blowing your minds, aren’t I?  Okay, probably not, because I’m a little bit predictable, and I very clearly spelled out at the end of my Optimus Prime review that I really wanted a bunch more.  Getting a bunch more was kind of inevitable.  At least, that’s what I keep telling myself.  Today, I’m looking at the inevitable counterpart to any Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus.  A prominent fixture of the brand since the G1 days, Magnus has many times been an easy way to get extra milage out of Optimus Prime/Convoy molds (and has, on one occasion, actually been related to Optimus in continuity).  And now, he’s my newest Transformer.  Yay!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultra Magnus is one of the two figures in the first Leader Class wave of War For Cybertron: Siege.  As with the others in this line, he’s very much G1 inspired, at least in his robot mode.  Said robot mode has Magnus standing 7 1/4 inches tall and gives him 20 practical points of articulation.  He may not be quite as mobile as Prime, but he sure is chunkier.  I mean, like a lot chunkier.  Magnus’s gimmick back in the G1 days was that his main look was the result of a bunch of armor pieces that all assembled over the much smaller inner-bot, a gimmick that this figure brings back, for the first time since the original, in fact.  The fully assembled look is what gives Magnus his more distinctive character, and clips in place and holds together like it were just a fixed part of the figure.  It’s also designed to attach in such a way that it doesn’t really hinder the figure’s movement all too much when he’s all kitted out.  Obviously, the sheer bulk causes a slight limiting factor, but he’s still quite posable.  Where Optimus’s main look was made up of lots of clean lines, Magnus is a little more complicated and fractured, which is ultimately pretty true to the two respective characters.  There’s plenty of small detail work going on here, and I particularly dig all of the little intricacies of the armored parts.  The armored-up look results in a very chunky silhouette, especially when viewing Magnus from the side, but this feels pretty true to the character.  It’s at the very least a consistent bulk, so there’s no random bits of his vehicle mode just jutting out of the back.

When it comes to alt-modes, Magnus has not one, not two, but three.  The first one (which you’ll need to transform him into in order get to the other two) strips him of his distinctive Ultra Magnus armor, revealing an almost all-white Optimus Prime-looking figure, with some blue accents, just like Magnus’ original figure.  It’s *not* the a re-use of the Voyager Class Optimus, which is somewhat surprising, and actually kind of cool.  How often does Magnus get to be the original?  The mold has already been tagged for a Leader Class Optimus, set to be released over the summer, but Magnus gets to be unique until then.  It’s a solid sculpt of its own.  I really appreciate the differences between this and the Voyager Optimus.  There are a few oddities I’m iffy about, like the front wheels just sticking off of the back, and there being a few rather obvious screws, but it’s still a pretty well-crafted figure.  Ultimately, I can’t see myself displaying him this way anyway, so it’s not like it’s a big deal.  Switching between armored and unarmored is pretty easy, and even a relative novice like me didn’t have any real trouble.

Ultra Magnus’ next mode is his primary vehicle mode, which, it should be noted, is the one bit of this figure that’s *not* G1-inspired.  He still turns into a truck cab, but this one is very clearly modeled on Magnus’ vehicle design from the 2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon.  Seeing as that cartoon was my introduction to Magnus, I can definitely dig it.  Magnus’ transformation into truck felt a lot easier to me than Optimus’, though I’d imagine that’s to prep you for what comes next.

After removing his armor and transforming him into a truck, the third alt-mode has you add the armor back on, this time in the form of the truck’s trailer.  This set-up also follows the RiD model, though it keeps the colors of the G1, obviously.  I found this portion of the transformation to be the most difficult, as there are a lot of bits that all need to clip together, and they had a tendency to fight me and not want to go where they were supposed to.  Fortunately, they come back apart without too much trouble.  Magnus is armed with three different styles of weapon.  He’s got his RT-15 Stethoscopic Detector (the rifle), a pair of C-30 Magnetic Inducer Launchers (the smaller guns), and a pair of W-HV-1000 Simulacrum Blasters (the rockets on his shoulders).  They’re all using the 5mm ports, so they can be held or plugged in various places, and they are also compatible with the effects included with the battle masters.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is Max’s fault again.  At first it was less Max’s fault, because how was he to know that I’ve always had a soft spot for Magnus, and specifically a soft spot for RiD Magnus, and that mentioning the RiD-inspired truck would lead me to want this figure.  Then it became more Max’s fault when he decided to buy his Magnus early from another store, and volunteered me to buy the one on order for him from All Time “since I was planning on grabbing one anyway.” I mean, yeah, I was, but is that really the point?  …Okay, yes it is, but, still.  Whatever the circumstances that led to me getting Magnus, I’m very happy to have him in my collection, and I even more look forward to getting more of these guys.

So, as you may have guessed, I picked up Magnus from All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for Transformers, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.