Alright, protoforms, listen up. It’s time to do a review on Animated Ratchet, so tune your sensors in, ’cause he’s not gonna let me do this twice.
In vehicle mode, Ratched is… disappointingly tiny. He’s about the same size as Bumblebee, and that just isn’t right. Ambulances should be a bit bigger than a puny yellow compact. But moving past that, he’s actually pretty nice in vehicle mode. He’s got sleek lines, fairly complete paint applications in the necessary red and white scheme, and pretty good proportions. Like all of the Animated figures, he’s definitely got the Animated style down pat, so it’s a fairly simplistic/cartoony vehicle mode, but that suits me just fine. Read the rest…
It’s a tired day on Take Your Toy To Work day this week, and in my non-rush this morning I dragged Stockade in to harass my co-workers for the next week.
Out of the box, Stockade is similar to but technically distinct from the Sector 7 Escalades used in the movie. He’s mostly black, with heavily tinted windows and lights, silver detailing, an S7 emblem on his doors and a Decepticon logo on the grille. Pretty slick. I kind of figured an SUV would be taller (and scaled more closely to Ironhide), but I guess he wouldn’t fly as a voyager. Still, the silver details really make this a nice looking altmode, and the only real headscratcher for me is one of those pesky fuel doors on each side. Read the rest…
It’s been a while since I’ve done a Decepticon, and the tag cloud in the sidebar is telling me I should do another one. Grabbing the closest one at hand, I’ve got the bounty hunter Lockdown to review.
Lockdown’s vehicle mode is suitably intimidating, portraying death on wheels rather nicely. He’s got spikes on his roof, spikes on his bumper, spikes on his hubcaps, and plenty of other sharp surfaces to discourage the use of Detroit’s crosswalks. I’m not quite sure how a driver could be intended to see past that enormous engine that pokes out of the hood, but that could perhaps be part of the point. He’s slick, he’s low slung, and he’s just plain cool looking. Read the rest…
Well, it’s another month, so I’ll do one I’ve been dying to do for a while now. It’s time for Voyager Bulkhead from Transformers Animated.
Bulkhead, like every Animated toy I’ve got so far, is pure joy in vehicle mode. He’s chunky, although he seems a bit smallish for a voyager. Maybe that’s just because I’m anxious to see the leader size figure later. He’s mostly a military green, with white stars that remind me of Hound for some reason. It’s mostly show-accurate, except for the dip in the roof between the arms and a couple of missing paint applications (golden yellow for the lowest pair of lights on the front, and black for the viewports in the doors. All things considered, it’s a really nice vehicle mode. Read the rest…
Wait! It’s not the one you’re probably thinking of. I decided to dig in the box o’ old Transformers, and pull out one of my eBay purchases from a while back, Bonecrusher from Beast Wars.
I’m not sure what to say about altmodes for a Beast Wars figure. Bonecrusher is a reasonable approximation of a buffalo, although I’m not sure that they come in a silver and black variety. I do know that they taste good, though. I’m pretty sure gold horns and red eyes are right out there. There’s not much posability in this figure’s beast mode, which is pretty common for smaller figures from the line. I guess the legs wiggle a bit. His real play feature in this mode is that pulling on the tail just right (it helps to tilt it down to get a bit more lift at the front) will cause the robot mode head to pop up and shoot a missile. Read the rest…
OK, because I grabbed him while fumbling around in the dark for a toy to review, today’s review is going to be about Dropkick.
Dropkick, despite being connected with the video game adaptation of the movie, is actually a pretty nice figure. His altmode is a very nice blue and silver Chevy Silverado (actually, it’s not licensed - I’m tempted to call it a Chavy Silverada or something like that, but that seems annoying to try to keep up). In the deco of the truck mode, he’s got what is possibly the biggest faction symbol in the history of the brand - it’s about half the length of the truck. Clever. The truck is lowered to an insane degree, and if I hadn’t seen people actually doing crazy things like that, I wouldn’t believe it to be accurate to reality (Autobot tip: to evade this Decepticon, find some speed bumps!). Unlike Ironhide, this vehicle features something I’ve never seen on another Transformer - the bed cover actually has a pickup bed underneath, and is removable. Very nice. The bed cover doubles as a “capture claw” type device, which is deployable through a spring-loaded cover in the tailgate. Read the rest…
OK, I can’t sleep, so I’ll hammer out a review. Because I love him, this time it’s Animated Prowl’s turn to take centre stage.
Prowl, like his G1 counterpart, is wearing police colours. Unlike his G1 counterpart, he’s also a motorcycle and a ninja. Sadly, the deluxe Optimus Prime is too large to ride him without looking silly. He’s got a nice looking gold and black deco, with very little robot showing through. At first glance, it’s hard to actually see where they might have stuck the robot in there. He rolls, he’s got a kickstand, he’s a good looking bike. The lightbar is a nice touch as well. But what else can I say about his vehicle mode? Read the rest…
Well, it’s another Bring Your Transformer to Work day, and this week I let my wonderful lady pick one out. I opened the bag this morning, and to my surprise (because I’d forgotten I’d bought it) it’s Jolt, one of the Walmart exclusive deluxes from the Movie line.
Jolt is a redeco of Cybertron Crosswise, according to the Wiki, and transforms into a Bugatti EB 15.4 Veyron. Supposedly. I’m not going to claim to be an expert on either Cybertron or Volkswagens, so I’ll take them at their word. It’s a nice looking car, at least, and the purple/silver/black colour scheme really seems to work on this mold. I’m reminded of Swindle, but I may be biased because that’s the colour I painted my spare. Nothing stands out from the vehicle mode as “missing”, except maybe “missiles”, but those can be added by inserting the key into the rear of the car. Voila, missiles (of the non-firing variety). If you want to shoot, he can fire a single spring loaded missile from his spoiler, but he’ll only hit targets behind him. If you want him shooting that missile at something in front of him, he’ll have to transform… Read the rest…
Now for the guy that’s been guarding my monitor for weeks, and is from what is fast becoming one of my favourite toylines yet - Cybertron Mode Optimus Prime from Transformers Animated.
This figure is from the first wave of Animated toys to hit the shelves here, along with Bumblebee, Lockdown, and Prowl. I hear most of the US has to wait. Too bad. It’s a nice toy. Sure, there’ll be bigger, badder versions coming out soon, but that’s no excuse to skip this toy (or any of the Animated toys, for that matter!). I can’t comment on whether or not Prime looks like a real Cybertronic semi, what with not having many around for comparison, but it’s a decent looking vehicle mode. Naturally, it’s mostly in red and blue, with a surprising amount of translucent blue plastic forming the front and top of the cab. It’s designed to look fast, and captures the style of Animated pretty decently. The gaps in the pieces are a bit worrisome, particularly the rear section and under the windshield. Otherwise, it’s a pretty nice truck. But who buys Optimus Prime to look at a truck? Read the rest…
Okay, time to review the first Transformer from my little project, Bring Your Transformer to Work Day. That’s right, it’s time to review that awesomely named Walmart exclusive, Big Daddy.
Big Daddy is a redeco of Cybertron Downshift, according to the Wiki. I don’t own that figure, so don’t expect any comparisons. His altmode is a bitchin’ muscle car, with orange flames against a navy blue body (I think he’s an Oilers fan). It’s quite the styling ride, which apparently fits the character. Being a Cybertron repaint, his gimmick features are activated by the nice little Cyber Planet Key (or is it an Allspark Power Key?) that was included. Lifting up the rear window reveals the keyhole, which pops a capture claw out of the front grille of the car. There’s no way to actually make it pinch, so it’s not really any good for capturing. It sure looks menacing, though. This altmode is almost enough to make me take back any mean things I said about Cybertron. But enough about that… Read the rest…
Alright, protoforms, listen up. It’s time to do a review on Animated Ratchet, so tune your sensors in, ’cause he’s not gonna let me do this twice.![[del.icio.us]](http://www.dobie.ca/transformers/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
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