I’ve got a fun custom idea brewing in the ol’ noggin, and I want to track down a broken Voyager Megatron from the Animated line to do it with. Why a broken one? Because I only need a few parts, and don’t feel right buying and destroying an intact one (unless I’m certain it will go well).
Go big or go home! Wait, no, nevermind. This week’s desktop guardian is Movie Scout Armorhide (I will refrain from calling him Armourhide, no matter how much I want to).
Like all of the Movie Scouts, Armorhide is a redeco, in this case of Cybertron Armorhide (who dreamed that one up?). His altmode is a teensy weensy flatnosed semi truck with a tow truck attachment on the back. he’s got a nice black and yellow colour scheme that I think is going to look nice alongside Stealth Bumblebee when I get around to opening him up. He seems nicely proportioned, and is well detailed in vehicle mode, but I do have a bit of a beef with how flexible his back end is. The arm joints aren’t loose, necessarily, but there’s nothing but the friction in the ball joints keeping him from bending. It’s particularly troublesome when putting the gun/tow truck attachment in. Inserting his key into the back of the cab (this requires removing the tow truck attachment) will open the front of the truck up, and eight non-firing missiles stick out. Read the rest…
Holy crap. There I am, looking around the Allspark’s forum, when all of a sudden I stumble onto this link to a custom Devastator. Holy crap. I’ve gotta get me a workbench. Also, materials. Oh, and talent. Gonna need that. I want one of these!
Frenzy Rumble, you rock!
Okay, now it’s time to review the fastest thing on wheels, Deluxe Animated Bumblebee. You’d think after the movie toyline pimped ‘Bee out, I’d be sick of him, but, uh, yeah. I’m not. It looks like he’s not going to get the endless new versions this time around, too. But I bloody well better get a Wasp and Cliffjumper, because I’m a redeco junkie.
Out of the box, Bumblebee is a sporty little compact, done up in the yellow and black colours you’d expect. The yellow isn’t too bright, which is nice, but I’d have liked it if the paint apps for the headlights were a little brighter. They just blend in, to the point where I’d almost think they weren’t there. It’s a nice, simple deco, and the light on the roof is a nice touch (I hope they have a change of heart and remove it from later uses of the mould, especially ones that don’t give it a paint app of its own). The colour does appear a bit uneven on the bits that are painted yellow (because they’re made of translucent plastic for the windows) versus the parts that are moulded yellow. In vehicle mode, you can attach the Sumdac turbo boosters to the rear windows (those peg holes are well placed, and blend in nicely when not in use, I find) for some added fun. Read the rest…
Oh my goodness. How did I let it slip for so long? Oh, right. “I’m busy today. I’ll do a review tomorrow, so it’s okay if I play SimCity or watch an old Animated episode.” Anyways, this week’s toy on my desk is Voyager Megatron from Animated.
This first Megatron toy in the Animated line turns into Megatron’s original altmode, the Cybertronic jet seen in that one scene in the pilot, to stand with Cybertron Mode Optimus Prime. He’s mostly black, with a fair dose of grey and translucent red. His fusion cannon is mounted so that it fires aft, presumably to deal with that backstabbing Starscream. It is, naturally, quite aggressive, and being a spacecraft completely free of anything remotely resembling aerodynamics. It also appears to have VTOL fans, for no other reason than they need to parallel similar constructions on his earth mode. I can’t shake a feeling that it should be flying backwards, probably because of that fusion cannon and the flow of the lines of the craft, but apparently that’s just wrong. Overall, I’d say that he’s got a nicer looking Cybertronic jet mode than his 2007 film counterpart. 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.
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…
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