Ultra Magnus

Titanium Series, Toy Reviews No Comments

By virtue of sitting at the top of my big bin o’ loose transformers, it’s Ultra Magnus’s turn to get a review. This time, it’s a Titanium series Ultra Magnus (G1 Ultra Magnus will have to wait until another day!)

In his vehicle mode, Ultra Magnus is about what you’d expect from a Titanium figure, which is to say, lots of visible robot parts, an inability to roll smoothly, and generally just not that fun. That’s okay, though, because Titanium figures aren’t really meant to be played with. It’s very similar structurally to the G1 toy, except the trailer doesn’t come off, all of the red parts are gone except the missile tips, and the proportions just seem… off. When did Ultramag lose his red? He seems to be stuck as the white and blue guy these days. There’s not much else to say about this mode, other than it doesn’t fit nicely on the base provided (it’s not intended to) and doesn’t have anywhere suitable for storing his rifle. Read the rest…

Starscream

Animated, Toy Reviews, Voyager No Comments

What the heck, I’ve opened a few new toys this month, so I might as well start reviewing again. Since he’s closest at hand, Starscream gets the honors.

I opened the box months ago, but never took him off the tray until today (loose toys are harder to store, and I don’t have any shelves). I took him out, after a minute or so of fiddling with him I figured out what the rattling noise in the box was - his head came off. It popped back on easy enough. Some of the flaps move around, and you can lower the landing gear and roll him around the desk. His missile launchers can be swung around to fire forward, but they don’t do his ground clearance any favours. Clearly, he shouldn’t be firing those things on the runway. I was a bit skeptical of the blue and red Starscream colour scheme, but honestly, I think it works well on this mold. Something more show-accurate would be nice, and I’d like to see some of the (inevitable) redecos that are happening for it, but I just can’t picture it looking as good in G1 colours. There’s nowhere on here wanting for another paint application, although the mauve paint behind the cockpit on mine is a bit sloppy. Overall, it’s a solid jet, with less undercarriage kibble than I’d expected, and I love the forward swept wings.

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Warpath

Movie Toys, Scout, Toy Reviews No Comments

I decided to bring another Movie Scout with me this week to work, so this today’s review is going to be Warpath. Shockingly enough, he’s an Autobot, but I guess he’s a libertarian or something.

Out of the box, you’ve got an odd little red and black humvee thing, but with huge tyres that make me want to say “dune buggy”. Overall, it’s a nice colour scheme, and thankfully the Allspark blue is toned down enough that I can tolerate it. He rolls nice, there’s plenty of detailing, and he’s even got a spare tyre. It’s just over half the size of his actual tyres, but who’s counting? He’s got a very solid feel to him, and definitely feels like he’d be plenty fun just as is. This is a good thing, as he’s got no play features in this mode other than rolling around, keyport in the back be darned. Read the rest…

Cybertron Mode Megatron

Animated, Toy Reviews, Voyager No Comments

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…