Hey! It’s one of my very, very few Transformer toys that doesn’t have bi/trilingual packaging. That’s because this one was a lovely xmas gift from my wife’s relatives in the US. It’s interesting that you guys get the character bio on the card, rather than on the instruction sheet down there (I really wish it was on the instruction sheet for all of them, because it’s easier to hang on to that than on to the card or box). But hey, enough about the packaging, it’s time to talk about the TickSentinel Prime! (Feel free to hum the Tick’s theme song while you read this. I’m humming it while I type.)
Scale is not Sentinel’s friend here. He’s about the same size as all the wheeled deluxes, which means he’s either really small or everyone else is really big. Still, it’s a nice vehicle design, and at this time of year, a suitable one around here (I have yet to find a way to convince him to clear the road in front of my apartment - Hasbro, this would make a great gimmick for a future toy!). It captures the Animated design quite well, feels fairly solid, and has nearly no robot kibble showing. It’s a fun altmode, with a good roll to it, a plow that can be angled like a real snowplow would, and a mounting point so that you can store his weapons on the roof (which, admittedly, doesn’t really look very good). You can even sort-of kind-of get a V shaped plow by splitting the plow, if that’s your kind of thing. Read the rest…
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…
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…
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…
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…
I’m going to kick things off with the toy that’s been sitting on my desk at work all week, Offroad Ironhide.
Offroad Ironhide is a redeco of the Ironhide figure from the Movie toyline. Like the original, this figure transforms into a GMC Topkick C4500 pickup truck. The figure is mostly dark blue, with flecked paint similar to what would be found on an automobile. Like all figures from the Allspark Power refresh of the movie toyline, Offroad Ironhide has a healthy dose of baby blue paint applied somewhat randomly pretty much anywhere. My favourite feature of the paint applications added to the figure for the redeco is the mud painted on around each wheel well. The wheels are free rolling in vehicle mode, and it looks pretty spiffy as it is. Read the rest…
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