Transformers

Review – Transformers – RiD – Megatronus

Megatronus was the first in a surge of Decepticons added to the Robots in Disguise line. Poor Steeljaw would no longer have to face the Autobot army alone. This toy has been released in a few versions, with and without a facemask and a few paint tweaks, this particular version covers the Megatronus release that was exclusive to Toys R Us.

I have to admit, I don’t follow the show, so I’m not sure where Megatronus falls into the hierarchy of things. I believe Steeljaw is actually the leader of the Decepticons and Megatronus is not the same character as Megatron, though the former is the namesake of the latter. Megatronus originally, in the Transformer Mythos was one of the original 13 Primes, and is more commonly known as The Fallen, though I don’t know if that title applies here.

Despite that he isn’t Megatron, he certainly kind of looks like Megatron, and whether or not he is The Fallen, he also feels “special” compared to the other Decepticons in the line. Primarily because he doesn’t seem to really have an animal theme, like the other Decepticons. He’s very much just a tank robot.

Another sign that this guy isn’t Megatron is his complete lack of a Fusion/arm canon. Instead, Megatronus comes with a little sword weapon, which can be weilded in a variety of ways. It can be mounted on one arm as a blade weapon, or held like a standard sword. The tank most also works both with and without the sword attached.

Probably the coolest part of this toy is the transformation. Hasbro has been doing a lot of interesting things lately with Transformations, and Megatronus has some cool tricky that keep the Transformation elegantly simple. The legs in particular, formed from the treads, do a neat little fold over trick. Also notable, since the entire torso is the turret of the tank and the treads are the base, he ends up with a fully rotating turret and a usable waist joint.

The only real issue with this toy is that, given the character and design, he really just feels too small. Megatronus really is a character who needs to be imposing, not this tiny little tank. It’s still a nice figure, he just may pair better with the legends scale than the other Deluxes.

Review – Transformers – RiD – Steeljaw

Jun 8th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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Like a lot of folks it seems, I pretty much avoided the Transformers Robots in Disguise line early on in it’s release. Most of the toys seemed, and were, pretty mediocre. There also was an extremely one sided assortment of mostly Autobots. In fact, Steeljaw was the only Decepticon until something like wave 4, which is really annoying on a lot of levels. One thing that Transformers always felt like it had going for it above other lines was a pretty good balance of heroes and villains. What good is a hero with no one to fight after all?

Even more annoying, the Decepticon designs on the show itself are all super interesting and unique. There’s a neat animal theme running in the robot modes, which gives them fun heads and little design queues related to their respective animals. Steeljaw, for example, is very obviously wolf themed. From his wold head to his wolf tail, he’s one of the more obvious animal designs. The vehicle itself is also somewhat wolf-like in it’s styling.

While his design is pretty neat, Steeljaw is also one of the weaker toys in the line. The main issue is the “This should have been a Voyager” problem that pops up occasionally. The larger size would have allowed a bit better balance and a few more joints while also stopping the robot from being so small and stocky. As he is, because of his weird joints in his legs he pretty much needs the tail as balance to keep him upright, which is a shame because it’s nicely jointed and would be great used for more dynamic poses.

He also has some weird sliding arm/elbow joints that feel a little fragile and leave his arm movement options a little stiff. I guess the point is, the robot mode is cool looking, but it’s really only usable in one or two poses, due to the awkwardness of the toy.

Steeljaw is basically the physical embodiment of the early problems with the Robots in Disguise line, all wrapped up in a nice package. The design is ambitious but suffers for it. He should have been a larger price point, but RiD had no Voyager price point. He was the only Decepticon for a while, and while he looks nice in a group assortment with the eventual, later, Decepticons (which are mostly pretty stellar), he’s probably not worth putting a ton of effort into tracking one down.

Review – Transformers – Titans Return – Scourge

Mar 2nd, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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Scourge, along with Blurr, is part of the first wave of Titans Returns figures that were not originally Headmasters. Scourge is a bit of a funny character in terms of picking up “new versions”, because his character’s ability allows him to make clones of himself. Or maybe it’s just that he commands clones of himself, whatever the case, there is a justifiable reason to have many Scourge toys.

Unlike Blurr, who is kind of the star of the wave, Scourge is possibly the worst figure of the first wave. The problems are less with the basic design however. This Scourge, like Blurr is a nice update to the original design, as basic as it is. Scourge is the classic example of a Shell Former. He is essentially a robot wrapped in the shell of the parts of his space boat mode. Both modes are accurate representation of the G1 Scourge, but his transformation is pretty simplistic.

The real problems are with the basic design of the figure itself. Specifically there are a lot of reports of looseness in the head connection of the Headmaster giving him a bobble head. He also has a pop up head crest similar to Blurr, though it is also prone to being lose and doesn’t stay up very well.

One minor little nitpick on my part, his pretty sleek Space Boat mode is broken up a bit by odd panels on the bottom of the front. These panels only serve to fill in the gap on his legs, and just sort of hang off the vehicle. It really feels like this could have easily been engineered better to remove the panel kibble hanging off an otherwise clean vehicle.

That aside, he’s also just sort of boring. The vehicle is just a wedge with a bit of kibble on top, it’s accurate, but it’s not particularly exciting.

Titans Return Scourge isn’t an awful toy, he’s just not particularly exciting, and is prone to some issue that can be irritating. With exciting animal options in the Decepticons, or the really well done Blurr, I wouldn’t make Scourge my first choice of the line.

Review – Transformers – Titans Return – Blurr

Feb 23rd, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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Like Combiner Wars previously, Titans Return isn’t a total homage to only Headmasters. There aren’t a ton of Headmasters to pull from so some character who weren’t originally Headmasters get roped into the mix as well. I’m not super keen on picking up a lot of the non Headmaster Titan Masters, the way I passed on all of the non combining Combiner Wars characters. Blurr however is a character seriously in need of an updated toy, and this Blurr is a really good representation of the original Blurr, especially compared to the previous Generations Blurr. The old Blurr is a good toy, it’s not a particularly great G1 Blurr.

The best part of this updated Blurr is how lithe his design is. Blurr is known for being fast. He has a sleek fast car, he talks extremely quickly, he should have a fast robot. The Generations Blurr was based on the Drift Mold, and it had a ton of chunky car kibble that kind of restricted a lot of his movement. I mean no, the toy doesn’t move on it’s own, but it helps if the design conveys the idea behind the character.

Also, unlike the Generations Blurr, Titans Return Blurr’s vehicle mode looks much more like the original G1 Blurr’s Cybertronian car. The core difference is that the little Titan Master can ride in the car’s seat and drive it. Transformation is pretty simple but it works well and does the job very well.

The Titan Master is pretty much the same as all of the others in this line, aside from the little pop up head crest. In head mode, there is a little bit that pops up to form Blurr’s head crest. It’s a small but nice detail.

One last side note, this figure was remolded into Titans Return Brainstorm, and is exclusive to Walgreens stores. From what I can tell pretty much everything that applies to Blurr, applies to Brainstorm, though there is a bit of remolding. I don’t intend to pick up TR Brainstorm since I am happy with the Generations Brainstorm, but I wanted to point out that this mostly applies to the other toy as well.

The overall verdict though for Blurr is that it’s an all around really nice Transformer. He’s definitely one of the better figures in the Titans Return line up. Despite not originally being a Headmaster, the added gimmick of the little robot pilot adds some nice fun to the design.

Review – Transformers – Generations – Brainstorm

Feb 16th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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If you’ve been keeping track, you might have noticed that I’ve gone through all of the original 7 Headmaster’s remakes from Titan’s Returns. You might have been expecting the last review here to cover Titan’s Return Brainstorm. Well, you’d be almost correct. The thing is, I have Generations Brainstorm already, and I don’t really need Titan’s Return Brainstorm, so instead, you’re getting Generations Brainstorm.

If you follow some of the recent lines just before Combiner Wars, it kind of felt like Hasbro was exploring and experimenting with ideas for future lines. We got Scoop with his Trigger masters, and the Minicon combiner team, and Brainstorm here, the first Headmaster in years, I believe since Transformers Energon with it’s Omega Supreme and Minicon head. Before that was Armada Sideways with his swappable headmasters.

As our first modern Headmaster, Brainstorm is pretty good. There were some early reports about issues with the neck joint on the Headmaster and body, but rumor has it that problem was fixed. He even fakes the classic power level gimmick with a flip down panel inside his chest that activates when the Headmaster is attached.

The Headmaster itself is a little iffy though, the arms are large chunks with the arm bits painted on in the appropriate areas. He looks nice for the most part for such a small figure though. He works well with his little cockpit in space ship mode.

The new headmasters though aren’t compatible at all. There is a size difference for starters, which breaks the port set up. In the broader sense though, I like the size difference here just because it makes for some nice variety from “All Deluxe scale”. I also am not huge on swapping the heads between bodies, so I don’t really mind that there is a lack of compatibility.

So I’m not saying the Titans Return Brainstorm is bad, he’s based on one of the better molds in the line, but I just really like this version of Brainstorm from a few years earlier in Generations.