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August, 2017:

Review – Transformers – Titans Return – Kup

Ah Kup, a character that seems to be hard to just do right in Toy form while not being kind of boring.  His original G1 toy is best described as “Weird Space Pick Up”.  He got an alright update a few years ago in the Generations line where he turned into an old timey Earth Pick Up.  Kup, despite being fairly popular has a few issues that come up when trying to make updates.  First, his alt mode is lame and kind of boring, which isn’t particularly marketable.  Second, his character is old and grouchy and thus isn’t the best character to appeal to kids.  In the comics he’s been molded more into the classic veteran commando type but he also has trademark items like his Cygar, that help push this motif, which doesn’t really work in a toy line marketed to kids either.

Transformers Titans Return Kup

The whole Titans Return line is really pushing in on the later G1 toys, and being really slavish to their original designs as much as possible.  It’s not surprising Kup got an updated figure for this line.  Aside from the chest area and actually having shoulders, he is a pretty good update to the original G1 design as well.  The vehicle manages to fold up on itself in some pretty interesting ways to form a very nice looking and clean robot.

Transformers Titans Return Kup

In fact the neat Transformation is one of the best parts of this toy.  The front cockpit does some fun little things to form a cavity for the Headmaster to drive, but on top of that the side panels do some pretty impressive origami to form the lower legs.  The end result is that the Robot doesn’t have a ton of gaps and holes in it that has become the trend in today’s cost saving design choices.

Transformers Titans Return Kup

Kup maintains his dopey Space Pick Up design this round, though he takes some queues from Transformers Prime’s Kup with the truck bed.  His guns can fill in the gap to create a nice little block of technology engine looking junk that he can carry around.  They still look like guns, but it does help to keep his alt mode from looking funky.

Transformers Titans Return Kup

Like all of the Titans Return line, Kup’s titan master can sit in the cockpit to drive the vehicle mode.  Unfortunately the pegs that hold the titan master in place are kin of weak and getting the little figure attached while navigating the window piece and not splitting the truck panels apart is tricky.  What I’m saying is, it’s a lot harder to get him into the driver’s seat than say, any of the space jets that have simple canopy cockpits.

Transformers Titans Return Kup

The Transformation that I enjoy is probably the main downside of this figure.  Getting everything to line up isn’t that hard, but it can be tricky and it could be tricky to manage for some folks (kids, apparently Kup just doesn’t work well for kids all around, see above).  Getting the front of the truck to all line up and attach to the side panels is definitely tricky and given the small pegs holding things in place can be hard to keep in place.  He’s a neat fun toy, but the Transformation from robot to vehicle is overly complex compared to other figures in the Titans Return line.

Review – Transformers – RiD – Thunderhoof

Thunderhoof has the distinct pleasure of possibly having the first Tractor alt mode in Transformers.  There may have been one previously, probably some sort of Minicon if there was one, but I am pretty sure there hasn’t been a Farm Tractor in Transformers history.  Plenty of construction vehicles, not so much farm machines.

Transformers Robots in Disguise Thunderhoof

Thunderhoof’s spirit animal as it may be, is a deer.  As such he ends up with some pretty huge majestic antlers on his head in Robot mode.  He also, appropriately, has hooved feet.  His robot mode is pretty imposing and has a nice design but it’s not without it’s problems.  The backside is very bare bones and his legs are very hollow.  This makes him pretty ungly when views from rear angles.

Transformers Robots in Disguise Thunderhoof

The biggest offender is in his legs.  As part of the Transformation, his shins have a joint in the middle to allow the lower half to fold up.  This joint basically ends up flexing constantly because there isn’t really any way to lock it in place.  It almost functions as a second knee joint, in an annoying way.

Transformers Robots in Disguise Thunderhoof

Part of the reason for all of this hollowness and funky extra joints is the amount of compression that goes on during transformation.  Thunderhoof kind of reminds me of the old Lockdown toys in how much larger his robot seems than his vehicle.  Thunderhoof is easily one of, if not the tallest Deluxe figure in the Robots in Disguise line, yet his vehicle may be the smallest of the line.  Everything neatly and compactly folds up on itself.  The vehicle is neat and pretty menacing with it’s giant spiked bit on the front.  The spike bit is simply his head hanging off the front, but it’s not super noticeable as his head except from the bottom.

Transformers Robots in Disguise Thunderhoof

Transformers Robots in Disguise Thunderhoof

Thunderhoof is a bit of a mixed bag.  He’s got a neat design, but he has a lot of little issues that make him pretty finicky as a toy.  He’s definitely a good example of why it kind of stinks that there are no Voyager level toys in the Robots in Disguise line.  He could have definitely benefited from a larger size and price point allowing for a bit more stability and a larger alternate mode.

 

Review – Transformers – RiD – Fracture

Fracture is the real turning point for the Decepticons of the Robots in Disguise line.  There was a slow build up before hand with Megatron but Fracture was the point where the line really got good.

Transformers Robots In Disguise Fracture

Fracture’s animal theme, though less obvious than Quillfire and Steeljaw, is a rooster.  This mostly presents with his little mohawk deal on his head, though his shoulders also have a sort of random almost feathery look to them.  Articulation is really nice on this figure, and he doesn’t have a lot of really bad hollow bits which tend to plague a lot of modern Transformers.

Transformers Robots In Disguise Fracture

Transformers Robots In Disguise Fracture

The real shinning bit is his nifty rifle.  He has a variety of pegs and handles that allow it to be handles and held in a lot of fun poses.   It’s not quite a sniper rifle, though given it’s long barrel and design it’s easy to see that it could be wielded in such a manner.  It can also be used a sort of cudgel using the center post.  It’s very versatile and add a lot to the play ability of the figure.

Transformers Robots In Disguise Fracture

Fracture transforms into a decent looking Chopper style Motorcycle.  He’s large enough for other Transformers to ride on, however the width of the bike’s body makes it hard to get most figures to properly straddle the seat.  It still is a very cool looking alt mode and the Transformation is interesting despite it’s simplicity.  The front wheel and topmost center mass do some fun flippy tricks to compact down and form the robot’s torso and backpack.  The large rifle also folds in half and attaches as a large exhaust pipe.

Transformers Robots In Disguise Fracture

Bottom line is that Fracture is a really fun Decepticon for the Robots in Disguise toy line.  The robot is neat and pretty dynamic and the vehicle is pretty cool looking and unique.  I have no real complaints on this guy.

Sentinel – Mega Man (Classic)

Mega Man is one video game series I have extremely fond childhood memories of.  I’ve played and finished all of the games and Mega Man 3 is one title that I played religiously back in the day.  It’s a series that just begs for a good toy line but it seems like it will never achieve the greatness I had always hoped with hundreds of Robot Masters.  Years ago Jazwares put out a short lived line and I snapped all of them up, despite their mediocre quality.  I’ve dabbled a bit in some of the model kits as well.  The newest contender in the realm of Mega Man is Sentinel Toys.  Unfortunately they seem to just be keeping the same cycle of releasing only variations of Mega Man.  There was a Cut Man but it was part of a limited 2 pack.  I don’t think they have even ventured out into the realm of Proto Man, Bass, or Zero as of this review.

Sentinel Mega Man 4"

So I opted to pick up the standard classic Mega Man, to give the line a try.  These figures of course carry an import level price, but since they are a bit smaller they aren’t too far out on the high end.  Mega Man is small to be sure, he’s quite a bit smaller than I had expected, but he is sold and advertised as 4 inches, so I don’t really know what I expected.   The sculpt and design is nice and crisp, though there are a lot of visible joint seams.

Sentinel Mega Man 4"

The seams do sort of work here, given Mega Man is a robot, but it does break up the sculpt, especially when viewed from behind.  He does end up with a really nice range of articulation however as a result of all of these joints.  He can make many classic Mega Man style poses easily and holds them quite well.

Sentinel Mega Man 4"

Mega man includes a stand as well as a couple of alternate hands, an alternate face, and a blaster arm.  These are all easily swap-able and help give some variety for posing and display.  The little extra bits for storage are nice but they don’t really do a lot to keep the pieces together.

Sentinel Mega Man 4"

Is this the best Mega Man figure available?  It’s hard to say.  It’s better than the Jazwares one by light years, but Revoltech has put out a few nice looking Mega Man figures as well.  He also isn’t quite as stylized or squat as others may want in a Mega man figure, the design is closer to the newer artwork than the older artwork and the games.  He’s definitely a nice figure though, and relatively affordable as Imports go.  He also fits pretty well with other Video Game figures like the Figuarts Mario, Figma Samus and Figma Link.