RiD

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Aug 3rd, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Review – Transformers – RiD – Quillfire

Jul 13th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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Broken Record time again, I just love the unique style and designs of the Robots in Disguise Decepticon line up. Quillfire is no exception, with his porcupine themed robot mode. He also has a very unique squat shape to his design, which just helps give him more character.

Quillfire, unlike Steeljaw, has the benefit of being a late line figure. That is, he came out in wave 3 or 4, and the designers of the figures have had a chance to work out the new kinks that pop up every new Transformers line. The neatest part of his design is probably in his head, which Which despite having a hunched look, has an extra joint added that allows for side to side movement. Given that a lot of recent Transformers have kind of felt like they were cheapening out in places, the neck joint here really feels like a bonus. It’s something that could easily have been removed.

He also has a functioning jaw on his large head, which helps add to the ascetics in a good way. Additionally, despite his stocky design, the pose ability is pretty good. He does unfortunately have a pretty large ugly backpack just sort of hanging off of him, which is kind of meh and though the neck is cool, it is limited compared to your more traditional robot designs.

He is also incredibly brown, which admittedly makes him kind of bland to look at. He has a repaint named Scatterspike which has a very similar color scheme, which doesn’t help matters on his color scheme. Like most of RiD, the Transformation is pretty straight forward without too many steps or flippy panels. He includes two weapons, a hand held gun and a quill knife, both are able to be stored in Vehicle mode.

Despite his boring brown appearance, Quillfire, is a neat and fun little toy. His repaint Scatterspike probably has a slightly more interesting color scheme since it’s a dark shade of Red, if you are only interested in getting the mold once. Then again, the browns are a bit more military looking if that’s your thing. He’s a decent toy, just not much to look at.

Review – Transformers – RiD – Megatronus

Jun 15th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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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.

1 comment

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.