Transformers

Review – Transformers – RiD – Bisk

I have yet to actually watch any of the Transformers Robots in Disguise show, but very early on one of the designs showed off was for a character named Bisk. Everyone hoped Bisk would get a toy but early indicators where we had one Decepticon for a dozen Autobots, it didn’t seem likely. Thankfully things changed and we ended up with our crazy Lobster Man Transformer. He’s even gotten a repaint named Thermidor.

Bisk, has the pleasure of having a Lobster for his animal theme. He definitely takes this theme above and beyond with his lobster head and giant Lobster Claw hands. Even his vehicle mode kibble hanging off of his back works since it sort of looks like a lobster shell. I can fully understand how this zany looking robot would not work for some people, he certainly stands out with other Transformers, especially non RiD Decepticons, but he certainly has a ton of character from this look.

This character even goes a bit deeper than expected with his Vehicle Mode. Transformers Robots In Disguise is a sort of sequel to the previous series, Transformers Prime. It shares a general design ascetic and the plot is a sort of follow up to the previous series, though the tone of these two shows is quite different. Bisk’s vehicle very much resembles the Vehicon Drones that were ever present in Transformers Prime. He’s not an exact match but the overall shape is there. His guns even mount on the front headlights the way the old Vehicon guns do.

His guns also work in robot mode via the same pegs, mounting on top of his lobster claws. The claws are particularly interesting, the arm joints aren’t quite traditional joints for up and down and rotation, but there are essentially two different elbow joins next to each other, which allows for his claws to work both in a vertical and horizontal orientation. It really helps add to the range of poses he can make using his big ol’ claws.

Overall, though the aesthetic won’t work for everyone, Bisk is a pretty fantastic addition to the Robots in Disguise line up. He looks nice in both modes, the Transformation is pretty straight forward and he just oozes character. He’s nicely poseable too, which is always a good feature.

Review – Transformers – Titans Return – Kup

Aug 17th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Aug 10th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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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.

Transformers – Review – Titans Return – Broadside

Jul 27th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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Broadside is a character that people have been anticipating an update of for a while now, mostly because he was part of the popular Wreckers team int he comics. He’s one of the few members who hasn’t gotten a new toy in ages, though it’s somewhat understandable why he hasn’t. Broadside has two alt modes, one is a jet, one is an aircraft carrier. Working aircraft Carriers in with any level of scale is effectively impossible being possibly the largest vehicles on the planet.

There is a vague attempt to make scale work with Broadside. He includes a set of small aircraft sculpted to resemble the recently released Combiner Wars Aerialbots toys, that can be stuck on the carrier deck using little pegs. This does have the odd effect int hat it means his Headmaster in “reality” would be larger than Superion, but it’s still a neat effort. I plan to paint up my Aerialbots at some point since they are all white plastic.

Talking about small Aerialbots seems like a funny place to start out discussing a figure, they are just accessories after all. The thing is, I prefer to discuss the good points before the bad points, and the mini Aerialbots are the only real good point with poor Broadside. It’s fairly rare that I just flat out don’t like a toy, I try to find some redeeming qualities when possible, but I really just don’t like Broadside, he’s just a big ball of weird design choices and flaws.

So, continuing with the carrier mode. The flat deck essentially consists of a bunch of flippy panels that all sort of but don’t quite mesh together well, which kind of huts the aesthetics of the carrier. It’s also covered in a lot of ill fitting stickers. The stickers aren’t the problem on their own, it’s how poorly they fit and how the sticker detail doesn’t even attempt to match the sculpted detailing on the surfaces they attach to. Then there are the little landing gears on the carrier, which are mostly just used to allow it to sit on a flat surface, except the way they fold up is goofy and they are prone to folding up by mistake when trying to display the carrier. Lastly the goofy wings on the front end of the carrier. These wings sort of exist for the Jet mode, except they look goofy over there, as well in Robot mode. They just are all around poorly executed and get int he way in all three modes than they do help the look.

Moving on to the Jet mode. I will just say, an attempt was made, and leave it there.

On the robot, hid design is almost there, he’s nice and beefy and chunky, except his also just sort of gets int he way of himself. Those previously mentioned Wings just sort of hang off of his shins and get in the way. The carrier panels hanging off of his shoulders get in the way of the arms and shoulders. He’s also back heavy so posing him can be a little difficult as well.

I think my biggest issue with Broadside is mostly just how close he is in almost every area he misses. It just makes him frustrating to interact with in every way because everything about him mostly almost works but not quite. To add insult to injury, he seems to have been shipped alone to a lot of stores, which means he will likely clog up shelves for a while blocking other Voyagers from getting a more widespread release.

Review – Transformers – Titans Return – Perceptor

Jul 20th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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Due to it’s hodge podge origins in various Japanese toy lines, primarily Diaclone and Microman, the Transformers picked up a few less practical alt modes in it’s early days. The most well known is Soundwave’s cassette player. Perceptor is one of those characters with a less conventional (ie not a car or a plane) modes with his Microscope mode. The previous Generations remake of Perceptor changed things a bit giving him a Snow truck alternate mode instead of his traditional Microscope. Titans Return has been all about keeping with the designs of the original toys as much as possible, with updated modern engineering, so Perceptor is once again, a Microscope.

You could argue that he’s actually a sort of medical bay for the Titan Masters however, since the stage of the microscope is designed for a Titan Master to lay in to be examined by the scope. The scope itself is functional as a microscope, though it’s extremely low power and kind of hard to look through due to it’s small size. If you put say, a finger in front of it, you will get an enlarged image of your fingerprint however, which is a nice touch.

The overall design is very reminiscent to the original Perceptor toy from the 80s, though he’s quite a bit smaller, the original figure was somewhere between modern Deluxe and Voyager sizes. His transformation is where a lot of the flaws come through. It’s simple enough, but the sliding mechanism for the microscope feels extremely stiff and prone to breaking. I have not broken one, it just very much feels like a part that could easily BE broken if care isn’t given. There are alsoa lot of unused extra bits on his body for the undocumented Tank Mode

The original Perceptor had an attack mode which amounted to folding him into a square and using the scope as a tank canon. There are definitely vestigial bits for something similar to be done on the Titans Return toy, but the instructions do not show anything about how to properly transform him into a tank. There are extra flip out treads, extra flipping parts on his chest, extra tabs on his legs and shoulders. It’s even a great way to better incorporate the little Titan Master drivers into the mode. It’s just not documented, which is kind of tragic.

Aside from the missing Tank Mode, I really enjoy this figure. I’ve always been partial to Perceptor because of his goofy Microscope mode, though I can see how this may be seen as boring by some people. The microscope actually having some very basic functionality just makes this guy even more interesting and good in my book.