Transformers

Review – Transformers – Titans Return – Perceptor

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.

Review – Transformers – RiD – Quillfire

Jul 13th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

1 comment

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.

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.