Category Archives: Transformatorium

Big Angry Trev discusses the beautiful wonderful world of Transformers!

Toys Review – TAV08 Gregevor, TAV37 Megatronus & TAV38 Thunderhoof

The Japanese Adventure Toyline currently being made is an interesting one.  It consists exclusively of recolours from different toylines such as Animated, United and Generations.  Today we will be looking at three Decepticons based on the current Robots in Disguise (15) toyline – TAV08 Gregevor, TAV37 Megatronus and TAV38 Thunderhoof.

Note: We will be looking at Thunderhoof and Megatronus mainly, we will briefly examine Gregevor at the end.
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Robot mode – Thunderhoof
It continues the aesthetic that permeates much of the RID(15) toyline. Quite blocky legs and arms with a rectangular torso. The arms can be somewhat of an irritant. You can keep them in close to the body which looks good but limits their maneuverability, or otherwise you can pull the spindly little connectors that connect his shoulders to his body out which makes them far more poseable but looks extra silly considering the giant shoulder wheels he has. The colour scheme is very nice, much better on the TAV version than the regular Warrior version, although it has that annoying scanner badge on the chest. The antlers do not look much like the cartoon, the 3-step changer does a better job of that, however this concession is required for the vehicle mode to be more screen accurate.

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Robot mode – Megatronus
Actually quite nicely proportioned and the TAV colours make him all shiny and evil.  The small purple and blue highlights work quite well and I like that you can attach his sword staff either to his arm or he can wield it in his hand.  Only part lacking with the toy is the head – it’s a tad small for the figure and it would have been great if it could have had a retractable mask like in the cartoon.

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Vehicle Mode – Thunderhoof
One of the main reasons I grabbed this guy is as a Mallee Boy I just can’t resist a farm-themed vehicle. It’s quite a nice looking and well proportioned tractor and indeed my brother owns one of this same colour. One thing though – it is small. Like, really small! Sure one could say compact but let’s be honest here – it’s small. It’s a good thing they labelled these ‘Warrior Class’ toys because they sure as shinola are not deluxe class, which is shrinking every year anyway.
The fork configuration on this version is far more screen accurate than the 1-step and 3-step changer versions. However I had to look into what this particular type is, it’s a ‘stick push rake’ attachment which you don’t often see in Australia – quite an interesting choice. I’ve never seen one in real life.

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Vehicle Mode – Megatronus
Looking at it, it looks like it should be baring the name ‘Galvatronus’ rather than ‘Megatronus’.  Rather than the Cybertronian tank from the end of season one of the cartoon, which the huge 5-step changer looks like, it really just looks like a cannon with a couple of tank tracks attached.

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Transformation – Thunderhoof
Fairly simplistic which characterises this toyline, the only thing is it can be quite fiddly on the first attempt to get the arms and shoulders in place to become the back half of the tractor. The instructions for this toy surprisingly are not great, they have both missed steps and redundant steps. I find this a bit odd because usually Takara instructions far better than Hasbro ones. Once you’ve transformed him though it takes you about 15 seconds to transform him back.

 Transformation – Megatronus
Once again, fairly simplistic.  You will not be flexing any of your brain muscles in trying to transform this figure in either direction.  Makes it a good toy for a younger TF fan but a bit boring for us of the older persuasion.

 

Overall – Thunderhoof
Well, the puns with this character abound. In robot mode he kinda has a head like a deer, as a vehicle he kinda looks like a John Deere tractor . Chuck in a New York mobster accent for someone that turns into a farming vehicle and he is all over the shop. But he is one of the more interesting Con characters from the new show and has a very nice (but small) looking alt-mode. I don’t mind if I miss a lot of the RID(15) figures but rather glad I got him, even if the arms detract in robot mode and the size detracts in vehicle mode. Grab the TAV version if you can, it’s a perfect example of how a great paintjob can make a difference.

Overall – Megatronus
It’s not like we get a toy of one of the Original 13 Primes every day (though we do have an Alpha Trion coming up in the Titans Retun toyline) so that alone makes him worth getting.  Besides this novelty there is not a lot to recommend this toy, it’s deinetly an ‘ok’ toy but not spectacular in any regard.

 

Toy Review – Gregevor

A basic colour repaint of RID(15) Strongarm (so a sex change straight off the bat!) which in itself is a pretty basic and uninspired toy.  I just got him for the name…

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The tale of his name is an interesting one.  G1 Swindle got recoloured into RID(01) Rollbar. This toy was then named in the Japanese version of the cartoon Greejeeber.  Now this recolour of RID(15) Strongarm has been reoloured as an homage RIDJP(01) Greejeeber but was deemed too hard for western fans to pronounce to got reduced to Gregevor.

I bought this both for my friend Greg, and myself TrevorGregevor – get it?!  That’s why mine is will be kept MOSC, because after buying and playing with Strongarm I know I’ll enjoy his name more than the toy.

 

Please note: None of these figures reviewed are available in Australia.  If you are after them you are best to order them from a Japanese online store.

Transformers Trump Card Competition Winners!

Well done to the winners of the Transformers Top Trumps Competition!  People had to either write a poem or create a picture that involved me and the Transformers somehow.  We have our two winners below: Brody wrote a poem chronicling the dramas I had getting my PC fixed when I turned up and the old owner, who was also a Transformers nut, had sold the business.  Scottie (our resident fan artist extraordinaire!) has created a simply awesome pic which hopefully bodes well for the future casting decisions of upcoming Transformer movies.  Well done guys, your Top Trump cards will be sent out to you soon!

 

A poem by Brody

You took your pc to get fixed,
The owner was new,
And he you knew,
He also liked Transformers
It took you a while to remember the former
Rhyming is hard,
I’m not Wheelie,
Really!!
Thirty-Five words,
I’m not the Riddler
I am not a Fiddler
Don’t linger,
Just be careful of Dipstick’s finger!

 

A picture by Scottie 

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Toys Review – RID Deployer Decepticons

The Deployer toys from the RID(15) series certainly cause conflicting reactions amongst TF fans.  On the one hand they are very simplistic toys with very simple transformations and models.  On the other hand they come with Mini-Con partners which turn into either discs, missiles or cyclone spheres which they can shoot in either their robot or alt-modes.  Anyway, lets have a look at the three Decepticon ones that have been released to date – namely FRACTURE, OVERLOAD and CRAZYBOLT.

Please note: As Fracture was released so long ago I will mainly focus on the other two which can still be found on store shelves.  I will still touch on the Bountyhunter Deployer from yesteryear though.

 

ROBOT MODES

Overload

Very stock standard but a vast improvement on the first round of Deployer toys (Fracture and Drift). Some poseability but not much. Decent proportions, looks like a real bruiser!

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Crazybolt

Some sort of weird stylized chameleon lizard thing. Looks a bit of a hodgepog with bits of the alt-mode going every which way. When not sporting a Cyclone-Sphere Mini-Con the jaw comes up, leaving the launcher hanging below awkwardly. When having a Mini-Con in place the jaw extends down much like a snake eating an egg so it looks like he is coughing up a Cyclone Sphere to spit at someone which is kinda cool.

mm mmm

 

VEHICLE MODES
Overload

Very stock standard again but ok. Just looks like they changed the Megatronus mould a bit. At least his vehicle mode still kinda works without the Mini-Con attached – again, a great improvement over the likes of Drift.

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Crazybolt

Looks like a pretty cool, stylized Cybertronian Dragster, would not have been out of place from the Speed Planet line of toys in the Cybertron series. Very nicely proportioned and the touches of dull-orange help to add contrast to the light blue and white colouring overall, especially on the dual-triple flame exhausts that cleverly come from the lizard modes toes.. The Mini-Con launcher is set at the back of the car, which while not as aggressive looking as say the placement on Overload, makes sense if it’s a dragster character who is always going to be racing ahead of whoever he is battling.

mmmm

 

MINI-CON PARTNERS

Backtrack looks like he would fit in well with one of the new Star Wars movies, whilst Hammer looks like a prehistoric chicken!

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FRACTURE with AIRAZOR

When I first went to open this toy I was thinking “Wow – the robot looks a helluva lot better than the Drift Deployer – this might be good”
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Then I opened him and realised the deployer mechanism does not detach – what balls! It looks so stupid and unsightly sitting up over his right shoulder!
I don’t mind the motorcycle mode too much – looks suitably Cybertronian and it looks like it could be a Cybertronian side-car. Not nearly as detailed as the robot mode but with the awful backpack that is how is gonna live.
I quite like Airazor especially his leg structure, its nice to see something a bit different and it looks pretty cool. Only let-down for me is the face – looks like some bad lava-moster. And all the extra bits you can attach to him don’t look as good as other Mini-Cons out there.

 

Overall opinion of the Decepticon Deployers

Look, none of these three toys are great.  But then none of the RID(15) toyline figures are so at least these come with little Mini-Con partners they can shoot.  If you are a fan of the cartoon or a completionist then these three are worth picking up on the cheap if you can find them.  If not, then do not bother my friends, very average figures indeed.

Ask Trev – ‘Should I buy R-17 Carnifex?’

This question comes from Dallas in Sydney “Should I buy Reformatted R-17 Carnifex?”OL1

For those that don’t know R-17 Carnifex is 3rd party developer Mastermind Creations version of the increasing popular character Overlord from the Transformers franchise.

Well the usual answer would be “yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” This looks like this is going to be a fantastic figure and it comes from a quality 3rd party company that has done great work in the past.

However there is a cyber-spanner in the works – a possible official Overlord figure may be on the cards.  This is MUCH sought after as so few of us have the original one.  Personally the closest I have is my Heroes of Cybertron Gigatron and he doesn’t quite cut the mustard.

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At Botcon Hasbro showed sneak peaks of figures that will be coming out over the next two years.  Most of these we got colour images of but there was one in shadow that looked suspiciously like a tank and jet that would combine.  Now this might be an upcoming Flywheels figure (Battletrap got a TFCC figure at Botcon last year) but it also might be an Overlord.  Overlord is arguably the more popular character, he featured prominently in the Japanese cartoon whereas Flywheels only showed up in the opening credits of the G1 S4.  Overlord has also been very popular in the recent IDW comics whereas Flywheels got killed over a year ago by the DJD in them.

So what to do?  Well it depends on your predilection.  If you really like 3rd party products

Is this Overlord?
Is this Overlord?

then you may as well go for Reformatted R-17 Carnifex – he looks great and really is only lacking a base mode.  But he is expensive – really expensive.  At most online places you are likely to be shelling out well over $200AU for this big bad boy.

It also depends if you would prefer to have a official toy rather than a 3rd party one.  Personally I have no problem with 3rd party figures – I have a few Quintessons and my upgrade kits for Universe Hardhead and Combiner Wars Menasor make the figures look infinitely better.  But it always feels a little…. I dunno… like I am cheating a bit by getting something from a 3rd party, almost like it’s not quite real.  Also if there is an official Overlord toy on the way, it’s possible that it may have a base mode, something that R-17 Carnifex lacks.

MMC10043[1]So my advice: hedge your bets!  Personally I’m preordering R-17 Carnifex from BBTS as I have the option of cancelling my order up to the day before it arrives in their store.  That way if an official toy does get announced and it look like it will be of good quality then I can cancel my 3rd party order.  If it turns out there is no official Overlord toy on the way, then I’m covered and wont have to worry about not being able to lay my hands on a representation of him.

Good luck Dallas – may we both get the giant, psychopathic, mass murdering alien robot we are after!

 

Competition – win Transformer Top Trump Card Packs!

 

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Recently I have come into possession of some extra Transformers: Top Trump game packs, featuring all that lovely box-art from the early 80’s!  It would be too cruel of me to hoard them like the usual TF-miser I am so I have a plan to spread the joy – I’m gonna get folk to jump through metaphorical creative hoops in order to give me an excuse to give them away!

 

Here is how you can win your own pack:

*Option A: Write something creative, be it a poem, ode or story.  Must be between 38 and 3800 words that must involve yours truly (Big Angry Trev) and the Transformers.  What way, shape and form the story takes is up to you!  I wanna see those keyboards run wild and be dripping so much with your extruded creative juices that you’ll net to sit it out in the sun for 90 minutes to dry!

*Option B: A picture is worth a thousand words!  A picture either drawn or done via computer with me and the Transformers in some fashion (That does NOT give people a licence to draw a pic of me getting bent over an oil-can by an overexcited Dipstick by the way!  Arcee maybe, but not Dipstick).

 

The competition will run until the end of June.  Send entries via PM on Facebook, Ozformers or here.  At the end I will pick the best written entry and the best visual entry and mail those people their free Transformers: Top Trump packs!  The winners will also have their stories/pictures published here on the bigangrytrev website for all to enjoy!

 

Good luck everyone!  I look forward to seeing your entries! (and no, that’s not another Dipstick joke)

Album Review – ‘Transformers: Roll Out’

 

Many things can inspire someone to song, be it the rise of the sun over the plains, the look of affection in their lovers eye, the heartache of loss and regret.  However apparently giant alien robots can stir the muse within as well, and so we have ‘Transformers: Roll Out’

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This CD was touted as the Transformers inspired soundtrack.  This means it’s not from a Transformers cartoon or movie, but is meant to be a collection of songs by artists that have felt inspired by huge transforming mechanoids from beyond the stars.  The CD is made up of 10 tracks, all from relatively obscure bands and artists:

  1. “Roll Out” – Mount Holly
  2. “This House is on Fire” – Bush
  3. “Gigantik” – Crash Kings
  4. “Count to Ten” – MEW
  5. “Into the Fire” – Elle Rae
  6. “Exiled” – SPURS
  7. “Just a Spark” – Jameson Burt
  8. “Stronger” – Ours
  9. “Modern Man” – Darby™
  10. “Our Revolution” – Born Cages

 

Now some of these songs actually do have Transformer themed lyrics embedded within their songs. Examples are:

Roll Out – Mount Holly

“Let’s Roll Out, Rise Up…”

References to Optimus catch phrase before battle, and Megatrons battle cry from the Animated series

Exiled – Spurs

“We are the exiled ones – the lost daughters and sons of Cybertron.”

Reference to the myriad of Transformers genres where they had to abandon their home planet.

Just a Spark – Jameson Burt

“One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall”

Optimus catch phrase before he and Megatron have a big battle in the Animated and live action Movie.

 

So yes, there is some Transformer stuff in there for the robot aficionado.  However it doesn’t really save this CD from mediocrity.  A couple of songs aren’t bad, the first one on the CD by Mount Holly certainly being the best of the bunch.  But this is really a CD of filler songs, as in they are not the songs you hate, but ones you’d expect to be jammed between the big hits on other CD’s.  The ones you would listen to because you can’t be bothered pressing the ‘Next Track’ button on your cars sound system.

This CD cost me eighteen bucks from JB Hi-Fi.  So about $1.80 a song which isn’t bad but you could probably download them cheaper off iTunes or something.  There is nothing to hate about this CD, but very little to get excited about either.  Only recommended as a purchase if, like me, you are a Transformers fan that does a LOT of driving out of radio range and need all the tunes you can get to fill in those lonely country miles.

Collection Critique – Jordan’s Gigantic Stash!

Welcome to the first, of hopefully many, critiques of peoples collections.  And we have an absolute pearler to start with!  But before that, let us put ‘Collectors’ in general in perspective (the male ones anyway).

There are your first type of collector who embodies the most well-known stereotype.  Sad, pathetic little fraggers who both look and smell damp like little toads, still living in the room they grew up in or entombed in their parents basement.  The touch of a woman will remain forever an unearthly and purely imagined delight that will never be sampled and human companionship is relegated to whatever chatroom they frequent most to angrily discuss the merits of whatever sci-fi foolishness is gracing the big screen.

Then you get the second type of collectors.  The ones who are your average joe.  Could be your neighbor or the guy sitting in the next cubicle.  They have friends, go to work, even do ok with the girls.  They just happen to have a penchant for collecting a particular genre, be it baseball cards or model trains.  They make up the grist of society and I’m sure one is responsible for creating the colour beige.

Then you get your third type – the fabled ‘Alpha Collector’.  These  guys looks like they could bench-press you and probably snap your spine with a modicum of effort if the whim struck.  Not only are they socially well-adjusted but also usually the life of the party, with plenty of mates who want to hang with them and plenty of girls who want to sample what’s hanging from them.  And when they collect they don’t dick about – they collect big time!

This third type of collector is rare.  I’m proud to say I’ve tried to live my life as one, this article is about another.  Let’s meet Jordan!

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Like me, Jordan grew up on a farm so a few thousand acres was his playground.  Now, also like me, he is older with a nice 3-bedroom house, a lovely wife, beautiful kids and a steady job.  Main difference is he still looks like he could lift a pizza truck whereas age has made me look like I could eat the contents.  I met Jordan in the flesh for the first time a bit over a year ago and despite the 11 hours apart we live from each other I promised that one day I would come to see his collection.  On Tuesday I got that chance.

Entering Jordan’s lovely hilltop home overlooking a picturesque lake you could be forgiven for thinking this is not the home of a collector.  Everything is very neat and tidy, you can see a couple of Lego Pirate Ships on top of a cabinet and a Generations Metroplex in the dining room but with kids in the house this is to be expected.

Entering Jordan’s kitchen I start to get a sense of what lies beneath.  Spread everywhere are quite large containers and boxes filled with various Lego pieces – even to my untrained eye there seem to be a few thousand.

“I’m just sorting out a bunch of old boxes while I have the house to myself” Jordan explains.  It then becomes apparent as my eye takes everything in that there is Lego EVERYWHERE!  Many of the boxes have pre-made kits in them.   A couple are old enough that I remember them from my childhood but obviously there are ones spanning the last 20 years on show.  Jordan takes me through all assembled (and also disassembled) and I marvel at some of the more elaborately constructed vehicles.

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“Right!  Let me give you the tour” Jordan says.

Now, here is why Jordan’s looks so normal on the surface.  Because every nook, cranny, cupboard, draw and shelf is absolutely CHOCKERS with collectibles of all sorts!  By the end of my tour I was certain if I opened the fridge I would have found a scale-replica Tie-Fighter in the crisper and some Micro-Machines in the butter dish.   There are MISB playsets in the tops of his kids cupboards, MOSC TF Animated toys in the top of his WIR, video games in draws under the master bed, TF jigsaws in the laundry, Xbox games in the basement and the study is just a mancave dream full of toys, video games and a bitchin guitar and drum set!

None of my descriptions or photographs can really do his collection justice since it is so spread out in so many small (but highly significant) groupings all over the house. With pics you can never really get an idea of just how BIG this collection is, you would need a specially designed shed or underground cavity to do it justice by having it all together.   I will say to my mind the most impressive collections were those of his Lego, retro 80’s toys, video games and of course Transformers!  But there were plenty of other smaller ones on show such Masters of the Universe and TMNT.

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Some personal thrills of mine were to see toys and games I had myself owned as a kid and not seen in manys a decade.  Strider (the metal horse) and Fisto (guy with a big metal fist – think he does German porn now) from He-Man made up 90% of my collection from Eternia back then and sure as She-Ra Jordan had them!

You know when some guy says “Oh yeah, I got thousands of games man!” and you think “bullshit you do”?  Video Games tend to be a lot like sex, the more a dude brags he has the less he probably really does.  Well I’ve only heard Jordan mention his games in passing before, but this is a guy who could say and mean it literally that he does have thousands of games!  Everything from the current era of consoles to dating back before I was born!  Some of these systems I had never even heard of!  The Vectrex – who has ever heard of a friggin Vectrex?!  But one was there and it’s like the first Tron movie finally made sense!  I got a massive rush seeing that many classic games I had owned that Jordan still had such as the Mario games on the NES, Zombies ate my Neighbours on the SNES, Goldeneye 007 on the N64 – all brought back brought back font memories.  A MAJOR thrill of mine was to see that he had ASTERIX on the Atari 2600!  And in the freakin box!  I wasted many hours of my pre-teen years trying to clock this unclockable game!

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After taking me on this big tour Jordan unveiled what he knew I had come in particular to see – his TRANSFORMERS!

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First off was the Animated collection in his WIR.  Nearly every figure I could think of was there MIB or MOSC.  And he very kindly took down (after he saw me nearly lay a freakin egg in excitement!) his pristine Botcon Stuntcon set.  I gotta admit, I was drooling over this and thoughts of grabbing it and throwing myself out the nearest window to run into the night did cross my mind (only problems were we were two stories up and it was daytime – small but critical flaws in an otherwise brilliant plan).  But then it was time for Jordan to take me to the linen cupboard of splendor!

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Inside Jordan had about 100 to 150 G1 figures.  Certainly a respectable collection!  He even had Hosehead and Camshaft who I lack myself.  But even more impressive was the massive amount of miscellaneous TF merchandise from the 80’s era he had!  It was UN-F*CKING BELIEVABLE!  Everything from tents to gift-set, candles-to tooth-brush packs, records to books-on-tape!  I have a lot of misc TF merchandise myself but to compare mine to his would be like comparing a dandelion to an oak-tree – in other words there is no comparison!  Whilst I may have more, very little of it is from the G1 80’s era (most from the last decade) and 80’s gear is what Jordan had in spades – I felt both envious and aroused on so many levels I would have fainted, except a lack of consciousness would have meant I had to stop looking at all the cool shit on show!

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In the end, I only was able to spend 2 hours admiring Jordan’s collection before time dragged me away, but I could have spent days there.  As I left I realized I’d spent so much time drooling over all the great collectibles that I’d forgotten to do the interview part of the visit!  Jordan said “Don’t worry man, just send me any questions you have” so if people have questions please post them below and I’m sure he will get a chance to answer them at some point.

I’d like to thank him for opening his home to me and showing me all his wonderful stuff!  This man and his collection are both to be highly respected and honored.  Maybe if you are lucky one day he will give you a tour too!

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Toy Review – Masterpiece Shockwave

Ah Shockwave, the guy that many adults – who liked TF’s but weren’t nuts about it – could never remember the name of because it sounded too much like ‘Soundwave’.  To the true TF nut, he was a big purple fragger who psychologically was a mixture of Spock from Star Trek and Brute from Shakespeare – he will stab you in the back if he thinks it’s logical to do so.  Or since he turns into a giant space laser, he will just blow you up and whatever planet you happen to be standing on at the time.

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Series – Masterpiece
New/remould/redeco – new
Wave – MP-29
Approximate Retail Price – 16800 yen
Approximate Size – 25cm
Allegiance – Decepticon
Alt-mode – Laser Vulcan
Main Features/Gimmicks – Light up guns
Main Colours – Purple, grey/lilac
Main Accessories – Mini Shockwave, backpack/stand, opaque fist & salute hand, clear plastic fist, salute and gun hand

Giant Space Laser Gun Mode

Wow – it’s really long!  That took me somewhat by surprise but considering I have the G1 Shockwave toy and have seen every screen appearance Shockers ever made about a hundred times I should have expected it.  I think this figure is beating out my G1 Shockwave and G1 Sixshot for the biggest Transformer Gun in my collection (no I’m not counting movie ones that just went from vehicle to hollow blaster you put your hand in).

Length aside, he has girth too.  Very solid feeling though because of the relatively light plastic he is not all that heavy.  Also the barrel is that nice wide hexagon shape that seems peculiar to Shockwave’s weapon mode.  So between length, girth and width Shockwave feels very secure in himself in weapon mode and along with the lovely lilac colour it makes him a perfect Masterpiece present for the ladies.  His dimensions certainly makes a lot of the Targetmasters feel inadequate about themselves at any rate.

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Robot Mode

We have had quite a few nice Shockwave toys over the years, even those that were not brilliant in alt-mode tended to have some good looking robot modes.  This is a great looking Shockwave and much like MP Ratchet whom I opened the other day the most faithful representation of the G1 cartoon character we have had.  Everything is there from the see-thru chest, the laser barrel on the left arm, the power conduit going from that arm to his back, the ears/antenna, the cyclopean eye – everything is just right.  You would be hard pressed to find fault with him, especially with the myriad of different hand attachments he comes with, the light up features and even the mini-version of himself he used in one episode.  Add to all this the spot-on colour scheme, proportions and poseability and he is a winner!

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Transformation

One of the most straight forward Masterpieces I have tackled in a long time.  One could argue that he turns into a gun with arms as the barrel and legs as the grip so he should be straight forward but Megatron could be said to be similar and transforming that MP was a nightmare!  You can do this guy easily without the instructions.  Easy, but not annoyingly so, you will be getting your money’s worth.

Overall

Well we finally have the all the big time commanders from Season 1 & 2 – Shockwave, Soundwave, Starscream and Megatron in Masterpiece form so there is plenty of battle scenes awaiting you collectors to have fun with!  Given the relatively cheap materials Shockwave is made from I think that the price he goes for is a tad exorbitant but I have zero buyers regret.  You want a great version of that one-eyed, one-handed, logical-to-a-fault Military Operations Commander?  Well you got it!

Space Cop

Space Cop

Toy Review – Masterpiece Ratchet

Most of you young kids will be going “Hey!  Big Angry Trev!  That’s not Ratchet!  Ratchet is a green emergency response vehicle that got killed in TF4!  Who is this white dude that turns into a van?!”

 

Well shame!  Shame on you!  Fie I say!  THIS BE RATCHET!  This is the Ratchet of old, the Ratchet your fathers loved, the Ratchet who turned into an old fashioned Ambulance and fixed bots.  Ratchet, after being absent for a half dozen TF cartoon series, has been a mainstay of the main cast in previous years appearing in all four live action movies, the TF Animated & TFPrime cartoons and has a toy coming up in the latest TF RID(15) cartoon toyline.  However this toy is based on the G1 character, and if you are a fan of that then you are in for a treat!

 

Series – Masterpiece

New/remould/redeco – Remould of MP Ironhide

Wave – n/a (MP-30)

Released here – released in Japan April 2016

Approximate Retail Price – 80,000 yen

Approximate Size – 16cm

Allegiance – Autobot

Alt-mode – Nissan Cherry Vanette Ambulance

Main Features/Gimmicks – Weapons sled

Main Colours – White, Red

Main Accessories – Weapons Sled, various guns, tools, replacement face

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Vehicle Mode

Like Ironhide, this is such a blast from the past – some of us actually remember when this is what an Ambulance looked like!  The paintjob is crisp, if somewhat plain looking with a palette of whitebroken up with bits of red and of course the blue tinted windows.  There are extra stickers you can apply to break it up more but frankly I couldn’t wait to play with him so I’ll apply them later.

Robot Mode

A nice big stocky robot which is a good head above most of the MP Autobot Cars in height.  Once again you are looking at a lot of white here so the included stickers are your friend.  Usually stickers with MP’s irritate me, I feel all the paint details should be built it in but these feel very sticky and secure when applied.  A lot of little things you can change such as attaching different weapons, faces and he comes with some actual medical tools (which considering we are dealing with robots means wrenches much like the Animated Ratchet toy).  Whilst some may complain he still looks a tad plain, go rewatch some G1 – this is what he looked like on the cartoon and that is what the MP line strives for.

Transformation

The same as MP Ironhide but I dunno, he just seemed to go smoother somehow in a way I can’t attribute to previous experience.  Whether they have made the joints a tiny bit looser or they bevelled those edges a tiny but I don’t know but it seems to be a smoother transformation.  If you own Ironhide you don’t need the instructions for this – a very good level for an MP toy.

Overall

He looks like G1 Ratchet more than any toy (including the original) ever has so Takara have hit their mark.  He’s not a green emergency vehicle, he’s not an updated version, this is G1 Ratchet at his best!  You young kids go online and order this toy right now so you can learn what the proper Ratchet is all about – your elder has spoken!

 

Toys Review – Team Sky Reign

Team Sky Reign of the Combiner Wars is one of those groups that doesn’t quite make sense considering the characters in play.  Four ground vehicle Autobots from Season 2 of the cartoon, a giant space shuttle Autobot from season 3 as the body and then the Junkion Leader as some sort of proxy backpack. Pretty odd group to become a gestalt eh?  Personally I purchased these simply as I find it very hard to pass up a figure that is a G1 character homage – unlike the traditional combiner teams (Stunticons, Protectobots etc) these guys will be staying separate rather than in their gestalt form for the most part in my display.

 

Robot Modes

Hound – Scout

Quite a nice looking Hound. The mould suits him really well and is indicative of his other incarnations. Good colours and poseability. Nice head sculpt too and the facial expression suits Hound quite well – no chain-beards here!

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Smokescreen – Diversionary Tactician

Lovely colours, but one of the boxiest Smokescreens we’ve had in years. No particularly sleek lines and no doors coming off the shoulders. Legs and arms fairly poseable. Nice forehead fins in yellow, a bit too blue in the legs.

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Trailbreaker – Defensive Tactician

Actually – surprisingly good! For me the Generations version had the front of the vehicle facing too far forward instead of downward for him to be truly Trailbreaker’esque. The flat chest and stomach actually seem to suit the figure well. Another bonus is his rounded blaster hand – this is something I never noticed in any of the pics I saw online so was a very pleasant surprise and helps give him his own feel. A shame they put it on the right hand instead of the left as in the cartoon it was always the left but you can overlook it. Good poseability, great colours, excellent head sculpt.

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Wheeljack – Mechanical Engineer

Wanna know why Wheeljack is so small in the picture? Because every time I took a photo up close Wheeljack appeared as a flare because he is so white with nothing breaking it up! All the rumours you’ve heard about Wheelkjacks lack of paint apps are true. They’ve given him the windshield on the gut yet its white, his hands are white – everything is plain white! Worst looking Wheeljack we’ve had for years (if you don’t count the Tiny Titans one).

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Sky Lynx – Lieutenant Commander

A nice looking Sky Lynx indeed. While the poseability isn’t great nearly every part of him can be repositioned to some extent (wings, tail, legs, feet, neck, mouth) so you can give him different looks. Blasters can be attached to the wings or to elongate the tail.

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Wreck Gar – Junkion Leader

The beard should have been a bit less dark, as it is it looks like a big black smudge on the bottom of his face – a shame since there is actual definition between the mustache and the beard.  He is very lanky too but pretty good for such a small figure.  Could’ve used an axe.

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Vehicle Modes

Hound – Army Jeep

Like Swindle this is his weaker mode. It’s not a bad looking jeep overall but it doesn’t quite work on some levels. That said, it’s a more grown-up looking jeep than the Universe version and a more milatristic looking jeep than the Alternators version. Having the star on the hood and being able to put the silver gun at the back and off to one side make this toy look more Hound’esque. Once again like Swindle there are little details like saddlebags etc on the sides which are easy to overlook as they have received no paint apps.

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Smokescreen – Sports Car

Very nice indeed! Well proportioned, good paintjob, 38’s on the doors and hood – overall very Smokescreen’esque.

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Trailbreaker – SUV

A case where using the hand/foot attachment actually seems to serve some purpose. It acts like a removable cab over the ute tray to give him much more of a G1 feel. This is ruined if you look at him from behind with the thumb sticking out and all but from the front and sides it really works. They also got the stripes just right on the sides of the vehicle.

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Wheeljack – Race Car

Certainly his redeeming mode. Looks really good and is very faithful in shape, colour and concept to the Wheeljack character. Very nice indeed if still somewhat plain looking.

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Sky Lynx – Space Shuttle

Besides the undercarriage sticking out from under the back of the Space Shuttle good and it’s very faithful to the original Sky Lynx concept in terms of proportions, colour scheme and shape. Very nice. Blasters can once again be attached to the wings.

SklyLynx2

Wreck Gar – Motorcycle

A sleek, futuristic looking motorcycle.  Could have used a bit more gray instead of yellow and maybe the odd spike.  Not a bad reuse of the Groove mold however.

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Combined Mode – Sky Reign

I showed up once in the comics where I had different limb characters and worked for Galvatron. How humiliating!

Actually, you know what?  It’s not that bad looking a gestalt!  The Lynx head looks very cool indeed and differentiates him from the other gestalts in look.  Sky Lynx overall works really well as a torse, providing a great looking head, chest and limb connectors.  The fact his two blasters combine into one huge sword is very cool too.  The rest of the team are quite interchangeable as limbs, it doesn’t really seem to affect the look too much whom you put where.  Smokescreen in particular looks like his  colour scheme works well alongside that of Sky Lynx.  The limbs aren’t really super impressive, you’ve seen all these molds as limbs on the other combiners before.  But the overall effect of these guys combined is better than I thought it would be and Sky Reign can be posed in a myriad of ways.  Wreck-Gar really doesn’t work anywhere on him, not even as an odd looking backpack, I can understand why he was dropped from the official description of the gestalt at the last second.  It’s interesting that Sky Reign has finally shown up in popular fiction (the IDW comics Transformers #52 & #53) yet not only was Wreck-Gar left out but the limbs were completely different characters.

Overall it’s a fun group (Wheeljacks poor robot look notwithstanding) with a surprisingly fun combined mode.  It’s a shame that Wreck Gar doesn’t really connect properly since all the other gestalts are made up of six figures (even if they just become a weapon) but there are ways around it.  So Wave 6 of the Combiner Wars gets a big thumbs up from Big Transformer Trev.

 

Related Posts:

Classic Reviews of Beast Hunters and Combiner Wars Sky Lynx

Multiverse Gallery of Sky Lynx toys