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Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toy Review – Masterpiece Shockwave

May 2, 2016 Big Angry Trev Leave a comment

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.

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.

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!

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

Transformer Toy Reviews

Toy Review – Masterpiece Ratchet

April 27, 2016 Big Angry Trev 2 Comments

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

DSCF5334 DSCF5336 DSCF5337 DSCF5344

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!

Transformer Toy Reviews

Toys Review – Team Sky Reign

April 24, 2016 Big Angry Trev Leave a comment

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!

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Smokescreen – Sports Car

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Multiverse Gallery of Sky Lynx toys

Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toys Review – the Combiner Wars Combaticons!

April 18, 2016 Big Angry Trev Leave a comment

Combiner Wars has been a true joy for many of the geewuners out there and a personal favorite group of mine for decades have been the Combaticons. It just made so much sense for transforming robots who were fighting a civil war for millions of years to have military alt-modes. Whilst I have done individual thread reviews of each of the six Combiner Wars toys on other sites, I thought I would pop up a group review here for anyone who wants the skinny on the entire Combaticon set without having to look up each figure individually, including their combined mode – BRUTICUS!

Robot Modes

Swindle – Munitions Expert

I think perhaps the best official rendition of G1 Swindle we have ever seen! I love my Animated Swindle but for a more G1 look this wins. Really well proportioned, decent articulation, good colour scheme etc. Has a good weapon, though it would be nice if he also had an arm cannon more like G1 Swindle/Animated Swindle rather than a grey shoulder mounted one.

Vortex – Interrogator

An ok version of Vortex. The colours are good and they have done the head very well. They have moved the majority of the yellow from his chest to his missiles which is only so so. The missiles built into the wrists rather than the big gatling guns hanging off the ends works better than the G1 toy. A shame about the helicopter tail sticking up over his back, reminds you that this is an Alpha Bravo remould.

Brawl – Warrior

A nice rendition of Brawl. You can either hook his cannon onto his back for a G1 look or put it in his hand as a blaster. I prefer the former and him using his double-cannon as a hand weapon. Good colours, decent proportions, but very loose arms that easily come off.

Blast Off – Space Warrior

Oh geez – they didn’t even give him a new face! The body looks ok’ish but he looks like an Aerialbot dressed up as a Combaticon for a Halloween party! Good thing the UW version is shaping up to be more accurate.

Onslaught – Combaticon Commander

We’ve had a few Onslaughts over the last decade and this one definetly looks the most like the original G1 version. Good poseability and articulation. The head sculpt is spot on and I like the fact the guns can go in the hands or on his back to recreate his classic look. A shame he didn’t get a 3rd rifle as well. I like the detail in the chest, though I’m not a fan of the purple on his legs.

Shockwave – Military Operations Commander

The ends of the arms look a little funny but overall a pretty good reperesentation of Shockwave. The colour scheme doesn’t quite mesh for me, with the neon pink spreading from the blaster to other parts of him and the grey a bit lighter than usual. But the one-handed, one-eyed, pointy-eared Shockers we know and fear is very recognizable.

Vehicle Modes

Swindle – Army Jeep

Yeah, it’s a pretty tough looking military jeep, Looks like he could be driving through a warzone in the desert blasting away. Only downside is the inside of the jeep where the passengers would sit is full of Swindles arms. I guess they had to go somewhere but even Cybertron Swindle managed to avoid this. There are lots of little details like saddle-packs on the sides, though they lack the paint details that could make them stand out.

Vortex – Attack Helicopter

A nice helicopter but a bit more elongated than I would like, the original Vortex looked far more like an attack chopper. You can attach his rifle to the side, would have been good if you could attach it to the front. Overall good, but again it shows it’s an Alpha Bravo repaint.

Brawl – Tank

A nice looking tank! Very solid and I like the way his double cannon hooks on the back. Really good colours and looks excellent overall.

Blast Off – Fighter Jet

He’s a fighter jet now. A stinkin plane. Maybe it makes more sense given the rest of the Combaticons alt-modes (it did always seem odd to have four military vehicles and a space shuttle) but Blast Off was always distinctive as being one of two Con space shuttles from season 2, not yet another jet that there were already plenty of. Dissapointing. The UW version will be remedying this and turning him back into a Space Shuttle (out in June if memory serves). You can put his big rifle under the wing to approximate what the G1 toy did but you really need a second one for the look. The only positive is that they did the colour very well.

Onslaught – Anti-Aircraft Truck

Looks pretty cool, though I’ve never seen this dual-cab thing in real life that a lot of TF’s are popping up with nowdays. The guns in the middle work well for the look but it would be better if they could be maneuvered more. The colours are ok though I did like the camo black spots on the original Onslaughts truck mode. Pretty cool overall, though wont win any beauty pagents. You can plug Shockwave in at the top for some extra firepower which adds extra play value to both toys alt-modes (you can plug Shockwave into Onslaughts back in robot mode but it aint a good look).

Shockwave – Cybertronian Laser Gun

Very similar in appearance in some ways to his FOC counterpart, however he has a trigger you can flip down to change him from a flying gigantic purple space gun into a regular gigantic purple space gun. Can plug into Onslaught or be used by Bruticus.

Combined Form – Bruticus

Looks great! Very faithful to the original figure, though with the elongated arms which seem to permeate the CW Gestalts. The colour scheme is spot on which is always a worry when you combine 5 or 6 different figures into one big one. All figures combine together very sturdily and unless he falls over or you drop him they should not seperate during (restrained) play. The hands and feet aren’t brilliant but certainly do the job so unless it’s something that really irks you you don’t need to go out and buy a 3rd party upgrade such as Menasor desperately needed. It’s a shame that Shockwave weighs down his arm so much, there is really no way to pose him properly with his gun in the air. But a very sturdy figure that looks like he could easily stomp some Bots!

So overall this group is pretty damn cool! They work well as a group in both modes (I must get around to taking some pictures of that) although Shockwave looks way out of proportion to the others as robots. If one can get one’s head around the idea that Shockwave is now a Combaticon (it was far easier to accept Powerglide becoming an Aerialbot) its a nice looking 6 in alt-mode at least. The Unite Warriors version will be out in a couple of months with different paint schemes and a whole new Space Shuttle mode for Vortex (no Shockwave though) so if you missed out on these guys there are more on the way!

For more detailed, individual reviews of these six figures, you can find my reviews in the Ratbat Reviews section 0f Ozformers here: http://www.otca.com.au/boards/forumdisplay.php?f=9

Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toy Review – Gigantic Action Scorponok

April 17, 2016 Big Angry Trev Leave a comment

People say to me “Trev”. And I say “Yes? What?” And they say “Why for the first review of a Transformer on your fantastic new Website that looks like it will eclipse Google within the week, would you choose to review a Transformer that doesn’t transform?”

Scorp1

Well, the answer to this is quite simple, we are now in the age of Titans! We have the giant Fortress Maximus from 1987 with a new one due this very year. In 2017 we are due to get a Titans-sized Trypticon. So to round out the gigantic foursome from the old G1 cartoon we need to look to a 3rd party product, albiet one that is actually sanctioned by Hasbro and Takara, and that is ‘Gigantic Action Scorponok’!

STATS

Size/class – Gigantic!
New/remould/redeco – New
Released here – No
Approximate Price – AU $500+
Approximate Size – 22 inches
Allegiance – Decepticon
Alt-mode – N/A
Main Features/Gimmicks – Um… he’s massive?
Main Colours – Green, Purple
Main Accessory/s – Shield, Gun, Shoulder Cannons, Face Visor

Scorp 2

Positives

He is freakin HUGE, roughly the size of Fort Max and Generations Metroplex, though his weight is somewhere between the two. Despite having no alt-modes with of course is the primary flaw with this figure, his robot mode is a fantastic representation of how he looked in Season 4 of the G1 cartoon. If you wanna recreate the fight between Fort Max and Scorponok from the final ever episode of the the (US) G1 cartoon, then this is the guy you need!

Negatives

Just a few minor annoyances: the nubs on the end of his shoulder cannons are a bit too big for the holes so often pop back out. The nub on the gun is WAY too big for the hole in his claw and even with as much pressure as you dare exert you can’t get it in there so you have to kinda just balance it loosely in his grip. His articulation is not too bad but he suffers from the elbows only going inwards and not up at all.

Overall
He’s a big bad bugger of a Con and I’m happy to have him. Even happier I got him when HLJ had him at half price in their pre-Xmas sale and the Yen was weak – those factors combined meant I got him for a 3rd the price that BBTS was selling him for (I paid under AU$200 before shipping). I know of others that got him even cheaper! Now, a couple of years after his release, you will either find him much more expensive than the original price on places like eBay, or extremely cheap from online stores who never managed to get rid of all their stock, so do some shopping around. This figure will serve you well until that hoped-for day when we get a Titan-sized transforming Scorponok, but I wouldn’t lay money on that happening for several years at least yet.

Scorp Group

For a review with extra pictures, you can view my review of this figure on Ozformers here: http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=20030&highlight=Scorponok

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