Category Archives: Transformer Toy Reviews

When you need to know about the latest Transformer figures hitting the shelves, this is the place for you!

Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toys Review – Legacy Motormaster & Drag Strip

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It seems like only yesterday fans were swooning over finally getting an updated set of Stunticons in the Combiner Wars and Unite Warriors toy lines.  Fan favorites, the Stunticons were the second ever combiner group to be introduced in the G1 Transformers cartoon and their rebellious attitude and sweet alt-modes gave the Autobots a run for their money on the roads.  This has lead to them appearing in multiple toylines, from KRE-O to Bot Shots to even Robots in Disguise.

Toys Review – the Combiner Force Stunticons

Well the Stunticons are back again – well – two of them anyway, with more along later in the year.  Drag Strip was released several months ago and Motormaster – the latest Commander Class figure – has just hit stores here in Australia.  So without further ado, lets have a look at Legacy Motormaster & Drag Strip!

 

Drag Strip

Robot Mode

‘Yes I have a name like a bloke in a dress taking his clothes off – wanna make something of it?’

There is a lot of yellow going on here, like a lot.  The faux-engine in his chest and the guns and head break it up a bit, but this here fella is yella through and through I tell ya what!  But he still a nice looking figure with good proportions, a very cartoon-accurate countenance and no big ugly combiner peg in his chest.  Overall an improvement on what has come before.  His articulation is quite good, with ankle-tilts and a decent range of motion in all his limbs.

‘Draw pardner!’

His two pistols can be combined into one double-barreled gun and can also be stored on the backs of his thighs.

Vehicle Mode

NOW the name makes sense

A really beautiful and faithful rendition of the original toy, Drag Strip finally turning into a 6-wheeled racer again rather than a Mirage wannabe.  There is very little to fault here and kudos to the designers for making him look sweet as!

The pistols can be added to his vehicle form, giving it a battle mode.  Gotta say it is an improvement on the giant cannon that plugged into the back of the G1 toy.  Overall this is a really nice figure with an intuitive Transformation and perhaps the nicest official Drag Strip figure we have ever had.

Toys Review – the Combiner Wars Combaticons!

Motormaster

Robot Mode

Flares are back in fashion

The original Motormaster toy was quite different from his cartoon depiction.  The toy had its body made from the trailer so was therefore grey, whilst the entire cab made up Motomaster’s feet.  This made the toy a bit comical, although very easy to stand up admittedly, with his feet being the size of Prime’s alt-mode on their own!  The cartoon kinda skirted around this by making Motormaster predominantly black, as if he was made up from just the cab like Prime was.  This Motormaster comes with a trailer but the robot is made up solely of the cab, though they gave him little fake-cab feet, which are actually pretty cute, if quite odd.  The lower legs are disproportionately big compared to the rest of him, but that beautiful face-sculpt more than makes up for it.

Overlord eat your heart out

Motormaster has good range of arm motion, but very little swivel in the neck and the legs are too bulky to do much with.  Still very good overall however and more cartoon reminicent than the larger Unite Warriors version.

Vehicle Mode

The King of the Road is back baby!

Now this is what I’ve been waiting for – Motormaster with a trailer!  Just like I’ve often felt many Optimus Prime toys have been lacking when they come sans trailer, I was disappointed we got no trailer for any of the Motormaster toys subsequent to the original one.  Though it’s not as long as I would have liked, it is an extremely welcome addition and really makes the toy for me.  Motormaster doesn’t appear nearly as big as the other Commander-class figures in their alt-modes, but that is due to just how jam-packed with parts the trailer is.  This mode is what made me want to go buy the figure, and it has (except for the quibble of length) not disappointed.  Plus unlike the original toy the cab can detach too!

‘Suck a fat one Optimus and Ultra Magnus – I can do this now too!’

Base Mode

The original Motormaster toy had a sorta base mode, complete with a ramp for his little roller-drone to drive down.  This base mode is by far an improvement on the original, with the entire trailer partsforming into a big gun emplacement.  This helps make up for Motormaster’s lack of a rifle.  It actually looks pretty sweet in person, and while not as cool as Sky-Lynx‘s shuttle launch bay, looks a lot cooler than Rodimus Prime‘s gun trailer.  Given everything the trailer has to do to become both a gun-emplacement and parts for Menasor, the partsforming is forgivable in my opinion.  The one silly thing is that Motormaster has to put down the sight in order to actually use the gun.

Between robot mode, truck mode and base mode this is easily the best Motormaster figure we have ever had, and we haven’t even got to the gestalt gimmick yet!

Toy Review: Kingdom Rodimus Prime

Menasor

(thus far)

It’s a bit hard to do a review of Menasor at this stage since only two of his five components have been released, but I’ll give it a shot.

Drag Strip Component

Ouch!

While they fully made up the limbs of the original G1 toy, in the cartoon the four smaller Stunticons seemed to simply plug onto pre-existing limbs to give them more bulk, and that is apparently the route they are going with this rendition of the Stunticons.  Whilst I appreciate toon-accuracy, I’m not a big fan of this, and poor old Drag Strip has to literally split in half in order for Menasor to use his right elbow.  It might be screen-accurate, but personally it’s not my cup of tea.

Motormaster Component

Motormaster himself converts into the upper torso of Menasor, whilst his trailer becomes the chest, hands, feet and, er…., exoskeleton of the rest.  Once again partsforming is in play.  It’s actually quite cleverly done and this mode, like all the others of Motormaster, consists of lots of tab-slotting which gives a lot of structure stability to the figure.  I appreciate how the effect overall differentiates this Menasor from his CW/UW counterpart, who because of the design looked similar to many of his toyline gestalt peers.  I will reserve judgement on his good this Menasor is until I get the remaining three Stunticons.  The gun turret from the base mode stays separate to Menasor and is useable by him, though it does look a bit odd, with it being so big compared to Motormaster, and so small compared to the combined form.

Toy Review – Unite Warriors Computron VS Combiner Wars Computron

 

Overall – worth getting?

Buy us, you know you want to

Both Motormaster and Drag Strip are a significant improvement on their predecessors.  Both have smaller robot modes but this is far outweighed by both their visual appearances and the intricacy of their toys.  Both have good transformations, and despite the multiple configurations inherent in Motormaster there is never a point where one feels frustrated by the process and all the tabs lock tight and sweet! There is one issue however:

photodegradation

There have been many, many reports of yellowed parts on this first batch of Motormaster.  I lucked out that there was only one small panel suffering from it on mine, but there have been reports of much worse from many Aussie TF fans.  If you purchase a Motormaster and find many such panels, I suggest you try to swap for another.

As previously stated, I am reserving judgement on their Menasor mode before I fully review that mode.  Right now my plan for my Transformatorium is to have, regarding my Stunticons, my Combiner Wars in their combined mode, my Unite Warriors in their robot modes and the Legacy toys in the vehicle modes.  Then I have the best of all 3 worlds!

So yeah, Legacy Motormaster and Drag Strip – go pick them up!  Just watch for the yellowing, only that dang varmint Stripper should be yeller on his belly.

Got something to say about these figures?  Pop it in the comments section below!

Toy Review – Earthrise Sky Lynx

Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toy Review – Masterpiece Skids

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Oh Skids you poor dear you – always overlooked.  Skids remains to this day perhaps the least well known and recognisable of the Autobots from the 84/85 G1 cartoon.  With very brief and unmemorable appearances in only 2 episodes, even the likes of Grapple and Huffer have proven more popular and its only hardcore G1 & Comic enthusiasts who really know who Skids is.  Skids appeared in the Movieverse as well but, besides a similar alt-mode, had nothing in common with his G1 counterpart and is a distorted version of the character everyone would like to forget.

However Skids has managed to do something that Hoist, Trailbreaker and even Jazz have not – he’s got himself a Masterpiece toy!  So let’s have a squiz at the new MP Skids.

Toy Review – Masterpiece Grapple

Vehicle mode

Skids turns into a fairly realistic rendition of a 1980’s Honda City Turbo hatchback. Whilst not a sexy sportscar, it’s a pretty nice looking vehicle form.  What I particularly like is the sloping roof and front grill.

Different parts of Skids open up as well, much like an Alternators figure.  The side doors open, the bonnet opens to reveal an engine inside and the hatchback opens to reveal storage space.  This storage space will contain a little scooter in the retools of Skids such as Crosscut, and it is a shame Skids did not come with one himself.

Toy Review – Masterpiece Inferno

Robot Mode

Because Skids appeared so little and so infrequently in the cartoon, the designers were not forced to incorporate all the different gimmicks shown on screen, like with so many other Masterpiece figures.  So Skids is very basic in that he comes with no interchangeable faces, no special gimmicks and only his two guns like the original toy had.

That said it’s a very nice looking figure with articulation in the neck, shoulders, elbows, knees and ankles, making him very easy to pose.

Toy Review – Masterpiece Thrust

Transformation

Much more basic than a lot of other Masterpiece figures, but not irritatingly simple either.  In fact I find it a nice change of pace for a MP to have a straightforward transformation with a few clever moves (such as his ankles and shoulders) rather than something overcomplicated which is going to require you give up a portion of your day to complete.

Toy Review – MP-11ND Dirge

Overall

Skids is perhaps the most basic Masterpiece we’ve had in a long time, harkening back to the days of MP Sideswipe.  He is pretty no-frills with no interchangeable faceplates, special gimmicks, intricate engineering or vast assortment of accessories. However what he is also lacking is the exorbitant price tag that most MP’s go for as well.

I*’m the cheap one

At around $100au he’s eminently more affordable than most of his counterparts.  Add to that a fun and straightforward transformation and Skids becomes a breath of fresh air in a line that is replete with expensive and often overly complicated figures.  Skids is well worth his reasonable price tag and a welcome addition to the MP Autobot Cars line-up.

Got something to say about this figure?  Pop it in the comments section below!

Toy Review – Masterpiece Shockwave

Toy Review – Masterpiece Ratchet

Transformer Fan Interview – Dallas

Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toys Review – Cyberverse Dinobots

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Just when everyone thought that Cyberverse was over, it’s managed to get in one last gasp of life.  Dinobots Unite has just aired on Youtube – a  special where Grimlock finally gets all of his Dino-buddies together – both on screen and in their combined mode – Volcanicus.

As such it means new toys to go with the associated media, and who doesn’t love getting more Dinobots eh?  So I was very keen to pick up Swoop (with Bumblebee),  Warrior-Class Snarl and Ultra-Class Sludge.

 

Snarl

Robot Mode

Me Snarl miss Tyrannitron

Without the large majestic split tail adorning his shoulders, which made the G1 Snarl my favourite Dinobot to have in robot mode, he very much resembles his G1 Action Master counterpart.  Whilst this takes away from some of the majesty of his appearance, he still looks pretty good for a Warrior-class figure with decent proportions and a G1-inspired colour scheme.  His head looks great and I’m a real fan of the spikes on his chest and legs.  He has decent articulation with movement in the knees, hips, elbows and shoulders.

Like all Warrior-Class figures, Snarl comes with an attack gimmick – in this case a Power Slash.  This is achieved by taking the detached… er…. Stegosaurus arse and putting it on a peg on Snarls back.  By manipulation of this peg it can make Snarl’s sword arm swing.

Cybertronian Stegosaurus Mode

Looks really good with the yellow backplates and head, making him look more like the G1 cartoon than the G1 toy.  Personally I would have liked to see less yellow on his flank but it is forgivable.    He has limited movement in his legs and sadly none in his neck, tail and jaw.

A downside to Snarl is that the designers have taken a big shortcut by making the tail and arse of his dinosaur mode detachable where it serves little purpose other than peg manipulation for the robot’s gimmick, so there is no real sense of accomplishment when you convert him to dinosaur mode.  However as an interesting side note, the dinosaurs head comes together in a way which is reminiscent of the Age of Extinction Snarl toy.

 

Sludge

Robot Mode

Very faithful to his G1 counterparts design as Cyberverse is want to do.  His large shoulder fins are now at waist height but swing out of the way to prevent major irritation.  Like Snarl I am a fan of the new spikes they have attached to the upper body and it is overall a well proportioned figure.  He has decent but limited articulation.

For Sludge’s battle mode his detached tail can become a spear for him to wield and he can deploy Energon Armour which takes the form of translucent blue armour that flips out of his back to cover his head and torso.  An interesting choice to make the helmet armour an analogue of his Brontosaurus head which my son thought was very cool.

Cybertronian Brontosaurus Mode

I think making Sludge Ultra-class was a very good call in this case, as in comics Sludge is often portrayed much bigger than the other Dinobots when transformed, and by giving him a bigger class size this works well with the likes of Cyberverse Grimlock and Snarl for scale.  Like Snarl he has limited movement in his legs but at least comes with a jaw that can open and close.  Whereas Snarl has a bit more colour in dinosaur mode than I’d care for, I think Sludge could have stood to have a bit more colour to break up the panels of grey.  Overall however a very sweet looking dinosaur, made that bit more bad-ass by having big spikes coming out of the tops of his legs.

 

Swoop

Robot Mode

Very nicely coloured and proportioned, Swoop resembles his(her) G1 cartoon incarnation rather than the toy.  The tail of the Pteradon mode becomes a weapon.  Swoops arms wont bend forward which is a major disappointment and a detraction from the figure, making decent posing all but impossible.

Pteradon Mode

The Pteradon mode comes with a big black spot on its head for some reason which you take to be a cockpit until you see the eyes on the side of the head.  It’s not a bad looking figure with a decent wingspan but has no articulation to speak of.

Bumblebee & Bumbleswoop

Swoop and Bumblebee can combine together to become Bumbleswoop, in much the same way some figures did in the RID(15) toyline.  It looks OK and actually has better articulation that its separated characters (Bumblee is actually even worse than Swoop is!), though for me personally its not my kind of combiner at all.

 

Transformations

Snarl & Sludge: Given these toys are A: from Cyberverse and B: Warrior and Ultra classes, their transformations are exceedingly simple so easy for young kids to get the hang of and my son did both without any instructions.  Like said previously, the detachable backside of Snarl is somewhat of a disappointment.  Also both toys are stand alone, so neither are designed to combine into Volcanicus.

Swoop: Arrgh!  Swoop transforms via a spring to his Bumbleswoop mode and then you need to reverse it to lock it in place for him to be in his normal modes.  Guess what – after only two transformations the the arm clips came out on mine so he was permanently in Bumbeswoop mode!  I was not impressed.

Wing and arm clips

Thankfully fellow Transformer Fan Michael Vella was able to figure out what you have to do.  There are two clips on each arm, one at the shoulder and one at the bicep.  All you have to do is reattach the clips at the bicep and he is good to go again.  However it’s pretty crap this is happening on so many of this figure.  This earns Swoop  Big Angry Trev’s trophy for shittest toy of the year!  Haven’t seen one this bad since Rescuebots Quickshadow. 

 

Worth Getting?

Whilst neither Sludge not Snarl’s figures fall into the ‘cheap’ category, they aren’t overly expensive either and I felt I got my money’s worth for both my purchases.  Like most Cyberverse characters and toys they are very heavily influenced by Generation 1 and both manage to adhere to this style extremely well.  Recommended for younger fans, Cyberverse fans and, like me, Dinobot fans everywhere.  Bumbleswoop – overpriced and the arms unclip too easily, I say avoid this pile of crap at all costs!

Got something to say about these two figures?  Pop it in the comments section below!

 

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Toys Review – Cyberverse: Grimlock & Shockwave

Toys Review: POTP Dinobots – Wave 1

Toy Review – Titan Changer Grimlock

 

Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toy Review – Nemesis Grimlock

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Don’t ya love it when you come across an incredibly cool action figure that you didn’t even know existed?

It’s such a good feeling for the avid collector, but an increasingly rare one.  No longer do we only find out what Transformers are being released by perusing our local toy stores to see what’s on the shelf.  No sir, we do most of our shopping online and are well aware what toys are in the works, usually a good year before they actually get released.

Well, a really cool figure got past me years ago that I didn’t even know existed until a few weeks ago when I was on a Japanese site, looking for a Wipe-Out to go with my TR Trypticon, and came across this gem by accident.

So let’s take a look – from the Movie Advanced line – at the dark, the dangerous, the friggin awesome – Nemesis Grimlock!

 

First off – why haven’t you heard of Nemesis Grimlock?

I asked around a lot of my TF buddies and, like me, they had never heard of this toy.  And it’s easy to see why.  This redeco of the AOE Voyager Class Grimlock toy was an exclusive figure you could only obtain by attending a Transformers Expo that ran for 8 days in Yokohama, Japan back in 2014.  Thus if you don’t hail from Japan, this spot of news was easy to miss.

 

Robot Mode

Like all the other Nemesis characters (Prime, Hot Rod, Primal etc) Nemesis Grimlock has his colour scheme made up of blacks, purples and light blues.  And damn does it work!  So much cooler than the awful baby-poo brown and death-grey colour scheme of the original toy.  For the first time I find myself really liking a Movieverse Grimlock in his robot mode.

Fricken bitchin!

He has decent articulation and is able to be posed fairly well.  He scales quite well with other Nemesis characters and his weapon looks like it could deal a lot of damage.  Overall fantastic!

 

Robo-Dinosaur Mode

To be honest I don’t think they’ve made a good looking Movieverse Grimlock toy outside of the Studio Series one.  Every other one has got weird colour schemes and weirder features.  Proportions wise Nemesis Grimlock has the same flaws as his regular AOE counterpart.  But given that this is meant to be an evil version of Grimlock, the weird huge face and teeth with the psychotic eyes work for once – you could imagine that this is the criminally insane version of Grimlock that arose from the bowels of Unicron himself.

The hellishly insane version of Big Grim!

The club can be attached to the tail to make… err…. an extremely long tail, but is best left detached.  Nemesis Grimlock comes with a jaw chomping gimmick, some articulation and scales OK with Nemesis Primal, if not the other Nemesis robots.

 

Transformation

Not particularly hard or fiddly – you’ll pick it up fairly quick.

 

Worth Getting?

A Nemesis Grimlock figure?  Hells yes it is!  I don’t care that it hails from the Movieverse continuity rather than the Generations line, it’s still a cool concept.  Surprisingly this figure isn’t that hard to find online, probably because no one is actively searching for it, and isn’t ruinously expensive so if you fancy him you shouldn’t have too many headaches tracking one down.

 

Got something to say about this figure?  Pop it in the comments section below!

 

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Toys Review: POTP Dinobots – Wave 1

Toy Review – Titan Changer Grimlock

Toys Review – Cyberverse: Grimlock & Shockwave

Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toy Review: Kingdom Tracks

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I’ve always thought Tracks was a very underrated character.  Despite getting a couple of spotlight episodes in season 2 of the Generation One cartoon, he’s never really done a lot otherwise.  Has never been a stand-out in any of the comics and, with the exception of a cameo in Animated, has never cropped up in any other Transformer universes.  Very odd considering how interesting he is; a vain, posh speaking narcissist yet still a warrior who took has taken on the likes of Megatron and Starscream.  Add to that he had a very sexy alt-mode that could also become a flying car!  His toy was my absolute favorite out of the 84/85 cars and I still love it to this day.

Tracks being underrated has been reflected in the amount of figures he has gotten over the years – maybe because it’s hard to get more uses out of a figure that has a flying-automobile mode.  We haven’t had a Generations version since Reveal the Shield many, many years ago so he was well overdue.

Well Tracks has finally gotten another figure, in the Kingdom toyline, so let’s look at Deluxe Tracks.

 

Robot Mode

‘Indeed I am still most slim and pristine’

Probably the most show accurate Tracks figure we have had outside of the Masterpiece version.  He looks good with his signature red face & white helmet, backpack guns and slim form.  He certainly looks an improvement over the RTS version, though comparing the two you can see how much Hasbro has shrunken the Deluxe Class over the last decade.  He has decent articulation and overall is a good representation of the character.

 

Vehicle Mode

Very nice looking, though getting everything to stay tabbed together can be very irritating.  I would have liked to see some yellow in his hood flame rather than simply red like the cartoon.  He lacks that certain sexiness that the G1 and Masterpiece toys have and the flashiness of the RTS toy.  His weapons can be mounted on the back or the sides of the vehicle.

 

Flying Car Mode

Here is where the toy stands out – looks really good!  The little tailfins that pop up are a nice addition, though it would have been good to have them and the guns slightly different shades of white so they don’t blend together so much.  Cerainly better than the awful RTS version and even the MP version to my mind, coming in 2nd only to the original G1 toy itself.

 

Transformation

What a friggin pain in the arse this is!  There have been QC issues reported with his legs and it is very evident here.  Whilst you can transform him without making the necessary fixes, its very annoying to do and takes all the fun out of the conversion process.

 

Worth Getting?

This is a good rendition of Tracks, but it is not a stand out.  As yet, for me at any rate, they have not made a Tracks toy that is able to pull off all 3 modes as well as the original.  Whilst some of his modes are better than others, the whole toy is pulled down by the fiddly and annoying transformation sequence.  Recommended only if you are not happy with your current Tracks figures.

 

Related Articles:

Video: Kingdom Galvatron Review

Toy Review: Kingdom Rodimus Prime

 

Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toy Review: Autobot Ark & Teletraan 1

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As the years progress, we are getting more and more obscure characters from Generation 1 turn up in the Transformers Generations toyline. Characters such as Greenlight and Lifeline who were non-speaking background femmebot characters from single episodes, Zetar & Chromar who were mail-away figures from 1984 that never showed up in any media, and even characters like Scrounge who appeared in a single comic 30 years previously only to die.

Well today we are looking at character/s, who while certainly not obscure, has never really been characters.  And they’ve gotten their first transforming toy in a big way!  So let’s look at, from the Kingdom line, the Titan-Class Autobot Ark with Teletraan-1.

 

The Ark

Ship Mode

Perhaps the most recognisable ship in all of Transformers lore, The Ark has been in everything from multiple different comics to multiple different cartoon series to video games.  It’s the legendary ship that first transported the Autobots from Cybertron to Earth.  And it’s been lovingly recreated here.  It’s very big and bulky as befits a ship that is meant to be able to carry 300 Autobots across the galaxy.  The details on it are beautiful, if somewhat plain due to the overriding orange colour scheme.

Time for take off!

The Ark comes with different play features such as an opening loading ramp and fold down landing gear.  You are able to open up the front to put the tiny Optimus Prime that comes with the figure onto the bridge, which you can then see by looking through the front window.

It is covered in gun ports but sadly none of these are able to rotate.  Also disappointing is the lack of paint apps on the ship.  It certainly would have helped to break up the orange to have the windows in the observation tower at the back painted blue and for there to be more colour on the internal bridge.  However these minor detractions aside, this is truly the ship we all know and love.

Robot Mode

I must admit I would have much preferred the Ark to be able to open up and become an interactive play set, much like the DOTM Ark, than turn into a robot.  Don’t get me wrong, the robot/transformation gimmick is cool, and it has been explained in the Kingdom Cartoon, but it still seems odd.  However this is a very nice looking Titan-class toy with good articulation, though no individually articulated fingers and the ratchet joints in the shoulders and arms really grind.

Some detractors from the robot mode are the once-again plain orange and grey colour scheme and the fact the gun ports can’t rotate.  Since there are some located on each forearm it would have been great to be able to rotate them so as to blast his enemies instead of his own elbow joint.  He scales very nicely with Titan-Class Omega Supreme, and one could imagine in fiction that in size they would be on par with each other.

‘Us giant Spaceship bots got ta stick together!’

 

Teletraan-1

Computer Mode

Teletraan-1 – the famous computer of The Ark, who was consulted episode after episode in the first two seasons of the G1 cartoon.  Like The Ark, Teletraan has shown up in various media over the years but as a computer rather than a character.

The figure starts off life as the bridge of The Ark (with a BIG cube of kibble underneath) but can be removed in both modes.

Transformation to the Teletraan-1 computer is basically folding out of panels to make a hollow display, but it looks the business and is infinitely cool.  Makes for a lot of play value with your Deluxe-class Autobot figures.

Perceptor goes to look up Femmebot pics, totally unaware that Teletraan is now Mainframe in disguise

It also comes with some very well-known accessories, such as Sky Spy which was the probe used by The Ark and controlled by Teletraan back in the G1 cartoon, and the Golden Disks that make up a hefty portion of the plot in the Beast Wars and Kingdom cartoons.

Yeeesssss

 Mainframe

This…. is an interesting choice.  The original Mainframe was a non-transforming G1 Action Master character whose bio described him as ‘a walking talking computer terminal’ rather than a regular Transformer.  So making him the robot mode of Teletraan-1 is a kinda cool concept.  However the two have always been distinct entities to each other so making them one and the same doesn’t really seem to sit right canonically.  Still, it’s a nice enough robot mode, though like The Ark itself suffers from being one big blob of orange when it comes to the colour scheme, and he comes with no weapon.

I bulked up

 

Worth Getting?

For the spaceship mode of The Ark and the computer mode of Teletraan-1 one I’d have to say yes.  These are by far the best representations of these iconic mainstays of the franchise we have ever had.  The robot modes add some play value too and of course make the Transformer toys actually transform.  However the uninspiring colour scheme and the lack of rotating turrets prevent this figure from being a must have.  Personally, I’d recommend grabbing as long as you can find it as a reasonable price and have room on your shelf.

Got something to say about this Titan-Class toy?  Pop it in the comments section below!

 

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Toy Review: Titan Class Omega Supreme

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Toy Review: Gigantic Action Scorponok

 

 

 

 

Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews, Videos

Video: Kingdom Galvatron Review

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Well kiddies, I know I usually do written reviews of Transformers, replete with fascinating details and lots of pics, but today is something different.  Today I, along with my good buddy Brendan, have created a video review.  And it’s of none other than that Unicron lackey, the big bad himself – Galvatron!

So sit back and enjoy this special video review of Transformers Kingdom Leader Class Galvatron – you wont be disappointed 😉

 

 

Got anything to say about this figure?  Pop it in the comments section below!

 

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Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toy Review: Kingdom Rodimus Prime

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Two years ago the Transformers line saw the introduction of the Commander Class – a toy scale a size up from the Leader Class.  In 2019 we got a fantastic Jetfire, followed last year by an equally great Sky Lynx.

This year with the release of Unicron, we are seeing a slew of figures based around the 1986 Transformers animated movie.  One of these was Hot Rod in the Studio Series line.  Now we get to see him all grown up as the Commander Class Kingdom Rodimus Prime.

 

Robot Mode

Extremely nice, and much better proportioned than the POTP Rodimus we got several years ago.  He looks extremely character accurate, both in proportions and colour scheme and even has the trademark grimace he usually wore since he was always stressing he wasn’t Optimus.  The figure has tight joints and numerous points of articulation.

Rodimus Prime also comes with his signature rifle, as well as the Sword of Primus that he wielded in the ReGeneration One comics.

Like most Prime toys, this Rodimus comes with a Matrix that can be removed.  Can make for some great scenes from the movie such as his transformation from Hot Rod and his destruction of Unicron.

Have Matrix, will travel
Growth Spurt
‘Light our darkest hour!’

 

Vehicle Mode

Good luck trying to overtake this on the cyber-highway

Damn that’s big!  Much bigger than the leader class POTP Rodimus we mentioned earlier.  For the most part he is cartoon and toy faithful, though the front of the car sticks out a little too far for my liking.  But perhaps there is no hard and fast rule as to what a Cybertronian Winnebago should look like.

This Rodimus has some features that most previous figures of the toy haven’t had.  One is that you can open up the back of his trailer which is a nice touch.  Another is that you can take the cannon emplacement from inside and put it on the top of the trailer for a sick battle mode.

What old people wish their Winnebago’s would do when other drivers honk

Rodimus can detach from his trailer and for once he still looks like Rodimus rather than Hot Rod.  The vehicle mode is stockier and makes it look a beefier version of Hot Rod, which Rodimus himself actually is.  In both modes you can attach what is shaped like exhaust flames, but coloured like exhaust fumes.  Whether they chose this so as to not add more yellow/orange I don’t know but its an odd aesthetic choice.

 

Battle Platform

The original G1 toys trailer could open up to reveal a cannon platform and that has been recreated really nicely here.  The cannon can swivel 360 degrees and can also detach with little tank tracks on the bottom.  Personally I would have liked to see the ramp at the front be able to fold down to touch the ground, but that is rectifiable by the connecting of a Battle Master, which also allows the platform to hook up to other playsets.

 

Transformation

The trailer is dead easy.  I found the robot mode a tad fiddly in places but everything locks together very tightly and there was no point I got overly frustrated.

 

Worth Getting?

This would be the best mass-release Rodimus that we have had so I would say yes, despite the larger than usual price tag.  However if you already have the POTP version it’s pretty good and also has the option of turning into Hot Rod, so I wouldn’t trade in just yet.  It will be interesting to see if the upcoming Galvatron figure scales well with Rodimus, then we really will see if this toy is capable of lighting ones darkest hour!

Got anything to say about this figure?  Pop it in the comments section below!

 

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Toy Review – HasLab Unicron

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In what could be said to be one of the biggest toy events in Transformers history and perhaps the most anticipated Transformers toy of all time, we have the biggest official Transformer figure of all time – Unicron!  Yes The Chaos Bringer has finally shipped out to all those all over the world lucky enough to be able to afford this behemoth, and he does not disappoint!  So lets have a look at what the ultimate evil looks like in his 27 inches of glory.

 

Planet Mode

Frick-en HUGE!  The main body of the planet is bigger than a soccer ball, and his halo of struts makes him absolutely massive!  The sheer scale of this figure really does dwarf everything that has come before.  The colours are spot on and the amount of detail with the spikes around the midsection, the different strata of layers and the planet jaws that open and close are just beautiful.  Yes its essentially a big (expensive) ball which limits its playability and poseability but that’s OK – this is the ultimate display piece and mainly for looking at and going ‘wow – just wow’.

To make up for the lack of playability in planet mode Unicron’s head comes detached (like it was at the end of TF:TM and in S3) and has a few features of its own.  You can change the beard and you can change the face as well to the battle smashed version.  Or you can remove the face all together and swivel those creepy eyes around.   The Head comes with it’s own display stand like the main figure, and also has an Autobot ship as well as a tiny Rodimus & Galvatron to round it out.

 

Robot Mode

Again we get to see the scale of Unicron here, so much bigger than even the biggest of Titan toys.  The amount of detail put into this figure is staggering, Haslab going above and beyond to make him resemble his animated appearance as much as possible.  He has great articulation for such a huge figure and nearly every part of Unicron has movement; the neck, waist, knees, elbows, feet, wrists and so on all have different degree’s of swivel and articulation.  By keeping Unicron on the stand you can pose him however you wish, even the legs in stances which would let a normal toy fall over.  The articulation of the fingers on each hand is unprecedented, with every finger having 3 points of movement.

There has been a great deal of discussion about all the kibble.  Most of this can be removed.  However I like to leave it on, for me it shows that this really is a functioning Transformer that can be changed into a different configuration – its not simply a statue.  His backpack is not a major downside for me and neither are his calves.  The skeletal wings really polish off what is a massively impressive figure.

 

Transformation

Get yourself a coffee and some snacks because you are going to be there a while.  The first time you do it will probably take you the best part of an hour.  The majority of this time is taken up with folding all the layers of the planet shell on top of each other to form the backpack and calves.  The inner robot is fairly simplistic and will present no challenges.  At no point did I find any part of the transformation overly fiddly and when you finally get him in robot mode that first time you may well feel a true sense of satisfaction.  According to blog-fan Trent, a good way to keep track of how to transform him back to planet mode is to take photo’s throughout the initial transformation – this helps you remember where everything was at different stages and reverse the process, though getting those planet panels back into position can be quite fiddly and awkward at times.

 

Overall

Unicron is a big fella and came with a big price tag (which has already been eclipsed by the new auto-transforming Optimus toy).  With only 12000 units made, we are already seeing Unicron’s on ebay going for 3 times what they cost.  Personally I bought two for my different displays and kind of wish I’d bought a 3rd so I could now sell it to pay for the other two.  Is he perfect?  No.  The inner chomper walls of the planet should have been painted silver as should his lower teeth.  The transformation to planet mode can be irritating at stages.  Also some extras such as lighting for the eyes and outer ring would have been appreciated, as well as would have a detachable leg like in the movie.  The backpack does detract from the way he looks from the back and many may not like the calves.  However on the whole this is a brilliant figure that will easily become the crowning centerpiece of any Transformer collectors collection!

 

Thoughts from other Transformer Fans:

 Steve: Impressive, Hefty & Awkward

Trent: Big!

Dallas: Just assembling the planet mode out of the box required separating a lot of panels. It’s awkward to manage because of its sheer massive size. The way all the ring components assemble, the spike strips install and lock in place and the shell components separate and reintegrate speaks of well thought out elegant engineering.  The fact that it’s been designed to allow transformation on the stand indicates a real understanding of the intended use, anyone who says they can transform this thing without the stand is talking out their arse.

Orion: It’s awesome – biggest Transformer ever!  And Dad let me transform his butt!

Jason: The missus gave an almighty headshake when she saw me come home with a box that size!

  

Got your own thoughts about this giant figure?  Pop them in the comments section below!

 

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Toys Review – Micron Micromasters

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With the Transformers Kingdom toy line hitting the stores we are seeing a shift away from the Micromasters that have made up a decent part of the Siege and Earthrise toylines.  Whilst some may be happy for this, others will miss not being able to complete the sets of these classic (if obscure) characters in their updated forms.

Luckily for us, if not so lucky for those with limited online store access, there are still a few sets being released under the Generations Selects line. Today we will look at the latest to be released; it containing three old characters and three (well, 2 1/2) brand new ones! So lets look at the Micron Micromasters set from the Galactic Odyssey Collection.

 

Motorhead & Runner

Both are recolours of their teammates and will give fans the ability to complete the classic Race Track Patrol.  Runner was originally named Barricade in G1, but with the name Barricade firmly affixed to the Movieverse character, this figure has been renamed Runner which was his pre-war name in the Dreamwave comics.

 

Fireguard & Roadburner

Once again these two are recolours, this time of the Decepticon Micromasters Direct-Hit & Power Punch.  And once again we have a name change.  Fireguard is most obviously Wheel-Blaze, but since Wheel-Blaze had already received a new figure, they had to rename him and make him a new character. 

Disappointingly Roadburner has the cannon of his Decepticon counterpart instead of a fire ladder.  I suppose one could argue that it is meant to be a cannon that shoots water rather than laser fire.

 

Stingracer and Windstorm

Now these two are a bit interesting.  The toys are (sigh) yet again simple recolours of other WFC Micromasters that have come before, but they are brand new characters.  The most interesting bit is that their colour schemes are homages to MASK vehicles.  The Decepticon Stingracer (the brown one) and the Autobot Windstorm have both lifted their paintjobs from toys from the MASK line and even their altmodes have a decent resemblance.  I particularly like the colour scheme of Windstorm – the mint green colouring combined with the flame job on the vehicle hood really pops!

 

Weapons Modes

All these characters can become guns for larger characters or combine to become a double-weapon.  Sadly they pretty much suck across the board and there will be few people that use them for this purpose. (For some examples of Micromaster weapons modes SEE HERE)

 

Worth Getting?

If you are a completionist then yes.  If you are after a few new characters instead of the same G1 ones being trotted out time and time again then yes.  However if you are after new figures that don’t resemble toys that have come before then don’t waste your time here.  Besides colour schemes there is nothing new to recommend these figures, although I must say that the limbs on them are surprisingly tighter than those that have come before.  I was able to transform all characters multiple times without limbs detaching, which is something to date that none of the other WFC Micromasters has managed for me.  So this set isn’t bad and has a reasonable price point – grab it if you are inclined.

 

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