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
