Tag Archives: Combiner

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

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

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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Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toy Review – Studio Series Scrapper

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The slow release of the Studio Series Constructicons continues.  Some see it as a good thing, not overloading their budgets.  Others see it as an irritation, their frustration to build Devastator from Revenge of the Fallen growing week by week.

For me personally it has been neither.  As someone who is happy enough with the ROFT Devastator I already own, this Studio Series has simply been a chance to fill out my collection with those onscreen Cons who never received an actually decent toy before such as Scrapmetal.

Today we are looking at one such character.  The leader of the Constructicons in G1, who like Long Haul and Mixmaster got to actually keep their proper name and traditional alt-mode for the movieverse, we are looking at Scrapper.

 

Robot Mode

This looks pretty good for a movieverse toy.  He actually looks like a robot rather than just a mess and is pretty faithful to how he appeared on the big screen.  He has retained the flail attachment on his arm, however sadly is unable to swing it.  He has decent articulation for a fairly stocky bot, with elbows, neck, knees and hip movement.

‘Am I busting a kung-fu move or just getting down with my bad self? Let your imagination run wild kids!’

The colour scheme is not only faithful to how he appeared in ROTF, but also has some G1 roots too, almost an homage to the European/Australasian rerelease of the G1 Constucticons from 1992.

“The studio insisted I bulk up for the movie”

 

Vehicle Mode

Really pretty damn good!  A superb amount of detail throughout the entire vehicle form, this looks like a proper model of a real construction vehicle.  Some have argued that the alt-mode is too kibble-laden, but as someone who has seen a lot of very large construction vehicles up close, some Front Shovel Loaders do indeed look similar with parts everywhere.

The vehicle form feels very solid overall and a nice touch is that you can actually raise the shovel!

Super-Sweet-Shovel-Slap Bro!

 

Transformation

This figure has a really interesting transformation.  With 36 steps its going to take you a few minutes to do the first time out, but there is no part that is overly frustrating or a head-scratcher.  It feels very satisfying to work through, and that is always a massive plus when dealing with actual transformer toys.

 

Overall

If you have no interest in the Movieverse (in which case why are you reading this review? Go outside and play!) then it’s an easy pass.  But if you like the Movieverse, are a Constructicon fan or a completionist then you will want to pick this guy up.  Of course if you intend to build Devastator then you have no choice but to pick him up!  But you wont regret doing so, it’s a solid figure in both modes with a good transformation and for once you feel like you are getting a proper Voyager-class sized figure when buying a toy of that classification.  So yeah, a good value toy that reminds you just how fun transforming transformers can be.

 

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Toy Review: Studio Series Scrapmetal

Devastator Pack Review – Transformers TCG

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Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toys Review – Autobot Alphastrike Counterforce

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The exclusives continue thick and fast in the Transformers: War for Cybertron: Siege toyline.  In fact nearly 40% of this toyline is made up of figures you can only purchase in particular US stores or otherwise online.

Last time we looked at Greenlight, who was only available through the US Amazon Prime site.  Today we are looking at some more Amazon exclusives, though thankfully you can get them through the AU store.  Today we look at the Autobot Alphastrike Counterforce.

This pack is made up of three bots but four characters – Covert Clone Sideswipe, a new Battle Master character named Trenchfoot, and vehicle only characters Raindance and Grand Slam who combine into Slamdance.

 

Covert Clone Sideswipe

Robot Mode

‘Look, I’ve got the G1 symbol so that makes me G1, totally not G2, I swear!’

Yep – despite the name we all know from the colour scheme this is really G2 Sideswipe.  Except the inversion of the red and black colours, this figure is exactly the same as the regular Sideswipe that came out in the main Siege toyline.  At least with all the blaster adaptability you can beef up his weaponry – which consist of a Photo-Pulser Proton Launcher and a Gryo Blaster that can combine into a RR Gryofuse Axleswitch Hyper-Blaster –  so he resembles more his more hardcore G2 incarnation.

Cybertronian Sports Car Mode

No sir, I don’t really like it.  It’s not bad, but with all the red under the translucent dome the colour scheme really screams the Decepticons Wildrider or Runabout.  Once again, adding lots of weapons is your friend here to give him that G2 Sideswipe feel.

 

Trenchfoot

Trenchfoot is a recolour of Decepticon Battle Master Caliburst and his colour scheme makes it clear he is more intended to be paired up with Sideswipe than Slamdance.  I think he works really well in both modes, his gun apparently being a Foxhole Counterblast Cannon.  Interestingly he is one of the very few completely original characters in the Siege toyline so far.

Fire!

 

Raindance & Grand Slam

A little history lesson.  In 1988 G1 Blaster finally got a 3rd set of cassettes – Raindance and Grand Slam.  What made these characters unique was that they had no robot or robotic animal modes whatsoever (until they combined) – they both turned from cassettes into vehicles.

Raindance

Here Raindance once again has no robot mode of his own, and not even a cassette mode!  He is however a very cool looking blue earth jet, replacing his Cybertronian Jet-Drone mode.

Grand Slam

G1 Grand Slam turned from a cassette into a red Cybertronian Tank.  Like Raindance he has also lost his cassette mode but turns into a pretty sweet red tank fairly reminicent of the original, sporting a big A2A Proton Missile Launcher on the front.  Both Grand Slam and Raindance can sport each others weapons as well (Raindance’s being a Smokecloak Blaster)

Slamdance

Took over 3 decades but I’m back baby! I hope those 80’s dances are still popular!

As mentioned, the original G1 Raindance and Grand Slam toys could combine to finally give them a robot mode – Slamdance – and here he is once again.  A slight retool of Siege Skytread but with a new head, he stands that slight bit taller than your average Deluxe figure.  This is a great shout out to a pretty obscure character!

Beware the left ankle!

There have been many reports of people snapping the left ankle off their Slamdance! And indeed having this knowledge in advance I was very careful with mine and found that yes, his left ankle is very tight and stiff.  However I found that giving the area a quick squirt with some spray lubricant like WD-40 and then leaving him for half an hour resulted in a much less stiff and more fluid movement in the part, so now I transform him without worry.  I highly recommend doing the same when you first remove yours from the box.

 

Is this set worth getting?

Well there are no brand new moulds here.  All 3 (or 4) moulds have already been released in the main Siege line so if you are looking for something new look elsewhere.  That said, this has been the cheapest version of G2 Sideswipe we’ve had since the original, its the first time in over 30 years we’ve had a Slamdance figure and Trenchfoot is that rare thing becoming more elusive – a whole new character.  The price is around $80(AU) online which really isn’t too bad for 2 Deluxe’s and a Battle Master so you can feel like you are getting decent value for money.  This is really a take or leave exclusive which I primarily picked up for Slamdance, and I am quite happy I did.

Got anything to say about this set of figures?  Pop it in the comments section below!

 

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Toy Review – Siege Greenlight

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Games & Competitions, Transformatorium

ROTC Booster Packs. Part 2: Gameplay – Transformers TCG

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Last time we looked at the plethora of new cards to be picked up from the Rise of The Combiner Booster Packs for the Transformers Trading Card Game, along with their abilities and drop rates.

Well as promised, this time we will see the cards in play!  As there are already dozens of youtube videos and sites that are showing Combiners facing off against each other, and the only two Combiners I can make so far are Menasor and Dreadwing,  I thought we would do something different – a Combiner vs a Titan!

Clash of the Tit… er…. big bots!

It would be a bit unfair to send ol’ Dreadwing up against Metroplex I thought, so I picked Menasor for the battle.  I will be looking mainly at how the Stunticons and Menasor perform.  If you would like to read more about how the Metroplex character functions, please check out my review of the Metroplex Pack here.

Before starting, it should be noted that I received these cards for review purposes from Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast.  Neither company has paid me nor tried to dictate the contents of this review.  Bigangrytrev would like to thank both companies for their generosity.

 

Setting up the board

When setting up to battle with a Combiner, you will of course have all members of that team.  There is little point in having 4 Stunticons on the board but leaving Drag Strip at home.  All cards are (for Combiners that use 5 characters) 5 stars apiece. Pick three to shove up front and a couple to hang behind.  The difference between each Stunticons stats is negligible, though Motormaster is ever so slightly stronger, so I recommend getting him ready to rock.

 

Making Menasor

Find this Card!

  • First off, don’t worry about if some of your Stunticons are KO’ed. You can still make them into Menasor.
  • Unlike the G1 cartoon, to join all your characters together they all need to be in robot mode, even your KO’ed ones.
  • You need to employ the Stunticon Enigma card. If this has been thrown to the discard pile, don’t worry.  Being a green card, it can be retrieved and swapped with one of your own.
  • Once combined, Menasor will carry over any damage points taken by the individual Stunticons, so try to get him to combine before they get too hurt.
  • When combined, you will discard all the Utility, Attack and Defense cards your individual bots were sporting, except one from each catagory which can then be applied to Menasor.

 

Menasor vs Metroplex

Menasor Crush!

They have surprisingly similar stats:

*Both have 25 Stars.

*Metroplex has stats of 6 Attack, 35 Health and 1 Defense. 

*Menasor has stats of 6 Attack, 35 Health and 2 Defense.

This makes Menasor that slight bit stronger than Metroplex.  As incongruous as this seems to any diehard TF fan, one must remember that Metroplex can still flip to his City Mode, as well as deploy his 3 sidekicks (presuming they are not already KO’ed), giving him the edge. So don’t get too cocky when you whip out your Stunticon combiner, you haven’t won yet!

Basic Game

The basic game is hardly worth mentioning here.  Given their almost identical stats it’s simply a matter of the opponents taking turns flipping cards until one behemoth dies.  Great fun for really young players, but holds little appeal for even those with a modicum of Transformers TCG experience.

Advanced Game

Find this card too!

Gameplay proceeds as usual, with you equipping your characters with different utilities, weapons etc and you and your opponent KO’ing each others cards whilst trying to save your own.  A lot of it is skill, a lot of it is down to the luck of the draw.  If you find any cards specific to your team however, employ them at once, they can really help!

The trick to using your Combiner Group effectively is using your individual characters in conjunction with each other, balancing their strengths and weaknesses as well as their special abilities in order to do the most damage before combining.  For instance Motormaster can protect other characters from non-attack damage, Dead End will give you an extra card and Breakdown can gain you extra attack damage.

I also highly recommend getting many of your characters into robot form as soon as possible, so when you decide to unleash your Combiner you only have one or two characters max that needs flipping.  Keep your eye out for the Stunticon Enigma Card too, if you only have one in your deck and you let it get away that’s it, you may as well let your opponent walk all over you because it’s quite hard to win a game with just the individual characters, since none of them are particularly spectacular.

When playing as Menasor, you get two extra cards right off the bat for combining him.  You then get Bold 1, Tough 1 and Pierce 1 as well as playing an extra action on each of your turns.  This means he can seriously kick Cyberarse, especially if you have the right Action Cards slotted.  In fact of the 4 games with friends of Menasor vs Metroplex, Metroplex was only successful in one instance.

So yes, from actual game play I can confirm that the Rise of the Combiner Booster Packs are well worth picking up. I heartily recommend you trade cards with friends so that you can build yourself one of these awesome Combiner Characters as soon as possible!

Got any questions or anything to add?  Pop them in the comments section below!

 

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Transformer Toy Reviews

Toy Review – POTP Inferno

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Finally we seem to be getting some of the Wave 3 figures from the Power of the Primes toyline on Australian shelves, a long wait for many of us who no longer do our shopping overseas online due to the GST.  There is only one Voyager class figure in this wave and it’s a character that had their last Generations toy come out a full 10 years ago – everyone’s favorite firetruck – Inferno.

 

 

Robot Mode

Inferno has received a new head along the lines of his G1 incarnation.  This is predominantly the reason I ended up picking him up as otherwise he would have looked like either Hot Spot or Pyra Magna/Megaempress.   He comes with Hot Spots two guns which he can either hold in his hands, or be attached to the gestalt feet and then his back to form shoulder cannons.  The box artwork shows him having a windshield on his chest like his other incarnations, however the toy itself looks like every other character that shares the mould and has chest armour instead.  He is fairly tall and lanky which is at least kinda more reminiscent of his G1 heritage than the very stocky Universe version.

 

Vehicle Mode

Like all others of the mould he transforms into a Rosenbauer Panther 6×6 Fire Truck.  He has his big long white ladder back like the G1 version which I believe is an improvement over the water cannon the Universe and Energon versions sported.  However he is so long in this mode you can’t help but think ‘This is Hot Spot cosplaying as Inferno’.  His guns from robot mode can be affixed to the base of the ladder, giving Inferno some alt-mode combat options.

 

Combiner Mode

Don’t I look cheerful

I haven’t bothered to combine him here since he doesn’t even have a name for his gestalt mode.  At first I thought has been slight retooling from the Defensor version with a visor instead of individual eyes but then I realise the yellow paint app had just gone over the nose.  So really there is no difference except for the colour scheme.  The combiner mode will add a lot of play value for younger fans, however for the GeeWun crew it’s hard to think of Inferno has a Gestalt torso (even if the Energon version was a combiner too) and he wont get much play in this capacity.

 

Worth Getting?

It’s a hard call.  In some ways this version of Inferno is superior to the Universe version that came out a decade ago.  However in some ways he is inferior too.  If you have the Universe version of Inferno as well as any other version of this particular toy mould then this Inferno figure is an easy pass.  But on the whole it is still a good toy, a decent representation of the character and the combiner gimmick will be fun for many.  For the most part though I think I’ll be playing with my Masterpiece version more.

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

 

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Toys Review: POTP Terrorcons – First Lot

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During the Combiner Wars toyline, many G1 fans were screaming for the line to be widened to include the creature themed gestalt groups.  Well with Predaking on the way and the latest offerings available now, Power of the Primes has come through on this score.  And in Wave 2 of POTP we get to see a group that was last featured in the Predacons Rising line – the Terrorcons*

(Note: There were already zombie robots called Terrocons in that line so the actual Terrorcons were referred to as ‘Predacons’ – confusing eh!)

Today we will be looking at the two first Terrorcons to be released – Rippersnapper and the Terrorcon  Leader – Hun-Gurrr.

 

Rippersnapper

Robot Mode

“With this face and shoulder guns I’m sure to come first in the ‘Crankcase Lookalike Competition’!”

The colours are quite strong here and I like the fact that he can either have his guns mounted on his back or hold them as hand weapons.  Besides that there is nothing really inspiring about the figure, since he is yet another retool of the much used CW limb mould so looks very much like every other bot.  You can place his shield on his chest, but frankly that looks stupid.

Battle Mode

Land-Shark-Monster Mode

“Overbite and I go to support groups together”

A very nice update of what was a weird toy back in G1 and never made much sense.  I really like the silver on his teeth that makes them stand out.  His legs are moveable and do provide some poseability .  As long as not looked at directly from the back, his shield actually adds some colour and bulk that works for him with the guns attached.  I have no idea why his teeny bio on the back of the card refers to him as a ‘Ground Attack Specialist’ since he is supposed to be mainly a shark, albeit a bipedal one.

Battle Mode

 

Hun-Gurrr

Robot Mode

“If being a Terrorcon doesn’t work out, I’m going to become a ballerina”

Like the G1 toy, the robot mode suffers from being a bit bland without a great deal to recommend it. Don’t get me wrong, the proportions are fine and the colour scheme is, well, G1 accurate, but he just isn’t very striking. The arms are a bit bulky but not overly so and can have Abominus’ feet attached to them to provide arm cannons.  Legs, arms and head can all be moved about with ease to put him in a variety of poses on his rather comically dainty feet.

Battle Mode

Two-Headed Dragon Mode

FREAK-ING COOL!

Wow – this is where he shines!  It’s like he magically bulks up, looks like he could almost be Leader-Class rather than Voyager-Class.  His necks are HUGE but can be moved about to a variety of poses and given the joints just behind the heads and at the base of the necks Hun-Gurrr can be made to take on most any pose you like!  There are only two things that detract from this mode: the chest armour for Abominus is on his undercarriage and given its strong pink colour is very visible from the sides.  The other is that while his back legs are big and chunky, his forelegs are tiny!  They really don’t look like they belong on the same creature.  The Feet/Cannons can be put on his thighs for extra firepower and look ok but not fantastic there.  Despite these few quibbles, I am extremely pleased with his beast mode in general.

Battle Mode

 

Abominus

“‘Told ya we shouldn’t have given the other three the evening off!”

Sadly the pattern continues of them spreading Combiner Group characters over a couple of waves in order to keep you coming back to the toy isle in your local store, so so far I have only been able to make his head and arm.  I’d say he is shaping up to look quite good when finished.  I am extremely disappointed that the Takara Tomy versions of the Terrorcons are going to be identical to the Hasbro versions (much like Trypticon was).  Part of the appeal of the Unite Warriors line was it was in many ways subtly different to Combiner Wars so you didn’t feel ripped off buying a second lot in order to have both the Gestalt and the Individual Bots for your display.  One can only hope a slightly altered gift set of all 5 characters comes out one day down the line.

 

Fake Rubsigns

LIES!

I got such a delighted surprise when I looked upon the bonce of Rippersnapper to see a rubsign there!  But very soon it became apparent it wasn’t real.  I call this a tease rather than a nostalgic nod to the Cons of yesteryear.

 

Overall

While the robot modes are not particularly inspiring, I really dig their monster modes and if you are a G1 fanatic then it will be hard to bypass these two characters, certainly worth picking up!

 

Got anything to add?  Would love to read it in the comments section below!

 

 

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