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Games & Competitions, Transformatorium

Exclusive Card Reveal: Private Stakeout – Transformers TCG

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A few months ago, bigangrytrev.com was privileged enough to be given an exclusive reveal for the new Transformers Trading Card Game. In that instance it was Dirge and Defensive Driving from the Rise of the Combiners cards.

Well now courtesy of Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, we have been given another exclusive reveal. And this time it is from the latest iteration of the game – War For Cybertron Seige.

For those unaware, the current Transformers Generations toyline for 2019 is indeed War for Cybertron Seige and indeed it appears many of the upcoming cards will be based on said toyline. The exclusive card reveal we get to do today is definetly based on one of those toys, a Micromaster character who hadn’t had a new figure for nearly 30 years – Private Stakeout.

Coming in at 4 Stars, Stakeout – whose roles are Infantry and Communications – doesn’t appear to be the most powerful of characters, but then as a Micromaster he isn’t expected to be.  But this little Autobot can still prove quite useful.

 

Patrol Car Mode

 

3 Attack, 5 Health, 0 Defense

The artwork from this has been taken from the Siege packaging for Stakeout, which I quite like as I’m really enjoying the more gritty artwork that has been accompanying this line. In his Patrol Car mode, Stakeout has only 5 health and absolutely zero shielding. However this sneaky little bot has got that covered. Despite appearing quite vulnerable, his skill is Stealth, which means that unless every other one of your Hero Cards has been KO’ed by your opponent, any attack on this card while it is untapped can be deflected onto another one of your characters, keeping him safe from being killed before he can even get in the fight.

 

Robot Mode

 

2 Attack, 5 Health, 1 Defence

Once again, the artwork has been taken from the great packaging art of the new toy. In robot mode Private Stakeout sacrifices one of his attack points in order to get at least a bit of defence going. But once again, it’s less his stats that are important bur rather his special ability. Stakeout has the ability to, via you sacrificing one of your white-square cards, to flip another Hero Character Card to it’s other mode. This can be invaluable depending on who you are flipping. For instance if you have another character who has a lot more health and defence in one of its modes and is near death, you can flip it to its more resilient mode in order to survive your opponents next attack on you.

 

Teams Private Stakeout may be useful on

Stakeout is most definitely a supporting character. With 4 Stars he is designed to fill out a team full of stronger/higher star ranking characters where you have already used up to 21 of your 25 star limit. Stakeout will be most useful in a team with characters where it is imperative to be able to get that extra Hero Card flip in so as to facilitate either attack or defence. This suits Stakeout in the grand scheme of the Transformers universe; Micromasters are small, not particularly powerful in of themselves and are often used to support bigger robots. For instance in the new toyline Stakeout combines with Red Heat to form the “Binerboost Salvage Blaster”, a gun used by regular sized bots.

 

So I hope you have enjoyed another Exclusive Card reveal from bigangrytrev.com. Many thanks to Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast for the chance to show this card to the world, which will be available when the Transformers TCG War For Cybertron Seige sets get released on June 28th 2019.  Also check out the reveal over on Life…With Sprogs to see another new card – Searget Skrapnel.

 

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Exclusive Cards Reveal: Dirge & Defensive Driving

Devastator Pack Review – Transformers TCG

Toy Review – Siege Micromasters Wave 1

Games & Competitions, Transformatorium

Devastator Pack Review: Part 1 – Transformers TCG

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With the Rise of the Combiner Booster Packs hitting shelves all over the country, it is nearly time for the first dedicated ROTC Box Pack to hit the shelves.  Due for release on March 29, this pack will have arguably the most popular and recognizable of all the Transformer Combiners – Devastator!  And once again bigangrytrev.com had been lucky enough to be given a pack in advance so as to bring you all the goss regarding these new cards.

Before we continue, the usual spiel: This pack has been given to bigangrytrev.com for review purposes by Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast.  Neither company has paid for this review or tried to dictate the content of this blog.  Bigangrytrev.com would like to thank both companies for their ongoing generosity.

Despite the average rate of finding a Combiner Character card to be 1 in 2, a lot of people have been struggling to make their first combiner, even when purchasing a whole box of the Booster Packs.  Personally I was able to make Menasor and Dreadwing right off the bat but many others have not been so fortunate.  So with the release of the Devastator Pack, it is going to bring a lot of joy to those yet to make one of these colossal characters!  In the Devastator Pack you will find not only all the cards to go with it, but all the characters you will need.  So no endless searching – all your Constructicons can be found in the same place – right here!  Lets take a look at them:

Oh and another note, like when looking at the Combiner Booster Packs, there is SO MUCH information to be shared here, this will most likely be another 2-part Blog, with part one being information and the second one gameplay.

 

Constructicon Character Cards

Scrapper

Leader, Melee

5 Stars

Hook

Surgical Engineer, Ranged

4 Stars

Mixmaster

Materials Fabrication, Melee

4 Stars

Bonecrusher

Demolitions, Melee

4 Stars

Long Haul

Transport, Melee

4 Stars

Scavenger

Mining & Salvage, Melee

4 Stars

So we are noticing a few things straight off the bat.  Firstly Scrapper as the leader has 5 stars but the rest only have four.  Whilst this makes them fairly weak characters, it does mean you get to have all 6 Constructicons on the board at once.  Also you will only have one ranged character, Hook, whilst the rest are melee.  All characters have the same amount of damage, health and shield points in both their modes, making no difference in stats whether you be rocking a robot or construction vehicle.

Now to their special abilities.  Again, nothing staggering either offensively or defensively.  Bonecrusher has the best offense capability with Pierce 2 in his Robot Mode, with Hook sporting Pierce 1 and Long Haul Bold 1.  The only character to be sporting anything defensively is Scavenger with Tough 1 in his robot mode.   So what are nearly all the other special ablitities geared towards?  Towards your Tower Card, which is going to be crucial when playing as Devastator.

 

The Tower Card

This seemingly innocent little card is going to dictate so much of your gameplay when playing with the Devastator Deck.  It has made me extra glad that this is the first Transformers TCG pack that has come with instructions included.  Unique among the Combiner Characters, Devastator’s abilities are tied directly to the height of his tower.  And your individual Constructicon’s abilities are aimed towards building that tower as much as possible before combining.  As well as powering up Devestator, the height of your Tower will also affect the strength of some other cards which we shall look at a bit later.

Scrapper’s abilities are both directly tied to the Tower.  His alt-mode means you put your tower into the KO area at the start of the game (which you get to do anyway) and having him in robot mode means that every time a Constructicon gets KO’ed, you get to add another height counter to the tower.

All 5 other Constructicons have the same ability for their Alt-Mode

So this makes your individual Constructicons geared primarily towards construction, making that tower as big as possible!  Of course there are other cards to assist them offensively and defensively, several of them exclusive to the Devestator Pack, and some of these too are geared towards your tower.

 

Exclusive Cards

Note: The pack contains 3 of each card.

Builders Tools

Can be used by Constructicons only.  Gives you an extra counter on your Tower whenever a character sporting the card attacks.  This makes this card very good to put on Bonecrusher in particular, as well as being one of only two cards that you can use to build your Tower further after combining.

Reclaim

Lets you access the scrap pile for upgrades, but if your Tower is 3 or higher then you get an extra card as well.

Heavy Landing

Gives you an extra point of damage to deal, but if your Tower is 6 or higher then you do 3 damage instead.

Work Overtime

The only exclusive card that does not involve the Tower, it allows you to draw extra cards until you have four in your hand.  This makes this card very useful for most any deck you construct!

Constructicon Enigma

Like the Enigma cards for the other Combiners, you need this card to form Devestator and all your Consturcticons need to be in Bot Mode.  Unlike the other Enigma cards however,  this card does not immediately become redundant after combining.  If played when you already have Devestator on the battlefield, you get to Repair 1 damage to him, as well as putting a height counter on your Tower.

 

Devastator

Towering Warrior, Melee

25 Stars

Here he is, the big guy!  No searching through endless booster packs, you get him in one shot!  His stats are similar to the likes of Metroplex and Menasor.

As you can see, his special abilities are directly related to his tower:

* When you first combine him you get to remove an amount of damage from him equal to the height of your tower.  This means that you can allow your individual Constructicons to get pummelled to a certain extent, because as long as you keep that tower going higher and higher, by the time you form Devastator a lot of that damage will disappear!

* If your tower is 6 or higher you get Bold 2

* If your Tower is 10 or higher, your attack rating goes up from 6 to a whopping 10!

It is for the above abilities I highly recommend you do not combine Devestator until you have a minimum of 6 height on your Tower, because once Devestator is formed you cant make it any higher, unless employing another enigma card.

 

Other Cards

This pack comes with 9 other types of card, both common & uncommon and ones we have already seen before.  The one of most use to you will definitely be Rapid Conversion, since you have 6 separate characters you need to get into bot mode.  I find it funny we got Scrapper Gauntlets, since it doesn’t seem to be Scrapper sporting them.  You get two to three of each of these 9 cards.

 

So is the Devestator Pack worth getting?

Yes, oh my yes!  Not only do you get to make a Combiner Character in one go without having to search through endless Booster Packs, but it comes with a ton of exclusive cards that you cannot purchase anywhere else.  Add to that the unique playstyle the Tower brings to the game and this really is a purchase that I can’t see any big Transformers TCG players bypassing.  I highly recommend going out and picking yourself up a pack when they come out at the end of this month!

 

Related Articles:

Rise of the Combiner Booster Packs Part 1 and Part 2

Metroplex Pack Review

Games & Competitions, Transformatorium

Exclusive Cards Reveal: Dirge and Defensive Driving. Transformers: TCG

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Last time we discussed Transformers: TCG – the new card game that has many parallels between it and Magic: The Gathering, we looked at The Metroplex Pack, which introduced the new concept of Titan Cards.

Well Wave 2 is coming out now, and since we already have Titans on the board, it’s time to introduce the other behemoths from the Transformer franchise – gestalts.  Rise of the Combiners will be introducing gestalt teams such as the Predacons, which looks to open up the range of gameplay even more.

However it’s not just the Combiner Teams that are being introduced in Wave 2.  We are getting some other new Hero Cards as well, along with some new Battle Cards for gameplay.  Once again, Hasbro has been kind enough to offer bigangrytrev.com an EXCLUSIVE SPOILER to reveal! So in this exclusive reveal let’s look at one of the new characters as well as one of the new battle cards: Dirge, Doombringer and Defensive Driving.

*Note: Like last time, no money has changed hands for this EXCLUSIVE SPOILER, and Hasbro & Wizards of the Coast have in no way tried to dictate the contents of this blog article.

 

HERO CARD:

DIRGE, DOOMBRINGER

I was pretty chuffed when Hasbro gave me Dirge as an exclusive reveal.  Dirge was my first ever Transformer way back in the 80’s, so whilst not the most popular of the Seekers, he has always held a special place in my heart.

The Artwork

The artwork for this card was originally seen in a TF game app years ago, Transformers Legends.  Though that game is dead and buried, the fantastic artwork from it still crops up here and there and has been seen with some of the collector cards that came with figures from the Titans Return, Power of the Primes and other Transformer toy lines.  It’s great this artwork has seen the light of day again and Dirge looks excellent here, blasting away in his robot mode and conversely zooming off in his jet mode.  The art of both modes are based on the Generations toy Dirge received back in 2010, to my mind the best toy of Dirge we’ve had (perhaps barring the Masterpiece version that came out a couple of years ago).

Card Power

The term ‘Dirge’ has to do with laments and music for the dead.  And the way this card plays on the board is very appropriate for the character’s name indeed, for he kills the weak stone dead and gains power from the death of others.

Robot Mode

Dirge is rocking stats of 2 Attack, 11 Health and 2 Defence in robot mode.  Whilst not staggering stats, it’s his power of Pierce 1 that makes him so valuable.  It means no matter the defences up, Dirge is going to inflict at least 1 damage to his opponent, very handy if your opponent has characters that are well defended but also on the brink of death.

Jet Mode

Jet mode has stats of 4 Attack, 11 Health and 2 Defence, so much like the robot mode.  The power of his alt-mode is to get an extra attack point for every character you have KO’ed of your opponent.  So if you have KO’ed say 2 or 3 of your opponents Hero Card’s already, it can bring Dirge’s attack up to a power of 6 or 7.

Card Functionality

The above powers means both sides of Dirge’s card greatly complement each other.  You can use the Pierce 1 of his robot mode to kill off weak opponent cards, then flip to his alt-mode in order to gain extra attack power from those aforementioned KO’ed Hero Cards. You then use this extra power to knock off your opponents healthier Hero Cards.  This gives Dirge a great deal of latitude in regards to what kind of decks you can put him in. Indeed Dirge will be a real asset in particular to decks where you have other Hero Cards taking care of the major offensives and defences.  Make sure you use him in the right deck though – at 8 Stars he will take up nearly a 3rd of the total stars you can use to create your team.  Used correctly however, Dirge will indeed be a bringer of doom!

 

BATTLE CARD:

DEFENSIVE DRIVING

Artwork

The artwork for this card is actually taken from the IDW Transformers comic book series.  In particular the subseries Maximum: Dinobots, published all the way back in 2008/09.  The picture shows one of the Sunstreaker clones (bearing a striking resemblance to Cordon), created by Scorponok, defensively driving out of the way of a tail swipe from Grimlock.  I love the fact that this card series takes its artwork from so many different sources, not just the one.

Card Power & Functionality: UPGRADE – ARMOR

It’s a good thing that these cards are intended for the more advanced way of playing Transformers: TCG rather than the basic, as there is no way my 6 year old son could figure out the power of this card, it even took me a minute of two!

Essentially this card offers extra protection to your characters when played.  Whilst not defending from a direct attack, what is does do is lessen the damage taken from non-direct attacks by your opponent by 1.  This can be extremely handy to play when your opponent has multiple non-direct attacks set up on the board, as they can add up and easily KO one of your Hero Cards.  With this card protecting one of your characters, your Hero Card stands a much better chance of surviving non-direct attacks in order to fight another round.

 

So as we see, Transformers: TCG continues to expand.  I personally will be hoping I find both Dirge and Defensive Driving in blind packs when they are released in March this year.

How are you enjoying Transformers: TCG so far?  Would love to hear in the commments section below!  And for more card reveals, check out Lisamaree on Life With Sprogs to see some great battle cards!

 

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Games & Competitions, Transformatorium

Review – Metroplex Pack: Transformers TCG

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A few months ago the Transformers: Trading Card Game was released.  Much like Magic: The Gathering, this game focuses on using different characters whom you instil with different defences, attacks and upgrades, to take out the opposing team, all whilst taking advantage of their own unique abilities.

Now, not long after it’s release, we have the first committed deck since the Starter Pack – the Metroplex Deck.  Due for international release on November 16th, this deck appears to offer a whole new element to what is quickly becoming a popular and addictive game.

Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro have been kind enough to send me for free both the Starter Pack as well as the new Metroplex Deck so as to do a review on this blog.  It should be noted that I have received no financial remuneration to write this, nor have either company tried to dictate the content of my review.  So I’d like to thank Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro for their generosity.

Luckily for them, I’m pretty taken with these packs so their generosity might just get rewarded through subsequent honesty.

This review is focused primarily on the Metroplex Deck, and in writing this I make the assumption that in reading it you are already familiar with Transformers: TCG and the various gameplay strategies it entails.  If not then by all means check out the official website to see how the game works, then come back to get all the new extra information here.

 

The Metroplex Deck offers the following:

*1 Titan Character Card: METROPLEX

*3 Character Cards: SCAMPER, SIX-GUN and SLAMMER

*Ready to play Battle Deck of 40 Cards

 

New Characters

Now the first thing you will notice is the Metroplex Card.  It is HUGE!  19.5cm x 14cm.  Like the Transformers character it is based on, it dwarfs the regular character cards.  And so do some of his stats:

Robot Mode – 6 Attack, 35 Health, 1 Defense

City mode – 4 Attack, 35 Health, 2 Defence

Now these Attack and Defence stats are pretty common but his Health is MASSIVE!  The most a character has had up to this date has been 21 with Cosmos, and Metroplex outshines him by a full 14 points!

The other is his Stars.  Each team can have a total of 25 Stars spread over their character cards, which usually dictates a team of 2 to 4 characters.  However Metroplex has 25 on his own!  This makes him a team unto himself.  A team of one… or so it would seem.

Anyone familiar with the G1 cartoon and toy representations of Metroplex will remember he had 3 sidekicks.  First Scamper who turned into a Cybertronian Battle Car, Six-Gun who would disassemble his robot form into Weapons useable by Metroplex, and Slammer who was a drone tank.  All three are represented here.  And all three are subordinate to Metroplex in a way we will examine shortly.  However before doing so it is worth noting that these characters are useable in regular teams.  With their relatively low 4 Star ratings, if you have a team made of 21 Stars, one of these guys is perfect to round up the numbers.

 

Character Abilities

Metroplex differs from other character cards in many respects, and not just by his size.  Hidden underneath Metroplex are the three sidekick cards.  Whenever you flip your Metroplex card from Robot to City side, he is able to deploy one of these characters.  This makes flipping every opportunity you get essential, as you need to get him to robot mode and back again in order to deploy another character.  This in of itself is perhaps more important than the almost inconsequential differences between the Attack and Defence stats of his two modes.

Each sidekick has different abilities.  Slammer for instance, being a drone, has no robot mode and will deal out 1 Attack Damage to every enemy bot when first released.  This makes him a favourite to bring out first in order to hurt as many enemy bots as possible before you KO any of them.

Scamper and Six-Gun’s various abilities rely on Metroplex still being on the board as they mainly power up his abilities.  Whilst this makes them a boon to your main Metroplex card, it lessens their value considerably when being used in a team which does not contain the Titan.

 

Dedicated Battle Deck Cards

The Metroplex Deck is designed to be used by a single player against an opponent.  As such it has dedicated cards that are of no use in a regular deck, but are very advantageous when using with this dedicated team.

Rally The City allows an extra card per character you have out (if you still have Metro on the board).

Height Advantage gives Bold 4 so when you use Metroplex to attack you get to flip 4 extra cards.

Protected by Metroplex means that you can transfer any damage being inflicted on your sidekick characters to Metroplex instead.  Out of the three cards I found this one to be the most useful.  Given Metroplex’s huge Health and the extremely poor Health of his Sidekicks (all pretty easy to knock out in a single round) it helps to keep these little guys on the playing field for an extra turn or two.

 

In Gameplay

I wont go into all the technicalities and ins and outs of using this deck against an opponent as there are just too many scenario’s to cover.  However I can point out some trends I found when pitting the Metroplex Deck against a team made up of the Starter Pack:

*When playing the Basic Game (not using special abilities etc) which I played with my 5 year old son, the advantage tends to lean slightly in favour of Metroplex, even without his ability to deploy the smaller bots.  His Health is just so massive, and combined with a 6 Attack Rating in robot mode, means you are able to withstand the onslaught he receives from being the only target on the board as you KO your opponent’s cards one by one.  He is by no means invincible, but he is definitely hard to beat.

*When playing the Advanced Game which I played with a bunch of my nerd peers, surprisingly the advantage tends to lean slightly towards the opponent, even with you being able to deploy Scamper, Slammer and Six-Gun.  Your opponent using the Special Abilities of cards means that your three smaller bots are often KO’ed as soon as they hit the board, with only a Protected by Metroplex card having a hope of saving them.  You may find that your opponent often uses this strategy, going after the little guys as soon as they are able before focusing back on the big guy.

Also with more bots being on the opposing team, the opposition has the chance to have more Upgrade, Attack and Defence boosts in play as well as having a greater range of opportunities to use their characters synergistically with each other.  Once again, it is by no means impossible to defeat your opponent, but it can be a hard road with a bit of luck required to take the win.

 

So is this Pack worth buying?

If you are a Transformers: TCG player then it is a most definite yes!  The introduction of a Titan Card adds a whole new element of gameplay, and the pack comes with 4 characters and three action cards that you cannot purchase anywhere else.  It would have been nice to see Trypticon released first (as I’m sure he eventually will be) as it means the two dedicated packs released thus far have all Autobots in them (the Starter Pack containing Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, Red Alert and Ironhide).  Part of the fun of anything remotely Transformers is pitting Autobot against Decepticon and I actually went out and purchased some Booster Packs just so I could play out some of these scenarios (luckily for me I scored both Starscream and Megatron).  I would also have liked to see Scamper and Six-Gun have at least one inherent ability each which would be useful within a regular team that does not involve Metroplex, giving these characters more scope for play.

However despite the onus still being on the Autobot side, this pack is definitely worth picking up.  I look forward to its general release in a week in the hopes one of my friends picks one up so that I can battle Metroplex Deck against Metroplex Deck – now that truly will be a clash of the titans!

Got anything to say about this Expansion Pack?  Would love to read it in the comments section below!

 

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Transformer Toy Reviews

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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Transformatorium

Big Angry Trev visits Hasbro Australia!

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On Monday, myself and 14 other lucky fellows were treated to a behind the scenes look at the offices of Hasbro Australia, located in Sydney.  Organized by the operator of Ozformers, this was for a hands-on experience with the newest Transformers toyline: Power of the Primes.

My Graceland!

After a short wait, myself and my compatriots were ushered up to the fourth floor of the Hasbro offices where a space had been prepared.  Scattered around various parts of the room were examples of some of the great Transformer products that have come out of recent.

 

Of course there was one other major Hasbro product on show and that was My Little Pony.  Whilst this was largely ignored by the Transfans I couldn’t help but have a good look.  I loved the huge Pinkie Pie – if it had been Rarity I would have forgotten the TF’s altogether and tried to work out a way to smuggle her out of the building for me to ride whenever I saw fit (sounds kinda dirty I know but Rarity – I loves ya!).

 

 

Power of the Primes

Of course the main point of the day was to give fans a hands-on experience with the new toyline.  This consisted mainly of Wave 1 which has been released in the USA already and is due out in Australia within the next few months.  Whilst this is all the same toyline, it can be broken into different groups.

The Dinobots

Something that has all the fans excited is that for most of the Dinobot characters this is their first Generations treatment.  On display was the latest (of many) Grimlock‘s as well as Slug and Swoop.  Also on display was the newest addition to the classic Dinobot team – a female raptor named Slash.

POTP Slug meets G1 Slag

Of course, without Sludge and Snarl we couldn’t see the fully combined form of the Dinobot gestalt but I will say that what we could put together did look a lot better than what I had seen in photos to date.

 

The Original 13 & Pretenders

Now I’ll admit – I was not a fan of the Pretenders from G1, not particularly liking organic modes.  But many of these characters have been brought back and in a bizarre twist, has been combined with the characters from TF lore which constitute the first 13 Primes.  The classic Pretender shell characters are used to ensconse the mini-Primes within.  Rather odd, but I know when they hit the shelves I wont be able to resist.

Apparently Landmine & Alpha Trion were the same dude

 

The Primes

A rather interesting concept that has been done here is with Optimus Prime and Rodimus Prime.  Not only do both transform from Truck/Cybertronic Winnebago to robot, but you can remove a smaller robot which transforms into their pre-evolved forms – Orion Pax and Hot Rod.  I  really dig this concept and both toys looked great!  Both also came with a Matrix of Leadership.

The evolution of a hot head

 

And the others…

There were several other figures on show from the new line.  These included Beachcomber, Windcharger and a Dreadwind which is based on an older Combiner Wars figure.  The Ozformer owner was also kind enough to bring a couple of figures that were US exclusives that not many Aussies would have touched – Arcee and Grotusque.

 

So overall it was a very interesting hands-on experience and behind-the-scenes look at Hasbro.  I’d like to thank Hasbro for the opportunity – I’m sure my fellow 14 fans had as much fun as I did!  And to top it off, in the raffle at the end I scored a The Last Knight Hot Rod to take home!

Free toy!

 

Got anything to say about this visit to Hasbro?  Would love to read it in the comments section below!

 

Transformer Toy Reviews, Videos

Video: Comparison of LG43 Trypticon and Titans Return Trypticon

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Due to people really enjoying the written review I did showcasing the differences (were there any?) between the Legends and Titans Return versions of Trypticon, I have followed it up with a short video comparison of the two – enjoy!

 

 

Related Articles:

Toy Review: LG43 Trypticon vs Titans Return Trypticon

Transformatorium: Titans Return Trypticon – the simple hip fix!

 

 

Transformer Toy Reviews

Toy Review – LG43 Trypticon vs Titans Return Trypticon

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When I wrote the comparison blog between Takra Tomys Unite Warriors Computron and Hasbro’s Combiner Wars Computron it took me about two days to take all the pictures, write up all the subtle differences and overall decide which set was better.

With Legends Trypticon and Titans Return Trypticon?  I should be done by the end of the commercial break.

 

Here is a comparison of the boxes, the boxes are indeed different.

 

Here are the instructions for the Legends version that have a comic on the back.  That’s kinda different.

To read the English translation of this comic – check it out on Tets Toys HERE.

Here are the sticker sheets.  The stickers are exactly the same, though I suppose the size of the sheet they come on is different, I guess.

Kinda like getting the exact same meal but on two different types of plate.

The way the Legends version and the Titans Return version have been strapped in their boxes is different in layout I suppose.

Takara Tomy packing method
Hasbro packing method

 

Now to Trypticon himself, the differences are…. they are…. um….

‘One of these Cons is not like the other one…. oh wait’

The differences are non-existent!

 

That’s right kiddies – there is absolutely no difference between the two versions – none!  All the things you may have previously been lead to believe, such as the teal was darker and the purple richer in the Legends version are not correct.  That the paint apps are built in and you don’t have to apply stickers like the Hasbro version – false.  The only way I could keep the two from getting mixed up when taking photographs was that I had already applied some of the stickers to the Titans Return version.  The same goes for their smaller partners.

Full-Tilt vs Full-Tilt. No difference
Necro vs Titan Master: Difference in name only

 

In the end I didn’t even bother transforming the Legends version.  I packed it straight back in its box and am going to carefully store it for a decade so hopefully I can in the future sell it (and make back the extra $80 I paid getting it shipped from Japan) as relatively MIB.  In a day and age where toy producers are conscious that some collectors will shell out big money for multiple versions of an expensive toy for even the slightest difference, I was honestly surprised there was none here.  Not even an extra gun like Metroplex or a new hat like Malibu Stacy!

Is one worth getting over the other?  Nope.  The only thing is that some of the Titans Return versions have the dodgy hips (for an excellent way to fix that see HERE) whereas none of the LG43 versions have had that problem reported as yet.  So if the fact you don’t have to worry about this possible defect is worth the extra costs of shipping to you then grab that one.  Otherwise, unless you are rolling in cash and want to have both types of box to display, go down to your local toy store and grab the Hasbro one.

 

‘I’m Trypticon’
‘No, I’m Trypticon!’

 

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

 

Related Articles:

Transformatorium: Titans Return Trypticon – the simple hip fix!

Video: Comparison of LG43 and Titans Return Trypticon

 

Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toys Review – the Combiner Wars Combaticons!

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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.

Swindle1

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.

Vortex1

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.

Brawl1

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.

BlastOff1

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.

Onslaught1

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.

Shockwave

 

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.

Swindle2

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.

Vortex2

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.

Brawl2

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.

Blastoff2

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.

OnslaughtShockwave

 

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!

photo%203%205_zpsezwf8vqm

 

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