With 2024 and the 40th anniversary of the Transformers franchise fast approaching, we find ourselves moving out of the Legacy: Evolution toyline and into Legacy: United.
Legacy has been generally well received by TF toy collectors for not only bringing us characters from mutliple Transformers universes/timelines, but new characters as well. And Legacy United is no different, not only giving us a new character but one from a (sorta) brand new universe! So lets take a look at Legacy United Infernac Universe Armorizer Magneous …
…. wait wait wait wait, that name is way too much to be left unpacked before we continue. So for the unitiated:
*Legacy: Evolution is the 3rd istallment of the Legacy toyline, itself part of the Generations toyline, of the Transformers franchise.
*Infernac Universe is the reality this particular character is from. It’s a new reality, with it’s name rooted in the cartoon Inhumanoids, but the universe being a pastiche of Inhumanoids, Rock Lords and even the JP G1 continuity(confused yet?). Hence they look like robots made out of stone.
*Armorizers are Transformers that can break their bodies to bits to become armour for other Transformers.
*And Magneous is this particular toys name.
Phew! Anyway, on with the review!
Robot Mode
Very nicely proportioned and with a decent amount of poseability. The rocky details on the head and chest are particularly well done and I like how the wheels go behind the rocky pectorals. He has good articulation everywhere but the head. The weapons are very appropriate – being a pick axe and shield – as somehow laser blasters would seem out of place on this prehistoric bot.
Vehicle Mode
Reminicent of some of the other Armorizers we’ve had over the past year, with the grilled windows and armoured wheel covers. The stone motif is once again in full effect – you get the impression this is what would happen if The Flintstones ever met Mad Max.
Part of the back of the vehicle can be removed, giving Magneous a pick-up truck mode. What I found a shame is that his pick-axe could not be attached to become a tow hook. A missed opportunity one feels.
Amorizer Mode
Unlike most Armorizers, this figure is not fully dissectable. There are plenty of removeable parts, but the main body stays intact. Whilst this may make Magneous inferior to other Amorizer figures, I found that it allowed for a much less fiddly transformation as he wasn’t a complete partsformer. Personally I use the main vehicle body as a kind of battle sled.
Autobot or Decepticon?
He kinda looks like he would fit in with the Decepticons, but his weapons come in an Autobot wrapper. Whether this means he is an Autobot, or is coinicidental or something unbiqutous to the entire United line, one can only specualte – it may be that the Cybertron factions don’t even exist in the Infernac universe.
Worth getting?
I’d say yes. This is an interesting concept that we haven’t seen before in the main Transformers line, as well as being a new character which seems to occur less and less often. Magneous looks great in both modes, has an intuitive transformation and has extra play value by coming apart and being attached to other toys. Overall highly recommended.
Got any thoughts about this interesting new figure? Pop it in the comments section below!
Pipes and Huffer have the same alt mode but different robot modes. Which is your favourite?
Such cute little alien war machines!
It’s true that most of the 1986 Autobot Mini-Vehicles are just slight retools of their 1984 counterparts. The likes of Swerve, Tailgate, Hubcap and Outback are simply recolours of Gears, Windcharger, Cliffjumper and Brawn respectively with new face sculpts (OK, Outback got a new gun as well which was pretty slick).
However Huffer and Pipes are the exception. As well as a new colour scheme and face sculpt, the Transformation from Robot Mode from Vehicular mode was slightly changed. Instead of the cab of the truck becoming a hood as it did with Huffer, it became a backpack for Pipes.
But are their alt-modes really the same?
One of these trucks is not like the other one
Well, yeah, for the most part. But there are subtle differences. The moulded grill and headlight motif on the front of the truck has been slightly changed from Huffer to Pipes. The tail-end of the trucks tray, which becomes the robots feet, is slightly more pointed on Huffer than Pipes. Perhaps the most notable difference besides the colour scheme is the smokestacks, which on Huffer and slightly indented, whilst on Pipes they are well and truly, well… pipes.
Overall the differences are negligible, but far outweigh the differences between the other mini-bot recolours of that era. I’d be hard-pressed to say which I like more as both have their charms.
Robot Modes
Huffer: “My elbows go the wrong way!” Pipes: “At least you can still pick stuff up”
Here is where the differences really stand out. As stated, Huffer has a sort of canopy whereas Pipes has a large backpack. From the back Pipes is easily the weaker of the two, having an entire truck cab hanging off his back. However this is where his weaknesses end. His arms are far superior to Huffers, and whilst Huffer could be said to have hands of a sort, it’s the orientation of his arms that lets him down, resembling some form of preying mantis idue to the backwards elbows. The head of Pipes too is superior, having an actual sculpted head that sits in front of the backpack, rather than some form of wide mask half-hidden under a hood.
So to answer Katrina’s question, I have to give it to Pipes, on the whole he is an improvement on his predecessor.
Huffer, being a legacy character from the 1984 cartoon, has turned up in multiple toylines such as KRE-O, Power Core Combiners, Timelines and even Transformers Prime. Pipes however has only had another two outings, both retools of existing Huffer figures. So lets have a look at these to see who is the superior in these new iterations of classic characters.
Combiner Wars
Prime-wannabe’s
If there is one set of Huffer/Pipes figures where the alt-modes are exactly the same then it is Combiner Wars. Not only are the altmodes the same, but the robot modes are exactly the same too, the only differences being in colour scheme and sticker placements. As such, it’s pretty much impossible to pick one over the other. I will say I never understood why they gave Pipes a red face, he looks like Tracks squat brother (or me when I’ve been out in the sun too long).
Kingdom
We finally busted into the Deluxe Class!
The third outing of Pipes, being again a retool of Huffer, is in the Kingdom line. I found both these toys to be quite clever and both are certainly the most toon-accurate versions of the characters we have ever had in their robot modes. Highlights for me included that Pipes now has pipes attached to his outer forearms like in the cartoon instead of the toys arms functioning as the pipes themselves. Huffer now sports a canopy of sensible size, and the way the sides of his alt-modes tray join together to form a very Halo-esque weapon is a really cool idea. I couldn’t fault either of them.
Pipes & Huffer: Both ready to smoke you!
In their vehicular forms, the fronts of the vehicles are actually (bar colour) exactly the same, having less differences than their G1 toy counterparts. The differences only seem to be at the back, where Pipes is toting his pipes and Huffer’s gun and shield serve to form a tray.
But wait, there’s more!
Can’t decide between Pipes and Huffer? Why choose either when you can have Puffer!
Puffer: ‘Even I haven’t heard of me before!’
Soooo…. The story behind this is that in certain parts of the world, when Pipes was released he was a straight up recolour of Huffer, rather than a retooled version. The storyline behind Puffer is that Huffer and Pipes got sucked into a time-vortex (as one does) and they were fused together into the one being. Like so many other extremely obscure characters (who can easily be recoloured from an existing figure), Puffer now has his own official toy. This Puffer though, is essentially Pipes slightly recoloured and with a G1 toy accurate head. Whilst there is little of Huffer to see in this figure, if you can’t decide which you like more out of Pipes and Huffer, then Puffer may be for you!
A reminder that Prime and Magnus aint the only Autobot trucks on the block
Well, for me it is hands down Pipes, and for me that is a purely sentimental reason. Pipes was one of my first ever Transformers, and was the first Transformer I ever got a double of when a mate gave me another one for my 9th birthday. Still have them both too 😊. I liked in the cartoon how Pipes seemed to straddle between mechanic, field medic and a quasi-field commander, whereas except for lifting the odd mammoth, Huffer seemed to do nothing but whine, barely built anything and for the most part simply vied with Gears for title of biggest complainer on The Ark.
G1: Emotions aside, talking about toys then I feel that Pipes has the better robot mode, despite Huffer having hand indents. Vehicular, despite the minor differences, I don’t favour one over the other. Winner: Pipes
Combiner Wars: Exact same vehicle mode so no favourite; in robot mode I gotta take points off Pipes for having the red face. Winner: Huffer
Kingdom: A draw, as though I like Huffer’s robot mode that smidge more, and he has the cool gun and shield that become the truck tray, Pipes finally has dedicated extra pipes, living up to his namesake. Winner: A draw, with a special shout out to Puffer for being such a unique character.
Got anything to say about the figures examined, or Pipes and Huffer in general? Pop it in the comments section below!
Titansare becoming a larger (no pun intended) part of Transformers lore. However for the most part they have remained in the Generation One universe with its associated comics and toylines.
Cyberversebecame surprisingly popular as the cartoon progressed through the seasons, it was a very G1’esque universe, and indeed featured two brand new Titan characters –CroatonandIaconus.
Iaconuswas actually a pretty cool character – aWar Titanunder the command of Alchemist Prime(MacAddams)he was responsible for smashing a lot of alien planets, before going dormant back on Cybertron. The city of Iacon was built on top of him and the only part of him that remained above the surface got turned by Alchemist Prime intoMacAddams Old Oil House.
Well this Titan has managed to get a figure in before the Cyberverse line comes to an end. So lets have a look atUltimate Class Iaconus.
Robot Mode
Pretty big and impressive. Lots of plastic detail in the shins and shoulders to show his city origin and overall pretty faithful to the cartoon. Colour scheme works quite well too. However his articulation is severely limited, hampered by his various built in gimmicks so his poseability is limited to his arms and how you affix his sword and shield.
One of these aforementioned gimmicks is the flip-over armor. This makes his head (in shape if not colour) resemble how he looked in the cartoon.
City Mode
‘Errr… I’m a sort of Turtle-Base that flies backwards through space?’
I hate to say it, Ireallyhate to say it, butwhat a pile of shit! OK, he had a pretty basic city mode in the cartoon, just a sorta nondescript squat green base, but this still looks worse.
There is stuff here that makes no sense! Why are there thrusters on the front? Does he fly backwards through space? Why are the wings and turbines underneathinstead of on the sides or top? Frankly it looks a mess, like one of those stupid half-transformation toys that came out in earlier waves of the Cyberverse toyline. This mode has almost no play value except for the spring gimmick that makes him transform automatically back into robot mode.
Worth Getting?
I got this figure on sale for only $30(AU) and to be honest despite his big size, big weapons and multiple gimmicks I have trouble justifying even that price. He has almost zero articulation, his transformation is simplistic and crap and his alt-mode is one of the most awful I’ve ever seen. Seriously, those thruster’s on the front of the city mode instead of the back really piss me off. So unless you are a diehard Cyberverse or Titans fan, or this is for a younger fan, this figure is an easy pass.
Over the 5 live-action Transformer movies we’ve had our share of traditional bad guys (Megatron, Galvatron etc) as well as a Prime gone bad with Sentinel Prime in DOTM. In The Last Knight we get to see a Prime go bad again with Optimus siding with Quintessa as Nemesis Prime.
Like a lot of the characters from TLK, Nemesis Prime hasn’t gotten a general toy release, putting him alongside many of the other on-screen robots we have been screaming for a figure of. Luckily Takara Tomy has come to the rescue with MB-20 Nemesis Prime.
Nemesis Prime is a redeco of the TT exclusive Calibur Prime which itself was an extensive (and much needed) retool of Armor Knight Optimus Prime. He comes in a gorgeous box – I was so impressed when I received this in the mail I nearly decided to leave him MISB, but the desire to play was too much!
Truck Mode
Essentially unchanged from the past two incarnations. However in deference to the fact he is a darker character as Nemesis rather than Optimus, the paint job had been made more subdued with the red and blue being darker hues. I think this actually works to make the chrome to be found on various parts of the truck pop more. It’s a lovely looking truck, being a big solid size with excellent dimensions.
Robot Mode
Whereas AK Optimus had a big, ungainly backpack, Calibur Prime had this convert into a huge shield which was a massive improvement. This has been carried over for Nemesis Prime, where the main change from Calibur is again the colour scheme with the reds and blues more subdued and the axe and shield have been given a purple tinge instead of orange. Speaking of purple, the eyes are now purple like in the movie, and in certain lights they look absolutely fantastic! Once again, we are looking at good proportions on the toy and it’s an excellent representation of the onscreen character.
The Head
As well as the new purple eyes, Optimus Nemesis is sporting the big red streak on his face to show his allegiance to Quintessa. Both versions of the face (which can be rotated for either mask or non-mask) have this. I thought maybe it would have been good for one version to not have the streak so you could show him changing from Optimus to Nemesis and back, but it’s a minor quibble.
Transformation
It’s at the level I quite like, as in its far more complicated than a couple of quick movements, but you don’t have to take 20 minutes out of your day to get it done. The only thing I found was the head, the instructions assumed you had played with previous versions of the toy so did not say that you had to press the chest to make his bonce pop up – I had to look it up online. The back of the truck turning into the shield is very well done.
Overall
There have been very few official Quintesson-aligned toys over the years, far too few. So when the likes of Infernocusand Nemesis Prime came up for grabs I was all over it! It you have the previous versions of this toy mould you probably don’t need Nemesis, but if this is your first time encountering it or you want a representation of the on screen character, then I heartily recommend giving MB-20 Nemesis Prime a go.
Got something to say about this figure? Would love to read it in the comments section below!
