And so...
I caved in and bought Demolishor and Sideways while food shopping in Sainsbury's (hey, it happens, OK?), then proceeded to take advantage of the special Toys'R'Us offer where £45 worth of TransFormers Movie merchandise nets you one free Deluxe (worth about £13), equating to near enough 25% extra free. I picked up RotF Leader Megatron (to make the bulk of the £45), Scout class Dirt Boss (to take me over £45) and claimed Deluxe Breakaway as my prize. I also managed to snag TF:Animated Swindle while I was there. Some of the new Robot Heroes were tempting, but they're cute rather than worthwhile. I may yet grab some... just not this month.
Impressions? Why not...
The abiding impression of Demolishor is that he's tiny. Surely one of the smallest Voyagers to date. He looks tiny in the box, and even smaller out in the open. Considering this guy's size in his brief appearance in the movie (Optimus Prime is only a little taller than Demolishor's head), I'm not sure Voyager was the right size class for him. Certainly, they'd never do a Leader Class version or a Supreme (which is the closest size class to what he'd need), but this thing isn't even in scale with Legends class figures. It seems strange that Starscream seems to fit his size class (though even he feels a little small) but, other than him, it's only the Movie 1 re-releases like Ironhide and Ratchet that really feel like Voyagers so far. Then again, Blackout was way too small two years ago, so I guess some characters just lose out.
Sideways is another one who doesn't last through the intro to the movie - he's literally sliced in half by Sideswipe. Nevertheless, he received more than adequate handling in Deluxe format. His car mode is close enough to the Audi in the movie, and robot mode looks suitably weird. There's something vaguely Insecticon about him - I can see kitbashes into Kickback. The red plastic used is way too bright, and is out of place when one considers the movie model... but a lick of paint will cover that up nicely.
Dirt Boss is based on one of the Decepticon Drones from the game based upon the first movie - he's a small forklift. The drone's large red eye is supplemented by a proper head for this release, but it doesn't quite fit the movie aesthetic... The same could be said for all the Scouts this time round. Overall, it's a decent figure, but the nigh-fluorescent greenish-yellow paintjob is a bit of an eyesore.
Breakaway is derived from the RotF videogame's Deep Six mission - he's the Autobot defending the US Navy against the attacking Decepticons, who are intent on retrieving Megatron from the abyss. He's a very strange model, and the colourscheme (beige, metallic grey-blue and lime green) really does not suit either a military plane or his very awkward robot mode, which is somewhat reminiscent of something out of Macross. He does require some 'surgery' right out of the box, to help him pose properly, but is quite a fun toy.
Leader Class Megatron is another missed opportunity - making it two for two in terms of Movie Megatrons - partly due to the writers insistence on denying Megatron any form of disguise. Thus, he's a Cybertronic Tank this time round. The voyager comes with extra armour plates to make him look like the flying version featured in the movie, but this one has a more accurate colourscheme (apart from the use of black on the the face, rather than a darker metallic colour). He's not a poseable as he could be, partly because the tank tread/heels don't fix in place (the leg features a peg hole, but the peg won't reach it). Tank mode honestly looks like Megatron just laid down. The visible head is part of the movie design, but that just seems like lazy design to me. The big disappointment is the lack of articulation in the gun arm, and the fact that the tank mode's turret can either be fixed and stable... or able to turn, but prone to flopping about and detaching from the body. But, hey, when you push a lever down on his chest, lots of gears spin, lights flash, and he says "Megatron... Ha ha haaaaa!". Just like Prime, the "I am..." part is missing... and it's not a fault with just mine - I tried others in the shop. Strange...
Animated Deluxe Swindle is a wonderful homage to the G1 original. He looks suitably sneaky, has his huge cannon (hero worshipping Megatron, perhaps?) an those big purple eyes from the old days. The light piping on these is particularly effective but there's so much transparent purple plastic elsewhere (upper arms and legs, fingers and thumbs) that I'm worried about his long-term survival.
A mixture of good and average, overall... not a bad haul, but how much more will the RotF line offer? Of the upcoming stuff I'm aware of, I'm only really keen on Mudflap, Jetfire, The Fallen, and possibly Mixmaster and more of the Human Alliance figures.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
No comments:
Post a Comment