Brendocon 2.0 wrote:BUT ANYWAY I'M OFF TO UNPACK THE DEVASTATOR THAT JUST TURNED UP. *chucks Protectobots into a corner for eternity*
*unchucks Protectobots from the corner, whacks Devastator over the head with a newspaper*
Yeah, sorry, I know newspapers don't exist anymore, but dramatic license people.
AHEM.
So, er, Devastator then? **** me.
Let's start with the good: he cost less than my car insurance.
It is very very nice to have something that fits size-wise with my MP/3P Decepticon set-up and can stand at the back pretending they were worth the time we spent building them in these caves.
The combined mode is really good. Sturdy, well designed, holds together nicely, though the feet don’t seem to support it brilliantly in anything other than a “legs straight and together” posture. The eyes/visor mechanism is nicely done. It's a good, strong, big Devastator and I'm sure one shot from a low-powered laser will make him fall to pieces, so basically they've accomplished the mission on that front.
And, er. That's the end of the good?
As far as the individual robots go, it’s a massive letdown. And my expectations weren't particularly high in the first place if I'm honest.
My initial thought on taking them out of the packaging was "wow, these are very plastic aren't they". And I know that's sort of stating the obvious, but it's very rare that a toy just yells it to that extent. Felt cheap and blocky.
Obviously this is only available as a set and it’s quite clear that the combined mode was the priority. Unfortunately the engineering necessary to pull it off has massively hamstrung the components on their own merits. Judged solely from a vehicle-to-robot standpoint, they’re really poor. I know it was never going to be Masterpiece level, but for a modern-day Generations (or subline thereof) product these are shocking. I don't understand modern sizepoints, I think these are "voyager" size toys or something? But they’ve basically trucked up with transformations that a Beast Wars basic would feel embarrassed by. The ones after they ditched the spring-loaded gimmick.
Long Haul is ridiculous – he’s basically Devastator’s torso/hips with a dump-truck front and bucket slapped on there. His robot legs are pathetic and I'm not even going to touch on his arms. Mass-wise he looks like he's eaten all the honorary Constructicons that Wikidiots would have you believe are a thing.
Mixmaster is just hilarious, to the degree that I’m not even angry. I mean seriously. I wouldn't even know where to start.
Scrapper and Hook give the impression they’ve been designed as deluxes and then just upscaled so they’re the same size as the others. Hook’s crane really feels like they wanted it to extend and then decided not to bother (on a smaller toy this wouldn't be an issue, but something this size feels like it should have some sort of feature), while Scrapper’s elbows really weren’t worth the effort.
Bonecrusher and Scavenger are the only ones with any degree of complexity in the design, but even then nothing more than you’d expect from an old BW deluxe.
In general they look and feel like oversized knock-offs. It's not a great set at all. The combined mode, which I'm sure most people will be after it for, is pretty much exactly what I wanted from it, but I'm not going to pretend this was worth the money.
Genuinely the worst Unite Warriors set of the four I’ve laid my hands on. Sure, the others have mould reuse, don't always look like the characters they represent and other myriad flaws, but at least they're engineered in proportion to their size and have an element of fun.
Basically, if you’re not already committed to getting this, don’t do it to yourself. Other opinions may be available, but unless you can find it heavily reduced that's my advice to you. Yeah, it’s nice to have some pretty much toon-accurate Constructicons in about the same size reference as the MP stuff, but holy **** man have some self respect.