TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Box Art:

Blackjack's review: Lugnut

Name: Lugnut
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Thug
Alt mode: Futuristic Bomber Jet

"All hail mighty Megatron!" -- Lugnut and Shane McCarthy go well together.

I love the Animated series. It brings back old characters in G1-esque bodies with a kick ass story to boot. And the toys look like their show counterparts. Just compare this with G1 Galvatron. Or G1 Scourge. Or the Throttlebots. Or Beast Wars Blackarachnia. Or the entire Beast Machines line.

Anyway, back to the point. The Decepticons here are warriors – very powerful and feared – unlike in previous series, such as G1 where they are just a bunch of luckless thugs. The core villains are, of course, Megatron, Starscream, Blitzwing, Blackarachnia and... Lugnut – the subject of our review.

Lugnut is, along with Bulkhead and Lockdown, one of the few Animated Transformers which are not directly based on previous Transformers. (Lockdown is based on Boba Fett, while Bulkhead is based on... on... uh... Brawn. Yeah, Brawn.) Lugnut's name also made its debut in Animated. Though there is a Lugnutz in Cybertron. Therefore, there is no 'older character love' that compels die hard fans like us to buy him, unlike, say Swindle, Waspinator or Blurr. Therefore Hasbro releasing the big guy in Voyager class is chancy at least.

Anyway, I wanted a Voyager, and I am a fan of Decepticons. Without Animated Starscream and Megatron, my local Walmart is stocked with Blitzwings, Grimlocks, Evacs and Lugnuts. Already having a Blitzwing, and Classics Grimlock looking much better than his Animated counterpart, I bought Lugnut. That's the story of how I got him. Now let's see Lugnut's story.

Lugnut is based on many previous Transformers. First, his character is a Megatron maniac. Kinda like Beast Wars Scorponok or Inferno. His loyalty extends to fanaticism, like the 'waves' of the past. Shockwave. Soundwave. Tidal Wave. All of them fanatically loyal to Megatron. His speech is reminiscent of the G1 gestalts, such as Devastator or Menasor, filling the role of the 'powerful-but-dumb thug' role. Shall I call Lugnut ‘Luggy’ or ‘Nutty’? Hmmm... Learn from Blitzwing. I will call him by both names. On to the review, then.


Alternate Mode:

Nutty, being the heavy muscle of the team, transforms into... A Jet! Yeah, I am serious. When bios and pictures of Luggy first appeared on the net, I thought his alternate mode was going to be a land based heavy duty vehicle, like a tank *Looks at Movie Brawl, Bonecrusher and Wreckage*. Anyway, as I have gathered over Teletraan-1, Lugnut is a bomber jet. Albeit a very futuristic one. Looks slightly similar to Galaxy Force Dreadlock / Cybertron Jetfire (Decepticon disguise repaint being Sky Shadow) or G1 Triggerhappy, only bulkier.

Bulk is the name of the game with Luggy. His jet mode is quite cool, with big green bombs under big middle-wing engine turbines. The bomb fronts can open to unveil non firing artillery ports. The cockpit is very futuristic, as is the tail. There are three rotating turrets – one on top of the fuselage and two on each side of the cockpit – making this guy look like a large menacing gunship. A nice variation of the sleek fighter jets current Decepticons are so fond of. Yeah, YOU, Starscream.

Two wheels slide out of the bottom, but these aren't mentioned anywhere in the box or instructions. A nice nod to the comics, the bio says Nutty is known as 'The Kaon Krusher', in reference to his rise through gladiatorial combat in the Great Arena of the Decepticon capital on Cybertron.

The jet mode is unique, solid, and surprisingly good, but could use some firing missiles. But I'm not picky.


Robot Mode:

The box boldly claims 'Automatic mecha conversion' or something like that. Considering the simple robot mode, I was half-expecting something like the Jumpstarters or the Activators. In reality, I should have expected that Hasbro is just calling the bloody Automorph feature by another name. And Automorphs never did anyone any good.

The simpler transformation aside, Luggy suffers from a slight 'Bulkout syndrome' as I call it. It is a disease among Voyager class Transformers. From the outside, the alternate mode looks quite large – as large as any other Voyager. When transformed, however, they stand not much taller than a Deluxe in robot mode. Why 'Bulkout'? Because the recent severe sufferers include Movie Blackout and Animated Bulkhead. Blackout isn't so bad, and he had the excuse of having half his alternate mode being used as the weapon. Bulkhead on the other hand... Luggy is not so bad compared to Bulkhead, with longer legs and more proportioned arms and legs. Eat your heart out Bulkhead.

Actually, size aside, the toy is excellent. Exactly how Nutty looked on the TV, only much better. The head, with a single optic in the middle and two smaller ones on the side, is painted brilliantly. However, the mouth plate's divider is not painted, on mine at least. I’m not sure whether or not it’s painted on others.

Lugnut's poseability in robot mode is rather good. Like Cybertron Jetfire / Sky Shadow, who has a somewhat similar transformation, his shoulders are offset somewhat. His Movie Megatron-esque legs and hands are very poseable. His head can't rotate, though.

In the Animated series Lugnut is a powerful guy. His most powerful weapon is 'The Punch'.('Le Punch' in French.) Luggy transforms his arm into a flat... Thingy... And punches! Wham! It is very powerful. Granted, it sometimes knocks himself and other ‘Cons out, but at least it looks cool. Blitzwing, however, has warned Nutty a million times not to use the Punch without warning. Does Nutty listen? No, of course. And speaking of weapons...


Weapons:

Luggy is shorter as he has the excuse of having a third of his alt mode as his Power Mace. When you connect it to Lugnut's pincher hands, and you slam it to the ground, the top part transforms. Cool. Important notice: the jet kibble can only transform into the mace if it is connected to Nutty. And yes, it uses Mini-Con ports. However, the one on the mace is the one normally found in larger robots in Armada, while Luggy's are those normally found on the Mini-Cons. Conclusion: Lugnut is a (seriously over sized) Mini-Con. The mace can attach to a Mini-Con, giving a teeny vehicle a ginormous weapon on top.

I suppose, now, only one question remains: Why do they call a guy without any nuts in him Lugnut? Apparently, according to Wikipedia, an early concept of Lugnut consists of a Frankenstein-like guy with nuts in the head. The design changed, but the name stuck!

Overall, a satisfying toy, with solid robot and vehicle modes. The only problems are the short height and poseability. Probably not for display, but it is fun to play with.


Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation: 3 – Very simple, but fun nevertheless.
Durability: 9 – Obviously durable. He is Lugnut after all.
Fun: 9 – Lugnut SMASH.
Price: 6 – A bit steep for a Voyager. At least he ain't Ultra.
Overall: 8 – When you get over the fact that Luggy is shorter than you’d expect, you will accept that he is an excellent toy. As a toy. Could use more joints though. A much better expenditure than, say, the Marvel Crossovers.