TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Box Art:

Rookwise's Review: Flak

Name: Flak
Function: Warrior/Tactician
Size Class: Cyberverse Legion

Bio:

The battle tactics Flak invented might be unusual, but he knows they’d work – if only he could get them tested out on the battlefield.

The original Flak was from the G1 series, produced in 1989, and was part of the Autobot Micromaster Battle Patrol.

There has only been three Transformers figures to bear the name ‘Flak’. These are the G1 Micromaster, 2009 Botcon exclusive repaint of Cybertron Defence Scattorshot and this Dark Of The Moon (DOTM) version.

The bio above was taken from DOTM Flak’s description on the Hasbro.com website as the UK version doesn't include the bio. However, this brief bio does have a similarity to the G1 character’s bio stated on the TF Wiki website.


Alternate Mode:

Flak turns into an armoured APC and features plenty of detail over the vehicle mode. Detail ranges from side window slits, storage compartment doors and a rather nice green/cream cammo detail. Everything folds together nicely with nothing hanging out and none of the robot parts are on show (unless you look underneath). If there’s any fault with this mold it’s the rear section where the legs lock onto the middle section, where there’s a gap between the legs. This is a problem as there is detail on the rear for a door and having the gap in the middle spoils this as it runs the full length of the underside of the vehicle mode. Another fault would be that the wheels seem way too thin for what the alt mode is supposed to represent.

Flak also features a cannon turret on the top of his vehicle mode which is able to pivot (nice touch) and also a silver Autobot logo on the front.


Robot Mode:

After quite an easy transformation we get to the robot mode. Flak features all the colours and detail of his alt mode but with the addition of a little more black on the legs and some silver on his face. He features all of three pairs (six individual elements) of articulation. These are the upper leg/hip, elbow and arm/shoulder. The alt mode’s cannon comes over Flak’s shoulder similar to Generation 2 / Universe 2.0 Legends Megatron. Flak’s arms do not straighten fully and sit at a 90 degree angle. Possibly removing a little plastic on the inner elbow could improve this slightly. The parts that make up the roof of the alt mode just hang off the figure’s back and can get in the way of rear leg movement. The lower part of the figure’s chest also gets in the way of forward leg movement. This could have been improved by adding just a hinge joint on the lower back and also joints on the knees, and I can’t see why this wasn’t possible.

As with the alt mode, there is a lot of detail present that was also on show in the alt mode and the figure does look like he would mean business if he was more “mobile”.

For the size, a high amount of articulation can’t be expected from a mass produced toy but they could at least have tried a little harder. Maybe we're just getting spoilt with all the recent 3rd party offerings that are currently available at the moment as quite a lot of figures that would fall in the same size class as Flak have almost 4-7 times the amount of articulation – although, of course, the 3rd party offerings have much higher price tags…


Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation Design: 7 - Very easy to transform. Nothing overly taxing.
Durability: 8 – Can’t see him breaking easily. Only thing that could take some major damage would be the cannon barrel and it’s made from slightly softer plastic.
Fun: 5 - Limited articulation in robot mode. Rolls well in alt mode. Can see the alt mode being played with more.
Aesthetics: 7 - Plenty of detail and colours work well together.
Articulation: 5 - There is some. But not as much as there could have been.
Value/Price: 7 - Legion class figures are fairly cheap at approx £3.99-£4.99.
Overall: 6 - Flak is an ok display piece but I wouldn’t consider him a must-have. A tiny bit more thought, articulation and perhaps scaled up into the Commander Class size could have improved this figure a great deal. A shame really.