TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:
Alternate Mode:
Additional Image:
Box Art:
Technical Specifications:
STR
INT
SPD
END
RNK
CRG
FPR
SKL

fort_max's review of: Perceptor

Name: Perceptor
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Minicon Gestalt
Sub-Group: Minicon
" Teamwork is the key to victory"

Perceptor is the combined robot form of the Street Action Minicon Team. Although smaller than his Autobot allies, he is an extremely powerful Minicon. He has been known to take down some of the toughest Decepticons during battle and has earned the respect and admiration of his teammates. Although Perceptor is a great warrior, he prefers spending time with his human friends learning about earth and its many cultures.

Vehicle Mode:
Highwire: This time around, Highwire is a dirt bike, and he's much more impressive than his Armada incarnation. The mold is fairly realistic, and very well-sculpted. However, the major flaw with this toy is the color scheme. With the exception of the seat, the tires, and a single piece of plastic on the handlebars, the entire thing is plain white (According to the original pictures that showed up on Hasbro's site, there was supposed to be more of a color scheme. Pity noone in the factory was informed.). Now, I understand wanting to keep production costs down, but a little more color here and there would be nice. On the whole, while not the greatest Minicon mold around, Highwire makes a much stronger showing than in Armada.

Grindor: Grindor has gone from being a skateboard to being some sort of hovercraft, and he has what has got to be one of the best alt. modes I've seen on any Minicon. His color scheme is great (and I've never been a big fan of orange and blue), and the sculpting is just amazing. I honestly cannot find a single thing wrong with this toy's vehicle mode. It's just top notch.

Sureshock: Sureshock makes his Energon debut as an ATV (or a four-wheeler, if you must). Like the others, the sculpting is really well done. Unfortunately, I find the color scheme to be sort of...bland. It's not as bad as Highwire's (though there's almost as much white), but not quite so good as Grindor's. To be fair, though, I like him a whole lot better than when he was a scooter.

Robot Mode:
Well, at least their alt modes were nice to look at. One out of three isn't too bad...I guess...

Highwire: On the plus side, the head and legs show a little more thought than Armada Highwire. Too bad that that's about all that can really be said about this toy. The horrid color scheme is even more pronounced in robot mode, and you can't even make out most of the details. And then there's the wheels (pardon me while I rant). Making one wheel form the shoulder, I could deal with. Maybe. But who's bright idea was it to make the other wheel his arm? Not only that, but to make it so glaringly unworkable as to make me feel as though I got ripped off paying seven dollars? Sorry. Suffice it to say, I was far from impressed.

Grindor: Continuing the streak is Grindor. Now, when I first saw this toy, I loved it. Right up until I saw the pictures of the robot mode. How they managed to make my favorite minicon from Armada look this deformed is beyond me. I could probably forgive the pieces of his alt mode that just sort of jut out for no apparent reason, if it weren't for the arms. That's right. His arms are just his hover jets with tiny, broom-like hands sticking out. Disgraceful.

Sureshock: Sureshock has got to have the biggest...codpiece...I've ever seen on a Transformer. It's enormous. For the love of God, it's past his knees! Which brings me to my next point: the legs (Notice the subtle segue? I'm crafty.). Two stubby, quarter-inch legs, ending in a tire? Brilliant design, folks. A drunken monkey probably could have done better. Finally, there's the torso, which is the only thing in existence to ever make Johnny 5 feel built. I don't know who designed this thing, but I genuinely hope their career at Hasbro was short lived.

Perceptor: Bet you thought the review was over, huh? No such luck, because we still haven't addressed the absolute worst thing about these toys: They combine. That's right. Hasbro wasn't content with just three godawful robot modes. They decided to throw in one more, just for good measure.

Frankly, Perceptor's one of the absolute worst toys I've ever encountered. In Armada, Perceptor worked surprisingly well, even though it had no reason to. Here, however, he seems to have been cobbled together at the last minute, with little to no thought going into the overall design. In fact, this is one of the few times I'm glad there's an overabundance of kibble, if only because it distracts you from the rest of the toy. The three color schemes do not blend well at all, making for a toy that assaults your senses from every direction.

The only reason you should even consider displaying this mode is if you have some sort of 'Wall of Shame', in which case, Perceptor should be the crown jewel. Other than that, stay away.

Transformation: 1 - Like most minicons, insultingly easy.
Durability: 10 - No matter how hard I try, I just can't kill the little bastard.
Fun: 1 - I can't think of a single instance where I've thought to myself 'You know, I haven't played with Perceptor for a while...'. Only really good as cannon fodder.
Price: 1 - While only seven dollars, I still felt ripped off. If you're smart, you'll just wait until you get it as a gift. Though, if someone's got so little taste as to actually get you this toy, you'd do best to just cut them out of your life completely.
Summary: 1 - My life is nothing if not a cautionary example, so if you take away just one thing from this review, let it be this: Just don't even bother. The halfway decent alt modes don't even begin to make up for all the shortcomings.