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Rookwise's Review: Stormbomb (Fansproject)

Name: Stormbomb
Function: Insecticlone Tactician/Ninja
Size Class: Between Scout/Commander and Deluxe

Bio

Skycrow Diary Entry # 14502

After several months of training, all three of my apprentices are performing very well. Each one of them has shown to carry different talents. The natural leader, Back-105, can always give precise and correct orders to his peers.

Shred-125, a silent warrior, can execute whatever mission is given by the leader, and his combat skills are very impressive.

However, among the three, Bomb-271, is different. He is a born tactician. He can always come up with plans and strategies, which I would never expect. I know he has certain level of telepath ability. I believe under proper training, he can learn to control that power and become a more powerful ninja master than myself, one day.

The time has finally come! Tomorrow I will give them a final trial. If they are successful, they will be able to weld the power of the elemental forces, which will make them a true ninjutsu warrior.

My revenge on that traitor Stardust can finally begin soon.......


Taken from Fansprojects website:

Descending from outer space, Stormbomb was recovered and converted into his current form by the powerful Skycrow. Learning the ancient art of Ninjutsu and the philosophy of Godai, he has harnessed his power of control over the element "Wind". Creating havoc everywhere he goes, Stormbomb uses his ability to create flash storms and special elemental aerial attacks such as whirlwinds to over power his opponents. Like his brothers, he is stealthy and can attack when least expected to catch his enemies in his wrath before they can react.

Features:
- Manriki Chain (a weighted chain)
- Kyoketsu-shoge (a rope-and-dagger weapon)
- Kama (a small scythe)
- Multiple combinations to switch to different forms of weaponry
- High quality and superior poseability
- Transforms into a Rhino Beetle

Stormbomb is the fourth character in Fansprojects new 2011 lineup named Causality and is the 16th creation in a line of add-ons and figures produced at the time of writing this review. The Causality story is supposedly set in the aftermath of the Colossus war.
This time though, unlike the line’s previous two offerings, Stormbomb is a completely new mold.
Stormbomb also shares his colours and similar alterante mode with the classic G1 Transformers Insecticon Bombshell.


Alternate Mode:

Stormbomb's alt mode resembles a type of Rhino Beetle. A mechanical Rhino Beetle. The main colour of the alt mode is purple along with black, yellow and red detailing. There is also a silver/grey colour which is located on Stormbomb's horn, front legs and mid section.

Stormbomb’s weapons make up the front legs and also the horn section. Unlike his partners however, there is nowhere to store all of Stormbomb's accessories as there is no storage compartment for the chain accessory. There is actually a little articulation in the alt mode. The middle and rear legs are on a ball socket and the knee (????) sections are also hinged. There is also some articulation on the horn section in the form of three hinge joints. The horn section is quite long and is angled so that part of it rests on the surface to give some stability. Lifting it higher causes Stormbomb to tip forward.

There is virtually no robot parts on show, with the exceptions being the figure’s arms which are located underneath the belly section. Everything else tucks away neatly and gives a nice kibble-free alt mode.


Robot Mode :

Stormbomb isn't overly hard to transform into robot form and when you do get him into his robot mode the end result is very nice. Like his partner, Thundershred, Stormbomb's colours are yellow, black and purple with some grey and red highlights. One thing I like is Stormbomb's head sculpt. To me along with his body mass it makes him look more dangerous than Thundershred even though Thundershred's looks are also bulky. Thundershred seems to prefer close quarters/melee type combat, whereas Stormbomb seems to be comfortable with a variety of fighting styles seeing as how his weapons can be used for either close quarters or distance attacks. This is due to the addition of a chain accessory which can attach to both sets of Stormbomb's weapons or a mixture of the two.

Stormbomb’s weapons are two sickles and a Trishula (three pronged) blade that splits into two pieces resembling a pair of Jutte's. As mentioned, these can be held seperately for close quarters combat or used in combination with the chain accessory to create a type of kusarigama for long range attacks. Unfortunately there is nowhere to store the chain accessory when Stormbomb is in his beetle mode.

There is an additional weapon combination which is only shown in Stormbomb's instruction sheet. Stormbomb has the ability to use Thundershred's forearm blades which makes Stormbomb an even more deadly opponent and adds to the play value of the figure.

Stormbomb features an amazing 20 points of articulation making for some varied poses.

If there one thing I can fault on Stormbomb with, it’s his waist section which is made up from three parts. These can be a problem to line up and keep in place.


Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation Design: 8 - Certain parts can be fiddly at first but take your time and you will have it mastered in no time at all.
Durability: 7 - Feels very well made and most joints are made with the ball and socket type so easily pop off and back on.
Fun: 8 - Plenty of poses and accessory combinations along with a nicely designed figure.
Aesthetics: 8 - Lots of detail and the colours work well together.
Articulation: 10 - With the amount of articulation Stormbomb has, how could he not score a 10? There’s a lot of articulation which makes for some good display poses.
Value/Price: 6 - Priced around the £35-£39 mark at most online stores. This is where this type of figure will always score lower than others in its size but when you consider the amount of detail and engineering that has gone into making them and the fact they're not made for mass market, you can see why they’re so expensive. I can’t see their price dropping either as all three Insecticlones seem to be in huge demand meaning that future prices could be higher after they've gone out of production.
Overall: 8 - Fansproject's offerings are getting better than most of the official products both in design and manufacture. Just the high price tag that they command and limited production of each item they make pushes the price up. It’s easy to see why, but that means Stormbomb won’t be for everyone.

 
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