TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

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Blackjack's review: Knockout

Name: Knock Out
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Acting cool and starring in a novel
Subgroup: ROTF Scouts

"What does it mean to be 'shanghaied'?" — Knock Out, the Veiled Threat

Knock Out is among the first waves of the reborn Scout class line. Scouts being my favourite class, I took an intense liking to Knock Out. Originally I thought he was a remake of Energon Arcee. Honestly, Hasbro, nearly all the motorcycle transformers have a transformation that are more-or-less a knockoff from Energon Arcee. Crossovers Spiderman and Movie Arcee fell under this group. Fortunately, not all fall into this category, though. Animated gifted us with the absolutely kick ass Prowl and Oil Slick, while ROTF brings about a bizarre Chromia.

Well, at first glance Knock Out seems to be a simple remake of Energon Arcee's transformation. However, the transformation is not copied from the overused Arcee mold, but rather improved on. Knock Out is a new mold in his own right, with a better cycle mode (one that does not look like a cycle with bent legs on the side).

The first Knock Out (Knockout at that time) is part of G1. A member of the Decepticon Micromaster Combiner Constructor Squad. Never received any fiction outside MTMTE profiles. Poor guy. The next Knock Out (this time with the space) is in Armada. He's a Minicon, part of the Land Military Team, and transforms into an assault military vehicle. Another Knock Out appears in Energon, this time as Ultra Magnus' head. This makes ROTF Knock Out the fourth one to bear the name, as a scout class toy.

Knock Out stars--sort of-- in the prequel novel 'The Veiled Threat'.

ROBOT MODE

First off, Knock Out references several transformers. There's the transformation scheme, of course. The colour scheme is two shades of green, a little white, a little gray and black. And the head sculpt is a bit buggy. The parts of the motorcycle's nose on the chest resembles an insectoid face. These are all part of a homage to everyone's favourite... Waspinator! His gun hand is directly copied from Movie Bumblebee as well.

Knock Out is very posable. The head turns, the elbow and shoulder moves, and each leg has three joints. Oh, and unlike Energon Arcee's swinging shoulder kibble, Knock Out gives the kibble ball joints, so the wheel halves can rotate. Want them to bend down and out of sight? No problem. Want them to face front like some sort of radar dish? Piece of cake. Want them to resemble Energon Arcee's configuration? Easy.

You can pose Knock Out into a variety of poses, due to his stable legs. Yeah, he's got those Bayformer feet, but it's not high-heeled. The kibble on his legs easily pop off, regrettably. The lightest pressure and they fall off. However, after some poking around, it doesn't seem to be that widespread. Try your luck. My Knock Out has one of those 'sticky paint', namely on the black circle on his chest, but I don't think anyone else had this.

Overall, a solid robot mode, and very likable, except for the aforementioned flaws.

MOTORCYCLE MODE

Knock Out transforms into a sweet little motorcycle. Very realistic compared to, say, Spider-Man or Energon Arcee. It is not as detailed as Deluxe Arcee (2007 Movie) of course, but it's brilliant. The paint scheme translates beautifully into the 'cycle mode.

Not much you can do here but roll him around. Kibble is well-hidden, except for a bit of the legs poking out, but the sculpting makes it look like some sort of air intakes.

Overall, a nice little toy.

Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation 2/10 Very easy, you don't need instructions for this.
Fun 8/10 A posable and solid little Autobot, and he has an interesting personality.
Durability 7/10 The leg panels are the main offender. Otherwise, it's solid.
Price 5/10 Still a bit too expensive, seeing that it doesn't have a big honking gun like Arcee's.
Overall 8/10 A solid little toy. Knock Out has a beautiful robot and cycle mode, and he's a nice character. But you won't miss anything not getting him. The Waspy reference rocks, though.