Toy Review Archives

[brawl569]

Name: Optimus prime
Function: Autobot commander
Motto: "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings"


Alternate Mode

Optimus prime transforms into a lorry/truck/tractor trailer. Well, we all know what he looks like. His alternate mode is wonderful and looks perfect with all the right details. You can store the fists in his cab section or you can put a figure like the ones that came with the Star Wars Transformers in there. His colours are blue, red, silver, chrome and white with a bit of black. He has got rubber tires and not plastic ones which are a plus. He also has metal in his feet and part of his chest. Overall his truck mode is amazing all-round.


Roller: Roller is a blue little as I can only describe a Halo warthog. His colours are blue for everything except for the wheels, which are black. The rest are stickers. I put one of the the extra autobot symbols on him as well as his head lights. He can be launched from inside the trailer as well as when its unfolded, He can also carry Optimus' gun as well as the fuel pump. You can put some Star Wars Transformers mini figures in him as well.

Combat deck: Optimus' trailer transforms into an awesome combat trailer. It has some places where you can put again the Star Wars Transformers mini figures--two at either side of teletran and one in the teletran robot. Speaking of this, it has lots of posibility in the arms and in the neck. It has a rotating radar dish and a posibile arm for repairs. You can store the cannon in a hole and the gas pump by the lunching station. There is a little tab at the back and when you push it down it launches roller down the ramp. There are lots of stickers to apply. You can put them anywhere you want along the sides of it, to make look like there computers and stuff like that. I put a left over autobot symbol on teletran, and the teletran robot can launch two black missiles. You can also stand it up right to make it into a repair bay but it isn't much. Overall it is a really good combat deck and is one of the coolest looking I've ever seen it has allot of play value.


Robot mode

Now on to Optimus himself he is the coolest looking Autobot in my collection and the best. He has his amazing trademark ion cannon to complete his look, but his stickers on his knees are not so good at staying on but that's the only complaint. His posibility is amazing for g1. His look his so accurate to the cartoon as well as his transformation. He also looks stunning in the way the chrome shows him off. I don't know what else to say other than he is amazing.

Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation-10 Really easy but never gets old.
Durability-10 He is a really strong figure which won't break easy.
Fun-10 Prime never gets old and I always play with him
Price-10 Got this at the entertainer for £20 plus deliver so £23.75
Overall-10 He is a figure which deserves to be in your collection no matter the cost.

[Savannahtron]

Welcome to the board. Not bad for a first review. I am a fan of Optimus Prime as well. One of the things you can do with the trailer is stand it upright and use it as a repair bay as well. Kind of neat.

[brawl569]

Welcome to the board. Not bad for a first review. I am a fan of Optimus Prime as well. One of the things you can do with the trailer is stand it upright and use it as a repair bay as well. Kind of neat.

i know but it isnt mutch realy but il edit it in thanks ;D

[Savannahtron]

i know but it isnt mutch realy but il edit it in thanks ;D

Sorry dude, wasn't trying to imply that you needed to revise it. Looks good.

[brawl569]

Sorry dude, wasn't trying to imply that you needed to revise it. Looks good.

nahhh i needed edit it because it had a few other minor mistakes in aswell ;D

[Transformer Kamen]

Your review is pretty good, but one mistake I saw consistently (edited now) is a failure to capitalize proper nouns (Optimus, Star Wars), section titles (Robot Mode), and after a full stop. Otherwise, everything is fairly clean, and I'm hoping to see some Star Wars mini-figures in your pictures.

Also, we've recently updated the review template. Would you mind terribly to redo the 'Marks out of ten' bit using the new format (found here)?

Thanks, and welcome to the Archive!

[Auntie Slag]

I like the head sculpt as an update to the mini-bot toy from G1, and to me this figure looks excellent. I don't mind all the excessive kibble (the Dinobots had a lot of it, for instance in terms of 'wings' and transformed appendages hanging off the sides of robot-mode legs (Oo-er).

And the Horrorcon Snapdragon had the entire front portion of his jet mode hanging off his back in robot mode. By comparison Brawn here looks positively um... suited to his kibble, rather like one of those crabs that attach trinkets and anenomies to themselves to make themselves look bigger & harder than they really are.

Finally, he looks rather a dead ringer for Guzzle in 'Last Stand of the Wreckers'.

Nice review.

[Blackjack]

Name: Bludgeon
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Samurai
Subgroup: Revenge of the Fallen Voyager Class
Accessories: Katana/tank turret, Tanto

Ah, Bludgeon. He had received lots of stunning scenes from the Marvel comics, and has lots of fans from his appearances there. G1 Bludgeon was a Pretender, and his shell, an undead skeleton samurai, was an iconic look. He proved to be one of the most effective Decepticons ever, even leading the Decepticons for a while in the Marvel comics. Bludgeon gives a more mystical aspect to the fiction as a creepy warrior who practices the dark art of metalikato. When the G1 series was rebooted by Dreamwave and later IDW, Bludgeon appeared in both continuities.

Sadly, the original toy leaves much to be desired. The inner robot looked generic, while the iconic skeletal samurai was a blob of plastic. And he didn't even come with his iconic sword!

So, anyway, Hasbro has realised that creating homages to older characters actually do make fans happy (whilst kids just loved transforming robots) hence the reason for lines like Alternators and the two Classics lines. Come the movies, and at the tail end of the ROTF line the designers decided to reimagine older characters in the movieverse aesthetic. Guys like Brawn, Dirge and Breakdown get new Universe/classics toys in the movie aesthetic. Bludgeon managed to luck out after Hasbro deeming that they can't have too many tanks in the first two Classics lines.

Of course, people couldn't wait to use Bludgeon in fiction. Hasbro's Cyber Missions had Bludgeon in their debut commercial episode, while Furman's Titan work featured Bludgeon prominently as one of the lead villains.

The name Bludgeon was used for a toy in late G1, as part of the second year of Pretenders. His inner robot transforms into a tank while his shell was the aforementioned samurai skeleton. After Scorponok and Thunderwing's deaths in the Marvel comics, he succeeded him as leader. This remained until G2 where he got atomized by a reborn Megatron. The name was reused for a toy in the Robots in Disguise line, a repaint of the G2 Megatron toy. The ROTF line brought us two new Bludgeon toys. The first was a forgettable repaint of Movie Wreckage, packaged with a repaint of Blackout as Whirl. When this figure first surfaced, people thought it was supposed to be Wreckage, and Wreckage even got that paintjob in the IDW comics. Later on, as part of the NEST Global Alliance subline, Bludgeon received an all-new mold for himself.

On an unrelated note, this would be the first review where I get more... strict. Gone are the days where I say 'oh, it looks cool and I like it, give it a 9'. Mind, Bludgeon is going to get a positive review, but with other toys? You just wait...

ALTERNATE MODE

Bludgeon transforms into a tank. I'm not a tank expert, so I have to go to the Wiki for this. The specific model is a Japanese Type 90tank. It's realistic enough, filled to the brim with details you would expect from more modern toys. The main colour is a slightly dark shade of green. However, a little bit of orange (his shoulders) shows in the front of the tank, as well as some places on his treads, breaking up the realism a little. Bits of lighter green, black, brown and gray make nice secondary colours.

Bludgeon is not as heavily armed as, say, Movie Brawl, but packs enough with weaponry. His main turret is long and impressive. In addition to that, there is a rubber machinegun on top of his turrets, as well as four missiles mounted on each side of the turrets. The frame is packed full of details; it's adds to the realism that the Animated toys lack somewhat. Unlike, say, the Movie Wreckage mold that his first toy was repainted from, Bludgeon's tank mode doesn't show any robot-mode parts, save for the aforementioned orange bits. Even when you turn him upside down all you can see is his chest and his 'skirt'.

Bludgeon can roll on tiny wheels mounted on the stationary tank treads. The turret and machinegun each rotates separately, and that's about it for the play value in tank mode. There are no projectiles, so he won't have to stay in display with a silly bit of red plastic at the end of his turret.

All in all, a splendid tank mode. The details are what won me over, really. Take away the orange, and tank mode Bludgeon could pass as an unpainted tank model.

ROBOT MODE

After a surprisingly un-frustrating transformation, considering other ROTF Voyagers like Long Haul and Mixmaster, we get Bludgeon in robot mode. He is predominantly orange and brown, with the green, black and gray brightening him up. It's unmistakable that he is modeled after a Japanese samurai armour, with the kibble and details (like the chain-like tank treads hanging off his shoulders) helping the overall look.

All in all, Bludgeon looks like a hybrid of his iconic shell and his transforming inner robot. I really like the new robot mode design. When I first saw pictures of Bludgeon on the net, I was not impressed at Bludgeon's headsculpt. It was too robotic for my tastes. However, in person it doesn't look so bad. The red eye sockets might look a little too large and Bludgeon is missing the humanoid skull teeth, but all in all it lends to the more inhuman feel. It does resemble Figueroa's Bludgeon design for IDW, as he seems to be missing his lower jaw.

Bludgeon has a decent amount of articulation, and he is able to strike a large number of poses. His legs, despite the rather tight ankle joints, are able to support his weight. Again, the designers use the raptor/chicken leg claws thing, so Bludgeon is not front-heavy. The arms are also able to strike several neat poses with the swords, and he can even hold his katana in a two-handed grip a la Drift. He can swordfight with Optimus Prime!

Bludgeon comes with two swords. The front half of the tank turret could be pulled out to reveal a long sword (identified a katana in the Japanese instructions). It is one of the better usage of a tank turret rather than having it hang off the back or turn into an arm cannon every time. The turret splits into two pieces with gears, revealing another sheath inside. It contains a dagger, which is identified as a tanto by the Japanese instructions. Personally with my limited knowledge of Japanese weapons, the tanto looks more like a wakizashi (however you spell it) judging by its length relative to Bludgeon, but then I might be wrong. In any case, Bludgeon could strike a wide range of cool poses with his weapons. The hands grip the weapon well and they don't slip.

The long sword included with Bludgeon is a nice touch, considering how stingy Hasbro has been with weapons recently. Sadly, the rubber of the katana bends easily when you reinsert it into the sheath/turret (mine was already bent when I got the toy) so be careful. It could be bent back into shape with ease, but I'm worried about the plastic warping.

Oh, the tank parts on the left side of his hip double as sheaths for both katana and tanto, so Bludgeon has two ways of storing his weapons. It's nice touch.

Bludgeon is a nice hybrid of the three major designs he had (original shell, original robot and IDW's hybrid design) whilst still keeping some originality for himself. He is a serviceable Classics substitute, and undoubtedly one of the better toy-only additions to the ROTF line.

Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation Design: 8/10 Well done, really. Unlike many figures, the tank kibble feels ingrained into the robot mode, like the proper movie designs. While there are a few precarious steps, like when you move the head up, it's still well designed?
Durability: 6/10 Some of the rubber parts look like they would bend and stay that way with too much force. The katana, in particular, was bent from the start. Some of the ratchet joints feel weak.
Fun: 9/10 He's Bludgeon to hardcore fans. Even to kids, seeing a tankformer with a skull head and samurai swords... it's cool.
Aesthetics: 9/10 Once you get past the slightly iffy skull head, Bludgeon makes a wonderful display piece in either mode. He is a nice blend of the movie's complex design, as well as both shell and robot from G1. The swords help to enhance his badassery.
Articulation: 8/10 The tank kibble doesn't get in the way of poses like pictures seem to imply. However, the claw-like legs don't really support too many poses. The cool weapons do make up for it somewhat.
Value/Price: 7/10 Any way you put it, toys are insanely expensive nowadays. Bludgeon is worth the Voyager class than some random shite like Stratosphere, though.
Overall: 9/10 I would give it a ten, but I need to raise my standards and everything, so nine it is. Bludgeon is a nice toy that would please both Movie and Classics fans. He's a well-thought-out toy, with an excellent design. Highly recommended.

[Warcry]

Name: Huffer
Minicon Partner: Caliburst

With Caliburst by his side, Huffer is faster, stronger and smarter, which means the Decepticons have a lot more to worry about than he does.

Huffer has never been one of my favourites. I don't think I even knew who he was as a kid, and if I did I probably hated him because he was such a whiny brat in the cartoon and homesick mopers aren't exactly the sort of characters that make kids jump up and take notice. Because of that, I'd be lying if I said that I was excited when news first broke that Hasbro was making a new toy based on the original Huffer. The concept of Power Core Combiners didn't excite me either, so I was completely expecting to pass on this toy. But when pictures of Huffer started showing up I had to grudgingly admit he looked pretty good.

Exactly where Power Core Combiners are supposed to fit in the TF multiverse isn't clear, but Hasbro apparently considers this Huffer to be a "heritage" character. That means it's probably the closest thing we're going to get to a mass-market Classics-style Huffer. The only question left is, does he measure up?

Robot Mode:

Huffer comes packed in robot mode, and I have to admit he really doesn't jump out of the package screaming "Buy me!" His chest is dark blue, his upper arms and thighs are black and his forearms are silver. His lower legs and forearms are done in mustard yellow, which is different enough from the original Huffer to be noticeable but not different enough that he doesn't look like Huffer. The toy is approximately scout-sized, but he would have been a big, bulky scout. In fact, he's only a little bit smaller than small deluxe-class toys like Classics Bumblebee or Movie Crankcase. If you're looking at him as a potential G1 Huffer that means he fits in nicely as a Minibot compared to larger toys like Sideswipe or Starscream.

One of the nice things about the Power Core Combiner figures that we've seen so far is that they borrow design cues from a lot of the previous Transformers lines. Some of them take after the Movie line, one or two of them have an Animated look to them, and a few look like they would be at home among the Omnicons or Terrorcons from the Energon line. Huffer's look, on the other hand, is very, very distinctly 'G1'. He's blocky and fairly simple, which isn't a bad thing at all in a toy this size.

A few elements of Huffer's design are lifted directly from the original. Aside from the very similar colour layout, Huffer's head design is quite similar to the original toy (rather than the animation model). He's got a silver visor and a blue face, which looks like a faceplate from far away but is actually a movie-style "highly-detailed" mouth and cheeks. His upper arms are sculpted to resemble the original Huffer's exhaust pipe arms, which I didn't notice at first but can't keep from noticing now that I've seen it. Unfortunately his hands aren't homages to his original toy's claws - instead they're Movie-style hands with exposed inner workings. His legs are fairly generic, but with the workman-like look he's got going on elsewhere they fit nicely.

Huffer has articulation everywhere you would expect it: shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and neck. Unfortunately, his neck isn't on a ball-joint. His transformation mechanisms let you tilt the head back slightly, but beyond that it's restricted to looking from side to side. His waist isn't articulated either, even though there's really no reason why it couldn't be based on how he transforms. He also suffers from something that's a fairly common problem with recent Transformers - his lower legs are much longer than his thighs, which makes it very difficult to put him in a "down on one knee" pose. Aside from that I don't have any complaints about Huffer. He's well-balanced and holds the poses you can put him in pretty reliably without falling over.

Huffer features an alternate head, which is meant for his 'gestalt torso' mode. Without a squad of PCC drones from one of the five-packs the torso itself is pretty useless. The head can be deployed in his regular robot mode, although it's a bit oversized and looks like a frighteningly-cheerful version of G1 Menasor's face.

All in all Huffer's robot mode works very well. It looks good, it poses well and it's fun to play with.

Alternate Mode:

After his fairly simple robot mode, Huffer's highly detailed vehicle mode comes as a bit of a surprise. His cab is just covered with rivets, ladders, door handles and other details that I would have expected on a deluxe or bigger figure. On a scout, though, it was a very nice surprise. Unfortunately the back half of the alt mode isn't so nice, because his robot arms and two of his sky-blue gestalt connectors are very obviously folded up onto it.

Oddly enough, even though his robot mode is fairly big for a scout, his vehicle mode just seems tiny to me. For his size class I suppose he's really about average, but we get so few tiny semi trucks these days that a part of me just wants to go "aww... look at the cute baby truck!" when I see it.

In vehicle mode Huffer is mostly mustard yellow, with an orange hood and a lot of black detailing. As mentioned before, he also features a pair of obvious gestalt connection hardpoints that really jump out at you. They would be pretty obvious no matter what, but it's a shame they didn't cast them in the same colour as some of Huffer's other parts. Blue (albeit a darker blue) is already in his colour palette so it's not too jarring, but it's still something he could do without. It looks like all the Power Core Combiners have the same colour, so it's probably a misguided attempt to unify the line.

Huffer is a pretty neat small truck. He isn't anything special in this mode until you combine him with Caliburst, though.

Minicon:

Huffer comes with a Targetmaster partner, the Minicon Caliburst. Like Huffer, Caliburst shares a name and a colour scheme with a character from the original series. Unlike Huffer, though, this probably isn't intended to be the same character. Because although the original Caliburst was a Targetmaster, he was binary-bonded to a Decepticon.

Like Huffer, Caliburst comes packed in robot mode. His colour scheme is very simple: his torso, arms and lower legs are cast in transparent blue, while his 'wings', thighs and huge cannon are cast in solid grey. His face is painted silver, but he has no other paint applications to speak of. I'm not a big fan of transparent plastics used in this way - Transformers are supposed to be made of metal, not stained glass! Caliburst doesn't look all that bad, though.

His articulation is pretty limited, with arms that wiggle and legs (afflicted with the same tiny thighs that Huffer suffers from, alas) that are articulated at the knees and hips. You can't really put him into any poses, and the articulation he does have is all there to facilitate his transformation.

Caliburst can combine with Huffer in three different ways. The first and most ridiculous way is for Caliburst to form 'armour' that connects to Huffer's chest. This is ludicrous in two different ways. Firstly because if Caliburst actually stops any shots that would have hurt Huffer, Caliburst is dead and Huffer is unarmed. But second and most importantly, the armour mode looks like nothing more than Caliburst doing snow angels on Huffer's chest.

When Huffer is in vehicle mode, Caliburst can fold into a weapon that mounts on the Minicon hardpoint on his larger counterpart's truck bed. This works really well, because Caliburst bears more than a slight resemblance to a tow truck rig or similar piece of equipment. It also manages to hide a lot of the blemishes in Huffer's robot mode, retroactively making the bigger toy better.

Another gun mode (different from the first only in the most generous and imaginative of descriptions) attaches to Huffer in robot mode. This doesn't work nearly as well. Like most of the Armada Minicons that transformed into weapons, Caliburst is crippled by not having a handle. Huffer can only use him if Caliburst is connected to a Minicon hardpoint, and Huffer's only hardpoint is on the underside of his right arm. With Caliburst attached Huffer has a fairly sizable artillery piece hanging under his arm, which looks irredeemably silly. A shoulder mount would have improved things tremendously.

Although it completely subverts the point of them being Power Core combiners, I prefer to take Caliburst out of the equation entirely in robot mode. His gun barrel can be popped off pretty easily, and it fits snugly around Huffer's Minicon hardpoint. This lets Huffer carry a gun without looking like an idiot.

Trying to force four modes into something so small and then sapping away so much molded detail by casting the toy in mostly transparent plastic just wasn't a good idea. Caliburst's three alternate modes are Quickswitch-esque "move one part and call it something new" variations on the same one. He's is probably the best we're going to get for PCC Minicon weapons, but he's not especially good. It's a shame because we know from Universe Nightstick that Hasbro can do very nice Minicon-scale Targetmasters in this day and age. Caliburst just isn't one of them.

Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation Design: 4 - Intuitive, but depressingly simple. Caliburst's transformation is actually more complex than Huffer's. Huffer's "torso" mode and ability to combine with PCC drones compensates a little bit, but as a standalone toy he's pretty simple.

Durability: 9.5 - You'd probably have to use Huffer as a baseball to break him, and Caliburst is a pretty robust Minicon even if transparent plastics always worry me. These guys can survive a lot of play.

Fun: 8 - Huffer is very neat and fun to play with even if he doesn't really do anything special. Caliburst is pretty cool if you like Minicons, although he's not the best of them by a long shot.

Aesthetics: 8 - Huffer looks great in robot mode, and he looks great in vehicle mode if you attach Caliburst. Caliburst himself...not so much.

Articulation: 7 - Huffer could do with a few more joints, but he's pretty poseable overall. Caliburst is useless for posing except as an accessory, but as a Minicon that's sort of to be expected.

Price: 5 - Well...this is where things get a bit sticky. Huffer is a good toy...for a scout. But you're not paying the price of a scout for him. The Power Core Combiner two-packs are a few bucks more than an ROTF scout ($13 vs. $10 in Canada). Is a Minicon that I'll probably toss in a box and ignore after a few days worth the extra $3? To me, no.

Overall: 7 - If Huffer was a stand-alone toy this score would be higher, because I really like him. Caliburst drags the set down but they're still worth getting if you have the chance... Just maybe not at full price.
___________________________________

I'll post some pictures tomorrow, if I get the chance.

[Blackjack]

Name: Drift
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Ninja
Accessories: Long Sword, Short Sword (2x)

It's Drift! The first ever comic transformer to be made into a toy!

Except the Marvel G2 villain Jhiaxus got made into a toy (well, repaint, but it's still a toy) in 2003. And Fallen, the Dreamwave baddie, got an all-new Titanium mold in early 2007, before having his name used in the second live-action movie.

Really, Drift's portrayal in the All Hail Megatron storyline did not piss me off. I don't really mind original characters being inserted into a story—it adds flavour. But the key difference with Drift and, say, Jhiaxus or Grindcore or Straxus or Scrounge or Megadeath or the Demons or Rotorbolt or Primus or Hopper or Corkscrew or the Last Autobot is that Drift was so heavily advertised. If he had just appeared in the comic, people would probably only go 'huh, a new character. Cool.' and go on with it, just like what happened recently with Furman's Grindcore. But he was advertised as something 'not readily available in the transformers lore', and immediately he was given a spotlight issue and was shoehorned into a Robot Heroes book, and a miniseries, and IDW advertised that a toy would be made for Drift for the Universe line (It did not happen, by the way. Not until now, nearly a year later).

So, basically the character's a sword-wielding ninja who transforms into a sports car. He betrayed the Decepticons because of honour and all that. But unlike, say, Carnivac, who didn't kill his evil superior officer (Bludgeon) for being evil, Drift brutalized his after supposedly learning to be a good guy—he had this whole speech with Kup—and blew him up.

The problem is, he isn't something 'not readily available'. Ninjas have been around since Nightbird in the original cartoon, and later on guys like Animated Prowl, Jazz, Yoketron and Japan's version of Sixshot are all ninjas. Some of the Japan-original characters must be ninjas as well. Swordfighters? We've had them since Grimlock. Decepticons who saw the light? Well, we've had dozens of them as well... G1 Skyfire and Carnivac. The entire Dinoking team, Sixshot and the Cyberjets in Japan's G1. Leadfoot, Manta Ray, Electro and Volt in G2, Silverbolt, Dinobot and Blackarachnia in Beast Wars. Starscream, for all of three episodes, in Armada. The entire Decepticon faction defected between Armada and Energon, before turning evil again. Half of the Decepticon army in Cybertron became Autobots at the end of the series.

'Unavailable' my foot.

You see, if Drift hadn't been advertised as such, people wouldn't be pissed off. In fact, re-reading AHM Drift actually does not really intrude into the plot or Mary-Sue-ed to death. Rather, I think it's the Spotlight (which reads like a bad fanfic) and advertising and the general frustration with IDW that made Drift the new Wheelie.

That said, I will review Drift without any prejudices, no matter what I may feel about AHM.

And the obligatory name history.. The name Drift was first used in Armada, as the Japanese name for Mirage. It was later used for this guy.

ALTERNATE MODE

Drift's alternate mode is roughly based on a Nissan Silvia S15 stock car. He's predominantly white with red racing stripes. The white is a little bland, and it could do with more gray and red accents. However, for the most part it looks kind of okay.

The deco is a little different from the one that is designed for AHM. Instead of Drift's Japanese name (in katakana) it has the Japanese kanji character '?' which means 'samurai'. There are some minor differences, namely more red on his hood. Otherwise it's a perfect replica... Well, from what I can tell, anyway. Other than covers, the Robot Heroes book and Guido's sketches, Drift's alternate mode was never seen. In fact, other than the Robot Heroes kiddie book and the ongoing, Drift remained in his Cybertronian form throughout all his appearances. Of course, looking at Guido's design for his Cybertronian alternate mode, it's a smart move not to use it.

The plain white is broken up by transcluscent blue for the windshield and side windows, while the back ones are painted. The front air intake is painted silver while the headlights are again light blue. The back of the car has several red and silver detailing, and the wheels are black with silver interior. Drift doesn't look as good as, say, Classics Silverbluestreak or Movie Bumblebee, but then choosing white as a base colour, like Classics Prowl, usually lends to a bland alternate mode.

You could put his longsword (that's supposed to symbolize Drift's neutrality or something) on the latches under his car mode, but it looks stupid and works better in robot mode anyway.

ROBOT MODE

Drift's robot mode is broken up with more black and red, and a little gold on his shoulders, chevron and crotch. He looks at home beside most of the Classics crew. However, for being a ninja he has a lot of bulk at all the wrong places. Instead of looking powerful like Bludgeon, he looks ungainly. There's nothing wrong with the nicely-articulated arms, but his kibbly shoulders, and thick legs, as well as the doors hanging off his hips, all add to the bulk that makes Drift not look at all like a ninja.

That said, once you get over the fanboyish design he is a rather decent toy. He's a nice representation of the Earth-mode design, and even has his Cybertronian mode chest design behind the Earth-mode windshield chest. The head design is... well, I never cared much for the AHM head redesigns. Blurr's design, in particular, look ridiculous while Drift looks like the bastard child of a Gundam and a Transformer.

That said, Drift comes with three swords. The long one, a faithful reproduction of the big sword seen in the comics, can be latched onto Drift's back, which looks more sensible in robot mode than in alternate mode. Drift can hold the sword in a two-handed grip, like ROTF Bludgeon. The sword has the traditional Chinese words ???? (tian xia wu shuang) which means literally 'without peer under the heavens' or simply 'without peer'. It's read as tenka muso in Japanese kanji, with the same meaning. (Many Chinese characters and Japanese kanji are shared.) These, amusingly enough, aren't present in his comic appearances. Drift's two daggers are sheathed in his (unwieldy) car doors, and can be pulled out. I like how they placed the car doors as dagger sheaths, although it's a little too thick for my tastes.

All in all? Drift has a nicely done robot mode. It's a shame that his character leaves much to be desired.

Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation Design: 5/10 Transforming from car into robot is pretty well-designed, with some clever use of the car parts. However, putting it back into car mode is a veritable nightmare, with the door-sheaths refusing to cooperate.
Durability: 8/10 The long sword is made of rubber and can bend. The front halves of the car are held together very tightly and the tiny latches might break. Otherwise Drift is a solid toy.
Fun: 7/10 The swords and articulation lead to some nice fun with Drift. However, the sometimes-fiddly transformation doesn't help.
Aesthetics: 4/10 There's nothing special about the sports car alternate mode; it doesn't particularly stand out from the gazillion of better Autobot sports cars out there. The bland white paintjob doesn't help. The robot mode is close enough to the comic guy, but the thick legs, thick shoulders and the over-large dagger sheaths ruin the whole ninja angle.
Articulation: 7/10 Drift's toy is nicely articulated. He's got what you would expect from a modern deluxe class toy. The arms are well designed so he could strike a number of poses, including the aforementioned two-handed grip. However, the unwieldy shoulders cause some poses to look awkward somewhat.
Value/Price: 7/10 It's more worth it than, say, Cybertronian Bumblebee for the virtue of having multiple (and large) weapons. The toy's not bad, really... if it had been released as someone else it wouldn't have received such a negative response.
Overall: 7/10 Depends on whether you like him, I guess. Toy-wise he's decent, and to me he stands over half-assed classics toys like Cheetor or Tankane. He has large weapons, at least, and looks nice on display. Personally I would've preferred someone like Jhiaxus to get an all-new mold as the comic toy, but he's an okay toy. If you hate the character, though, there's nothing that could stop you from not buying him.

[Warcry]

(1) Huffer and Caliburst in robot mode
(2) Huffer in robot mode with Caliburst as a weapon
(3) Huffer in robot mode with Caliburst as armour
(4) Huffer in robot mode using the separated weapon, with Caliburst in robot mode
(5) Huffer in robot mode with his gestalt head

[Warcry]

(6) Huffer in vehicle mode
(7) Huffer in vehicle mode, with Caliburst as a weapon

[Warcry]

Name: Smolder
Minicon Partner: Chopster

No one holds a grudge like Smolder. Thanks to his combination with Chopster, he's got the power to see each of his enemies through.

Smolder is a first in a couple areas. In twenty-six years of Transformers he's the first Decepticon fire truck to get released. That's not entirely surprising, since Hasbro seemed to avoid 'evil' emergency vehicles before Barricade showed up in the 2007 movie. He's also the first toy to use the name "Smolder". That might not sound like much, but in the last few years it was rare enough to find a Transformer with a new name at all, let alone one with a new name that sounds good. That trend is getting reversed now though, with guys like Firetrap, Crankstart, Windburn, Buckshot and Smolder showing up in the next few months. Whoever is responsible for coming up with names at Hasbro has obviously been reading their thesaurus.

Smolder's fetching colour scheme made him the only member of the Power Core Combiner line that I was really looking forward to. I was planning to prioritize him over some of the other toys from other lines that I wanted to track down, but that turned out to not be necessary -- he popped up before any of them.

Robot Mode:

Smolder comes backed in robot mode along with his Minicon partner Chopster. He is mostly red with black forearms, thighs, shoulders and detailing on his legs. He also has some white highlights including the markings on his chest and the Decepticon badges on his shoulders. His face is painted gold and his eyes are red.

Unfortunately, he also has four gestalt connector pegs cast in sky blue that really stand out against the rest of his colour scheme. It appears that the combiner pegs on all of the Power Core Combiners are done in the same colour, which probably sounded good on the drawing board but turns out to be a terrible idea in practice. I mean, bright blue clashes with a red and black deco? Wow, what a surprise!

All sarcasm aside, after spending a few minutes fiddling around with him Smolder really doesn't impress. His legs are kibbly, with combiner ports, his vehicle's front bumper and a light bar all hanging off in different places. They don't really get in the way, but there's not much you can do with them to keep them from being unsightly. Smolder's shoulders are also problematic. There's really no way to position them so that they look good without sacrificing all of his shoulder articulation. His official robot mode has his shoulders pushed up so that the black bars that connect them to his torso are exposed. Doing that means that his elbows are connected directly to his shoulder joints, with no upper arms to speak of, and also gives him a very impressive set of shoulder towers that Ultra Magnus himself would envy. Pushing the shoulders down as far as they'll go gives him more human proportions but then his shoulders can't move at all, severely limiting his poseability.

With his shoulders in the 'default' position, Smolder is actually very poseable. His triple-jointed shoulders and double-jointed elbows mean that you can do almost anything with his arms that his shoulder towers don't get in the way of. He's got large (but unobtrusive) feet that make him very easy to balance, and his legs are double-jointed at the hips and single-jointed at the knees and ankles. Put him together with Chopster's axe mode and you can get quite a few dynamic poses out of him.

Like all of the Power Core Combiners, Smolder can turn into a torso that can combine with the drones from a PCC five-pack. Without the drones this isn't especially useful. If you wanted you could have him walk around using the combined-mode head all the time, but it's far too big for his body and looks incredibly silly.

Smolder's robot mode leaves a lot to be desired, but there are enough positives here that he's not entirely worthless. He actually reminds me of an Energon Omnicon, both in the way he transforms and because of the transparent-orange axe he wields.

Alternate Mode:

Smolder's alternate mode is a fire department 'brush truck', a type of vehicle used to fight fires in places where a full-sized pumper truck can't get to. I'd never heard of such a thing before, but a quick Google image search tells me that Smolder's a pretty good representation of the real thing. He's mostly red in this mode, with a white stripe running down each side, white FIRE lettering and a white, flaming Decepticon symbol. He also has a few black highlights, including his bumper, his front fenders, his wheels and the grilles on his rear storage compartment. It's quite a fetching colour scheme, all things considered.

Smolder features a lot of sculpted detail in vehicle mode. He has a highly-detailed front bumper and headlights, sculpted mirrors and doors, two fuel tanks behind the cab and a lot of detail on his squared-off rear section.

Unfortunately, the news isn't all positive. If you look at him from behind, his head, chest and fists are clearly visible, as are two of his sky-blue gestalt connectors. And if you look at him from straight ahead, it's pretty obvious that something's wrong with his proportions. The cab of the truck is very long and very wide, but not very tall at all. Either a hypothetical driver would have to crouch down really tight, or the truck is wide enough to seat four people across comfortably (which would make it too wide to drive on a standard 12-foot wide lane). It's only really noticeable if you put him beside another truck-mode scout, but parked alongside fellow Power Core Combiner Huffer you can't help but notice that that something isn't quite right.

Minicon:

OK, I'll get this out of the way first. Chopster? Really? You give the big guy a great new name like Smolder, and this is the best you can come up with for the Minicon?

Nitpicking aside, I'm afraid that Chopster really isn't all that good. His robot mode is very awkward, with a weird camera for a face, big guns instead of arms and axe blades for feet (not a soccer fan, I guess?). The fact that most of him (except for his dark grey arms and thighs) is cast in an ugly transparent orange doesn't help matters much, because a lot of his molded details are very hard to see. A dab of grey on his face and some bright orange on his arms are all he's got in the way of paint apps.

Chopster's got ball-jointed hips and shoulders and swivel-jointed knees, which gives him a fair amount of poseability for a Minicon. His axe blade feet also lower his centre of mass quite a bit, meaning that he stands up pretty well.

Like all of the PCC Minicons, Chopster has three alternate modes. Unlike Huffer's partner Caliburst, though, Chopster's modes actually look like three distinctly different things. When Smolder is in robot mode, Chopster transforms into the axe that gives him his name. Turning into a melee weapon when you've got twin machine guns bolted onto your shoulders is a questionable decision at best, and it's times like this when you realize exactly why the Decepticons always lose. Also, it doesn't so much look like an axe as it does some legs and machine guns folded up into something that vaguely resembles an axe.

Chopster can also transform into armour that can combine with Smolder. The basic idea of using your Minicon partner and only weapon as body armour is questionable at best, but in Chopster's case it actually makes sense. His machine gun arms can both swing freely in this mode, as can the main barrel of his weapon mode. And although it looks incredibly stupid it does give Smolder three independently-targetable weapons, something that's a lot more valuable than an axe when you're fighting a war.

Chopster's final mode is a three-barreled cannon. This mode alone would make him a wicked-cool Targetmaster and make me look the other way whenever I noticed one of his many, many flaws, except for one thing. Chopster isn't a Nebulan, he's a Minicon. And in Hasbro's enlightened opinion, Minicons absolutely have to Powerlink onto a larger Transformer. That means he doesn't have a handle, and that means that (a) Smolder can only use him when he's in vehicle mode (where he's got a usable Powerlinx port), and (b) virtually none of the toys released in the last five years can use him either. I know they did this with the Armada Minicons that turned into weapons and so I expected it, but it pains me to see a toy that could have been cool ruined because "things have to be this way".

Paint him a reasonable colour and stick a handle on the guy and I'd love him to pieces. But as it is...blah.

Transformation Design: Simplicity seems to be the order of the day for the Power Core Combiners, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Smolder is very intuitive, and Chopster is...well, a Minicon. 6/10

Durability: Smolder's kibblicious legs could be a problem, as could Chopster's transparent plastic ball joints. The overall impression given is of a very durable toy, though. 8/10

Fun: Smolder's shoulders make him more frustrating than anything. Chopster was this close to rescuing his partner in the fun department, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. 4/10

Aesthetics: Smolder is deformed, and Chopster is a creamsicle. If Smolder's colours weren't so gorgeous, they'd get a zero. 3/10

Articulation: The duo don't fare too badly in the articulation department. 8/10

Price: Power Core Combiner two-packs are pretty pricey when you consider what you're getting. You'd have to be looking at a very good toy to justify the cost in my mind, and these two just don't. 3/10

Overall: Smolder and Chopster aren't without their good points, and they're certainly not irredeemable like Universe Octane Tankor or ROTF Dirt Boss. But there's no way I can recommend them, either. 4/10
_____________________________

Pictures:

(1) Smolder and Chopster in robot mode
(2) Smolder with his shoulders 'down'
(3) Smolder holding an axe-mode Chopster
(4) Smolder wearing an armour-mode Chopster
(5) Smolder with his secondary head

[Warcry]

(6) Smolder in fire truck mode
(7) Smolder in fire truck mode, with gun-mode Chopster attached

[Blackjack]

Name: Thrust
Allegiance: Decepticon
Subgroup: Conehead Seekers
Function: Warrior
Accessories: Cannons (2), Missiles (2), VTOL Engines (2)

"My engines' roar is my enemies' song of doom!"

So, Thrust. One of the Seekers. Starscream's classics mold had been redecoed into every single Seeker bar Sunstorm. Out of the Seekers, Thundercracker, Thrust and Dirge are all exclusives to Botcon. The latter two were retooled with new wings by Japan's Henkei line as an exclusive.

So, back then, to get a Classics Thrust toy was very hard indeed, and I imagine they would fetch very high prices. The Botcon exclusive Thundercracker certainly had ridiculous prices in eBay. Then Hasbro had to go and release Thrust in their Generations line. Bet all those guys who bought the Botcon or Henkei versions are pissed off.

Thrust was actually the last Seeker that I remember if I list them one by one. He was part of the second year of Seekers, dubbed the Coneheads by the fans because their character models had their nosecones up. The Coneheads also had new wings and weapons.

Thrust is a mere bully who is actually a coward when push comes to shove. In theory, anyway... the lack of a defining story for him makes him not too memorable. He's always in the background. In the cartoon he stays in the background all the time, occasionally shooting at stuff or kidnapping handicapped human children. He got totally eaten by Unicron, but showed up later in season three. In the comics he also hangs around in the background until the writers forgot about him and he disappeared. In Dreamwave, Thrust remained mostly the same, remaining in the background and shooting at Autobots. IDW had him appear for one scene in Stormbringer, before they killed him, off-screen to boot. Poor Thrust.

Name reassignment history—the name Thrust was first used as a retool of the Seeker mold. He got VTOL wings based on a real-life unused concept for a modification of the F15 Eagle fighter jet. The name Thrust was then reused in Japan for a redeco of Machine Wars Megatron. He was a comedian, and was later mutated into Thrustor, a heavy retool of BW Dinobot. In Beast Machines, we had the next major Thrust, a Vehicon that was really Waspinator. Armada gave us another Thrust, a Decepticon jet that later worked for Unicron. In the Cybertron line the name Thrust was used as one of the Mini-Cons. More recently Thrust was used in the ROTF line as a redeco of Breakaway.

ALTERNATE MODE

Thrust transforms into a F15 Eagle fighter jet. Compared to Starscream, Thrust has got new wings and tail parts. The wings are thinner and placed further away from the cockpit compared to Starscream's, and the tail-wings are completely different. Thrust is mainly a rusty red, with dark gray for secondary colours. The cockpit is yellow, while a trim of white completes the paint job.

All in all, Thrust's alternate mode is well-sculpted, with lots of detail, including a chromed chair inside his cockpit, similar to the Henkei version. That's right—a Hasbro Classics toy with chrome. Stop the presses. The twin blasters attack to the underside of his wings. I like how they gave a slight black finish to the projectiles; it's a nice touch.

The real treat, of course, is the two VTOL engines that are unique to Thrust. While he's packaged with the VTOL engines tucked under the tail wings, you can easily detach them and mount them on the main wings, just like G1. Or, if you prefer, you could mount them on the underside of the wings as well, in a more sensible manner. In the same vein the cannons can fit on the same places that the engines can. It's a pity that the turbines don't spin, though.

ROBOT MODE

Thrust's robot mode is well designed. Initially, I was fearful of loose joints like what my Starscream v2 has, but Thrust shows no sign of mold degradation, which is good. Perhaps it's an effect of using the Ramjet mold? In any case, though, Thrust looks great.

There's not much to be said here that hadn't been said with other reviews of the Classics Seeker mold. It's well articulated, very close to the original designs both toy and character model, and well-detailed. More silver and yellow appear, brightening up Thrust's paintjob a little.

Thrust's facial expression is identical to Ramjet's, that is a stern, sombre look. It's white instead of black, though. Again, like Ramjet, there are two ways that you could leave the wings. You could swing it up like the G1 toy, leading to a Thrust that really looks like his character model. This is the one that the Hasbro photographer uses, and it looks better. However, the wings are too high up, and the VTOL engines make it look a little too busy, though, especially if the cannons are attached onto the shoulders. The alternative way, if you follow the instructions, is to leave the wings as it is in jet mode (but attach the VTOL engines!).

All in all, a very solid robot mode. The colour scheme is much better here than the bright Botcon one, and it's actually, for once, more show-accurate than the Henkei one. Japan might've done better toys for the other Classics figures, but Hasbro nailed Thrust.

Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation Design: 8/10 The Classics Seeker mold is well-designed, and it's really fun to fiddle around with it. The placement of the VTOL engines look better than the Botcon version, too.?
Durability: 9/10 Surprisingly, Thrust's joints are very solid, unlike the looser ones on Acid Storm or Starscream v2. Be careful with the thin parts of the wings, though.
Fun: 6/10 Thrust is a decent army builder. I do have a weakness for Seekers, so it depends on how you like him.
Aesthetics: 8/10 Thrust looks good. Better than Starscream or Ramjet, anyway. Certainly the darker rusty red is better than Botcon Thrust's bright red, and it doesn't have Henkei's white acrobat streaks.
Articulation: 8/10 Thrust has more articulation than Starscream, mainly because the wings and conehead don't get in the way. The cannons are a little too large to be shoulder-mounted, and he lacks a waist joint but it's still well done.
Value/Price: 8/10 Thrust is worth your money. Definitely better than hunting for the Henkei or the Botcon ones, which are insanely expensive. If you have them, though, no need to get this one.
Overall: 8/10 Not bad, really. He looks better than Ramjet, and if you're a fan of G1 Thrust this would be great for you. However, if you had earlier versions of this mold it's nothing special. It is a nice toy, though, even if the mold is overused by now. Granted, he is a nice nod to the fans who aren't willing to fork out insane amounts of money for a Botcon exclusive or a Japan exclusive.

[Blackjack]

Pictures:
1) Tank mode
2) Robot mode
3) Box Art (one of the few times I remember to photograph it)
4) Two-handed sword grip
5) Closeup of face

[Blackjack]

Pictures. Also included alternate positioning of the wings.

[Halfshell]

Waitwait... the new gimmick is Breastforce?

[Blackjack]

Breastforce. Heh, never thought of it that way...

Packing three 'alternate modes' into a Mini-Con when most couldn't even manage one is a stupid, stupid move. And transcluscent plastic is very ugly. Least they don't make sound effects anymore, eh?

[Warcry]

Waitwait... the new gimmick is Breastforce?

Breastforce had better partners.

Packing three 'alternate modes' into a Mini-Con when most couldn't even manage one is a stupid, stupid move.

Actually, I usually had complaints about the Armada Minicons' robot modes, not their alt modes. Four modes is too much for such a small toy, though. Hell, three modes is usually too much for a deluxe, so these little guys never really had a chance.

And transcluscent plastic is very ugly.

I can sort of understand why they would use it for weapons or missiles (although I don't really like it). Making 80% of a robot out of it, though? That's an odd choice.

Caliburst doesn't have it so bad, since his colours are fairly muted. Some of the other PCC Minicons aren't so lucky, though.