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numbat
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Post by numbat »

I think I will probably end up getting Tankor when he hits UK shelves, just because I do like the G1 character, but I won't be going out of my way.

I shall expect frustration!

New sale thread added with a range of Transformers including Masterpiece, Botcon, CHUG, RID, Movies etc.

Looking for MP-11T Thundercracker and MP-9 Rodimus v2 (Takara version with as few QC issues as possible).


Check out my new sale thread now!

Also items on eBay.
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Transformer Kamen
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Post by Transformer Kamen »

numbat wrote: I do like the Octane character, and liked the look of the concept art, and the photos don't look too bad...
Yeah. Whoever took the photos was a bloody genius, and as long as you display the figure from those exact angles Octane will look spiffy in real life too. :(

Definitely a disappointment, but I do think his robot mode looks pretty good, and his plane mode is passable.

Great review!
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Detective Barricade
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Post by Detective Barricade »

numbat wrote:Grand review!

I've proofed it - and it was a pleasure! It required very little correction or formatting. Thanks!

:clap:

The only things I'd say are:

- Generally, I think reviews work better when there are just a couple of sections - Alternate Mode and Robot Mode - and in some cases, where there are loads of them packed in to the toy or if it's a standard thing like ye olde planet keys, a Gimmicks section is a good idea (although I've only ever done that once, with Primus because he is totally jam packed). Gimmicks are a personal call. I do prefer to read about the articulation and colours in the relevant sections (Alternate and Robot Modes) as appropriate though, like you did in your review of Cybertron Wingsaber. It flows better that way. So your review may benefit from a wee touch of restructuring there, if you agree.

- Is the nose landing gear springloaded? You mention the two in the legs aren't.

Anyway - once again, good job! Keep up the good review writing, and I look forward to reading more!

:up:
Why thank you! I use a little something called WordPerfect (the typical word proceesor) to type it out, as it's Spell Check dictionary is a bit more diverse than the one here. I have a saved copy of the review format for this site, and I take hints from other reviews on other sites as well. But I do find by doing it the way I originally did it with this one, it really helps organize things!:D With Starscream though, his colors remain the same in either mode. I suppose I could do it like this, but leave the extra headings out as I put it all in the appropriate sections... I may try that for my next one!

And as for your question, no, the front landing gear isn't spring loaded. It's used as the 'catch' for his back section, which is spring loaded. It's just on a hinge.

Edit: I found a unofficial third mode for him: Ger-walk mode!:lol:
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Detective Barricade
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Post by Detective Barricade »

Is it just me, or is everything that brings him down end up coming from his back?
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Vincent
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Post by Vincent »

I thought this was well-written. If anything, this made take heed not to look at this toy's general direction.
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numbat
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Post by numbat »

Cool.

And, I know it seems easy and obvious, using a word processor, but you'd be surprised!

;)

New sale thread added with a range of Transformers including Masterpiece, Botcon, CHUG, RID, Movies etc.

Looking for MP-11T Thundercracker and MP-9 Rodimus v2 (Takara version with as few QC issues as possible).


Check out my new sale thread now!

Also items on eBay.
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Blackjack
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Post by Blackjack »

Never noticed that. Soundwave the gorilla. Will edit the review soon. :)
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electro girl
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Post by electro girl »

Treadshot A1 wrote:Great review!

Hmm...Beastbox and Sqwawktalk for 27.99...
Heres hopeing for the obligitory Hasbro repaint.
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Treadshot A1
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Post by Treadshot A1 »

electro girl wrote:Heres hopeing for the obligitory Hasbro repaint.
Wrong... It's Takara! :lol:

Although, with Ratbat already confirmed, i'm hoping for more casseticons, and this repaint will be definitely welcomed by yours truly.

Although, with the chance of repainting High Score 100, and Booster x10 already gone, this may turn out to be wishful thinking.
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electro girl
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Post by electro girl »

Treadshot A1 wrote:Wrong... It's Takara
Blue M'n'M red M'n'M they all end up the same colour in the end.
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zeoman4.5
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Review of BM Airraptor [proofed]

Post by zeoman4.5 »

Name Airraptor
Function Surveillance/Sharpshooter
Group Dinobots

"When the enemy is in my sights, he's still perfection.

A pinpointing perfectionist, Airraptor is the most meticulous member
of the Dinobot team. His attention to detail and eagle eye precision
is a result of his former work as an interplanetary surveyor and
navigator aboard the Axalon. Incredibly fast, capable of soaring up
to 250mph. Characteristically dive-bombs or strafes a Vehicon
detachment, usually flying past his targets before his ammunition
makes impact. Though extremely dexterous, Airraptor's fragile wings
are vulnerable to enemy firepower. Packs a quick deploying energy
destabilizer pistol.


Airraptor was one of the figures which I can't really find a purpose for my
purchasing him. I got him when I was a kid, during a very boring vacation.
He just caught my eye and being a kid that's really all the reason I'd need.
Airraptor is, like all of the Beast Machines Dinobots a pretty obscure TF in
the larger scheme of things. He is a repainted version of the mould used
for the Japanese BW2 Destron Archaedis. He was only used for a single
Wreckers Comic. He is introduced, and he and all
of the other Dinobots were killed. His name is an obvious homage to the
popular Beast Wars Maximal Airazor, I think... Any way there is little more to
say about his character.

Beast Mode
In beast mode Airraptor is an archaeopteryx, which if my amateur biology
research is correct is a type of extinct toothed bird that lived during the
time of the dinosaurs. He is very colorful, one of the most eye catching
figures in my Transformers collection. He is basically colored similarly to the
figure he borrows his mould from. His head, legs, claws, and back and edge
feathers are a type of deep yellow, Golden rod if my memory serves my right.
He also has a yellow-green color, sky blue, and some indigo striped on his
wings, back, legs, and neck. He is not very poseable in this form due to back
heaviness and the weak joints on his ankles. He really can only stand in a
perched position. Its a shame because he is relatively well articulated and
could be very poseable if his joints were tighter. His jaw opens, and his wings
can be moved up and down. He also has an attack mode, created by folding
out his hands and flipping out a pair of guns. He can also drop a pair of
feather shaped bombs from the ends of his wings. Very fun, but lacking in
display value. He does suffer from a single design flaw, his robot legs
show on his chest. Other than that no real problems.

Robot Mode
His robot form is just as eye catching as his beast mode. His still has the
same colors only more indigo in showing on his lower legs and a bit of silver
on his body and red on his helmet. He is very artistically designed, literally
pretty looking. The way he is armored with all of his feathered wings, its
easy on the eyes, and actually cool. His wings make his chest and back
plates and his beast back is his shoulder plate. His tail wing is the arm shield
on his right arm. His right arm is a regular hand, and his left is the beast head.
He has very skinny legs and pointy feet, the worst looking parts of his body.
His head is stream lined and very bird like, with a red mask and silver beard.
He has an orange spark crystal in his chest which is tucked under his wing.
So he looks good.

In articulation he is fairly well endowed, lots of ball joints. He is still not very
poseable due to the heavy wings. His main weapon is a blaster pistol that is
attached to his wrist, but looks like its gripped in his hand. The bombs do not
work in this mode very well. He is more of a show piece, but he can be fun too.

Marks out of ten for the following:

Price 8 When I got him he was $10 which was worth it, but now he is
much harder to find.
Durability 8 very sturdy, but not to the extreme.
Transformation 5 Fun not to difficult, very good design.
Fun 9 There is quite a bit of fun to be had, I mean he's a Dinobot,
that just adds up to fun.
Overall 8 He is a good figure and deserves a chance if you can find one
He doesn't bring back the same nostalgic feelings as some TFs but he is
very cool.
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Treadshot A1
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Post by Treadshot A1 »

Yeah, brown. Much later only, though.

I think Cassettes might be a little different from M&M's. :lol:

(i do realise that was figurative language)

Although, Takara is full of Chromey goodness. Hasbro? Not so much.
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Ackula
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Post by Ackula »

Nice review, but you missed one thing. As far as the history of the character goes, there was also a Soundwave in Machine Wars.

http://www.tfarchive.com/toys/reviews/mw_soundwave.php

You may want to include that in your history opener just for completeness ;)
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secretcode
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Post by secretcode »

Treadshot A1 wrote:Although, with Ratbat already confirmed, i'm hoping for more casseticons, and this repaint will be definitely welcomed by yours truly.
Wait wait wait... Ratbat has been confirmed?

Also, I'm not sure that the MW Soundwave should be considered Soundwave. It did start out as another figure. (Stalker I believe)
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Blackjack
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Post by Blackjack »

Oh yeah, Machine Wars. The only portion of the TF universe I can't remember. anyway, I'm gonna put it in, just for the sake of completion. Thanks for spotting it though :D:D:D

Ratbat, a redeco of the Cybertron Sideways figure, is confirmed, and is packaged two pack with Springer (well, actually a Cybertron Evac Redeco) and probably they will add a comic too (I think War Within volume 2).
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Gareth Infinity
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Post by Gareth Infinity »

I really like my re-issue Tracks (the only G1 Autobot car mold I've ever even touched) and I really like this thing's color scheme, but not for the prices I've seen it at.

Thanks for writing this up; as bad as you try to make it sound, this is another thing I'm gonna be looking for if I ever become rich.
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Kenori
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Post by Kenori »

Fixed a few word inconsistencies and such.
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Post by Kenori »

Blackjack wrote:Soundwave's pictures:
1) Soundwave car mode with a birdie on top
2) Soundwave robot mode with Laserbeak on hand.
3) Soundwave robot mode WITHOUT Laserbeak... or so it seems.
4) Soundwave wants to do a guitar solo

Blitzwing, you're up next!!!
The last pic, the back middle piece is supposed to slide up. you should only be able to see the very top of the main plastic part.

I'm talking about the piece that becoms his tail, you should slide the red and black part up.
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Blackjack
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Animated Blitzwing [proofed]

Post by Blackjack »

Blackjack here. Finally got Blitzwing done and out of the way. Gonna get a lot of flak for this one. Would do Oil Slick next, but someone had claimed him. Pics coming soon.

P.S. Does anyone have any idea what kind of plane and tank this Blitzwing is? I don't.
___________________

Name: Blitzwing
Alligeance: Decepticons
Function: Beserker
Alt Mode 1: Fighter jet
Alt Mode 2: Double Barreled Tank

"Whooo! I'm freaking out!"

Even by Decepticon standards, Blitzwing is totally insane. He's got three personalities packed into his cyberium-steel chassis, and he argues with himself almost as often as he argues with other Decepticons. The only person he listens to without interrupting is Megatron, because all three of his personalities are terrified of the Decepticon commander. He carries a superheater cannon and a hyperfrost emitter to burn or freeze his enemies.


The long-awaited (by some of us at least) Triplechanger Animated Blitzwing has been released. He got a slightly earlier release, as expected. In the Animated show, Blitzwing has a Quintesson-like split personality represented by a spinning face. Ironic, as he was the sole Decepticon that distrusted the Quints in the original G1 TV series... Hasbro has a weird sense of humor.

Like most of (Ha!) my reviews, I am providing a history section. The first Blitzwing is the G1, wildly popular due to being the 'first' triple changer (Wheeljack, Tracks or the Omnibots are quasi-triple changers released earlier than him. Wikipedia has spoken), having the alt mode of a tank and a MiG Foxbat. The second is a repaint of Brawl in the Movie card game. There is hope yet for him in TF2!! The third Blitzwing is... Um, this one. Simple and quick history. Heheh. Blitzwing, with the bad ass name, has been a favourite for fans, including me. For G1 episodes that stars Blitz, watch 'Triple Takeover' and 'Five faces of Darkness pt 3 to 5'. For Animated episodes, consider 'Sari, No one's home.' Oh, and Blitz gets into Dreamwave (where he is blown up) and IDW (where he gets whipped by Megs. And repaired. Lucky guy.)

The reason why Blitzwing is a triple changer. See this quote from 'Lost and Found': Icy: "I will choose this fighter jet." Hothead: "No, the assault tank!" "Jet." ''Tank!" "the jet." "Tank!" "Jet." "Tank!" Crazy: "Oh, ooh-hoo, why not scan both?"

JET MODE
In the animated series, Blitz turns into a squat jet. Not the deadly MiG his G1 counterpart was, though there are homages in design. Not sure what jet it is supposed to be, but the rear of the jet resembles Cybertron Sky Shadow/Jetfire, and can assume an 'attack mode' similar to him. Just bend it like in tank mode.

Blitz's jet mode, when I first caught sight of it in this forum, everyone, myself included, griped about tank treads visible in jet mode. But the treads have nowhere else to go. G1 Blitz's tank treads had the excuse of being not too detailed. Here? The tank treads are as visible as the jet wings.

Actually, the tank treads aside, the jet is quite a formidable-looking one. There is a slight gap in depth at the folding point during transformation, but how else can they make it work? The exhausts (cannons in other modes) can fire 'flames'. Joy.

The general appearance, tank treads aside, is 'just like on tee-vee!' Overall, a not-so-solid 'jet with tank treads' mode. No wonder Blitzwing loves to suddenly transform to tank mode while airborne so much. His jet mode is a mixture of nicely crafted jet details (i.e. jet intake) and horrendous kibble.

TANK MODE
And the tank mode. Cue the drum rolls. Well, looking at pictures gave me a 'meh' when I saw the squat and smallish tank mode. This tank mode resembles nothing I have ever seen. Well, when you squint and look at it from the front it looks a bit like G1 Sixshot. Either that or a bunch o' twisted plastic.

Despite being a squat tank, Blitzwing can fly in tank mode. Serious. He just falls right back down to earth. The jet's wings slide forward like armor protecting the front part of the tank. Not a subtle disguise (for the wings, not the tank), but it does the impression of actually belonging to the tank mode instead of just hanging pointlessly like the jet. The jet wings also have tiny red visors. Colors are the same between all three modes: black, purple and creamy.

In my opinion, once in the flesh, the tank mode is quite good. When you get used to it, you will ignore the squatness. Not as good as some other tanks, but for a triple changer...

ROBOT MODE
And here's the robot mode. Cue the drum rolls and the trumpets. The robot mode is great compared to the alternate modes. The robot mode is exactly like on the tee-vee, just like most of the other Animated toys. I suppose Blitzwing is the second strongest Decepticon, taking down all five of the Autobots. Yeah! I have not watched the particular episode to vouch for this, but I believe Wikipedia.

The cannons, although removable, cannot fold over the shoulder, and is stuck in an Onslaught-esque position. Shame, because if the cannons could do that, Blitz will look really bad ass. There are purple spring buttons on the wrists, but I haven't figured out what these are for yet. Probably for speed dialing.

There are some mentionable details such as 'ammo packs' on the belt, and, well folks, that's my review. Thank you for bearing with me. What? What was that? I missed something? Oh right! I missed the Quitesson-ish face! How could I? Oh-kay... I will detail each face with dialog from his conversation with a certain female colleague in "Transform and Roll Out."

The face is styled like wearing a desert hat with goggles on top. The face changing is a spinning gimmick on the back that works quite well. Detailing each one, first is a blue, icy 'elite type' strategist. This face has a monocle. "As usual your demeanor is as repulsive as that accursed organic mode of yours, Blackarachnia." The next is the red, fiery tough-guy persona based on Arnold Schwarzenegger, I think. "The name is Blitzwing, insect! Remember it, cause it gonna be the last thing you hear before I..." The third is the mad, freaky, funny, black jack-o-lantern face. "Sing it in song! Itsy-bitchy spider, climbing up the spout..." The final face is by far my favorite, making Blitz a comic relief that doesn't get the crap beaten from him every time. Sorry Waspinator. Yet another quote from 'Lost and Found'...

Hothead Blitzwing: Careful, you copper-clad klutz! You stepped in something!
Crazy Blitzwing: But with a few dancing lessons, you'll be light on your stabilizing servos like me. Cha cha cha.
Lugnut: Silence, Blitzwing! I did not follow this beacon halfway across the galaxy for dancing lessons! This was Megatron's ship!
Crazy Blitzwing: Ahaha, Starscream never did have a knack for parking.

Overall, the robot mode is the best. It has been growing on me and I appreciate the overall toy. Could do better though, like fixing the gap in jet mode, the tank treads, and if the cannons can fold over the shoulders. Ah well.

DURABILITY 8/10 Mine survived a couple of crashes. When he transformed from jet to tank mid-air. Seriously now, watch out for broken Blitzwings. I have seen one with the head-cockpit ensemble dropped off. And it is still in the box.
TRANSFORMATION 3/10 Quite easy.
PRICE 6/10 When is a toy too cheap?
FUN 8/10 I must say, Blitzwing is a fantastic triple-changing toy. Although with inaccurate alternate modes, still, as a toy he is fun to play with.
OVERALL 8/10 Blitzwing is a fun toy and I doubt anyone will say 'no' to that. However, the two weak alternate modes may not be good for display. But then, Grimlock is worse than him. Try him out. I was pessimistic before and I was proven wrong.
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Vincent
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Post by Vincent »

Cool review. Kind of disappointed, though. Been wanting him for so long and I wish he got a 10/10. Oh well.

Also, there actually is way to make the cannons point forward.

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transform ... ad-11.html
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