Transformers Generations – Power of the Primes: Liege Maximo w/Skullgrin

The last few years of Transformers Generations have been fantastic fun. Combiners have returned, Headmasters showed up in full force, and even a couple of Targetmasters have made cheeky appearances. Which brings us to the theme for 2018 – Power of the Primes.

Drawing on elements of Combiner Wars and Titan Masters (albeit indirectly), Power of the Primes also sees the return of the Pretenders, one of the more unusual gimmicks of the late G1 run. Now Headmasters, Targetmasters and Combiners are easy enough to slot into a canon explanation – but Pretenders really defy the (admittedly loose) in-universe logic. In the old storyline, a bunch of Transformers decided to kit themselves out in semi-articulated shells to better fit in and pass in human society. In principle this is fine, but I’m pretty sure no human was ever fooled by these designs.

Power of the Primes appears to have retained the names of the old Pretenders characters – but now the suits are repurposed as armour for the Prime Masters, as opposed to being independent entities. Who are the Prime Masters, you ask? Well, they’re similar in play pattern terms to Titan Masters; the Legends-, Deluxe- and Leader-class figures in the lines have slots that the Prime Masters can slot into, in order to provide a power boost. I guess it’s not totally dissimilar to the role of Mini-Cons in the Armada and Energon lines, though they don’t unlock new action features; it’s more cosmetic. In theory, you could pop the head off a Titans Return character and put a Prime Master in its place, though it would look a little weird.

In the mythos, they’re miniature robots that harness the power of the Primes, who are sort of the progenitors – gods even – of the Transformers race. Size really doesn’t matter, I guess.

Liege Maximo here is sort of a new character – there’s quite a mythos to the name itself, but it’s not totally clear how much of it applies to this toy. Presumably some of the tie-in media will fill these gaps in, but to me he seems a little small to be quite so…grand.

The Skullgrin armour was the bigger draw for me. It’s purple, which already puts it on my to-buy list, but it’s also one of the most heavy metal designs a Transformer has had in recent memory. A gigantic horned skull for a head, battle armour and a gigantic claw are all winning elements, and definitely help the figure pop on the shelf. There’s an impressive attention to detail on the sculpt too; even the interior panel has been decorated. If it had been totally blank, I don’t think anyone would have minded, and it’s little touches like this that keep me coming back to the line.  

That said, he’s not perfect. Articulation is limited to the arms swinging up and down, and the gun handle at his feet isn’t ideal for the look. The gun mode itself (not pictured) is kind of weak too, looking exactly like a Transformer lying on its face.   

Liege Maximo/Skullgrin is ultimately okay, and has left me with mixed feelings about the return of Pretenders. It hardly seems to have been a much-loved gimmick among the fanbase, and one must ask if design time and tooling might have been better spent elsewhere.

While I picked up a whole bunch of Titan Masters based on a mix of nice pricepoint, fun play pattern and good visual design, these figures are a much more mixed bag. The other two figures in this wave look horrendously ugly. Future waves? I’ll have to wait until I see them in person to make purchase decisions.  

Transformers Generations: Titans Return – Autobot Shuffler

I mentioned in my 2017 Roundup that the Titans Return range was one of my favourite things of last year. So it seems fitting that for the first review of 2018, we take a look at one of the Titan Master figures.

Being a huge sucker for prehistoric creatures, it’s actually a wonder I hadn’t picked up the mammoth-shaped Autobot Shuffler sooner. Largely it’s down to his Autobot status; though I have picked up a number of Autobots from this range, I am increasingly loath to by Autobots product. They don’t tend to fit into the larger collection, and space is increasingly at a premium within my house. But I made an exception for this little guy. 

Shuffler has three modes – the aforementioned mammoth, a tank and a gun for larger figures to hold. Typically, the Titan Master-scale figures look good in one or two of their modes and totally crap in at least one. Not so the case here; all of them look pretty good!  

In bot mode, Shuffler is a bit plain. It’s been a running complaint that there isn’t enough paint on the Titan Masters, even at the top-end models, and the same applies here. Even some eyes would have done wonders. However, his face is a little interesting by virtue of having a “snout” where his nose would be. It’s a nice sculpted detail. 

Shuffler’s mammoth mode has the rare distinction of appearing “complete” even when his head isn’t inserted into it. In fact, when he is inserted into the base body, the tab that sits on the back of his legs kind of makes it look like he has a big ol’ robotic dong. Hilarious.

The tank mode hides the elephantine look of the head more effectively than you might have thought. Shuffler serves as pilot, but if you leave him off the vehicle still has a nice mecha-style look to it.

While the gun (not pictured) is definitely the weakest of the modes, it still gives off a nice missile launcher vibe. The designers are to be commended for not simply trying to make the whole thing look like a giant pistol, which is something that has plagued a lot of the other Titan Master accessories. 

In head mode, he gives the appearance of definitely being a Decepticon, with his masked face and red eyes. Still, it’s oddly friendly, and I find myself sort of wishing that he had a “real” body to attach to. In fact, the only real downside about Shuffler is that he’s an Autobot. I mean, why cast him in these colours and NOT have him as a Decepticon? 

"Curse your betrayal, Shuffler!" 

Brand history is one thing, but he’s hardly a major character in the mythos. Recast him in a different colour scheme and call him a new character for the Autobots; new characters aren’t going to hurt. But in my personal canon, he will be serving strictly as a warrior for Galvatron. Maybe some kind of undercover spy, lurking among the Autobots until the time is right. Maybe even hijacking Autobot bodies in the process…who could say?

Though I only picked him up quite recently, Shuffler has rapidly become of my favourite figures from the Titans Return line. He’s sturdy, yet easy to transform, offers multiple play patterns and is easy to carry around in your pocket. Well done Hasbro.   

Transformers Generations: Titans Return – Hardhead

Company: Hasbro

Year: 2016

Titans Return is trickling out in dribs and drabs across Sydney, and I am almost as excited as Big Kev used to be. I’ve already taken a look at Crashbash and Terri-Bull – and I plan to look at Galvatron in the next…ooh…week…?

Though I’m DECEPTICONS 4 LYFE™, Hardhead has such a cool design I couldn’t pass him up. Hopefully though, there will eventually be a Decepticon version released, preferably in some kind of purple, black and grey colour scheme. 

Hardhead isn’t a character I’d ever heard of before, but he was an original Headmaster back in 1987, paired with his partner Duros – now known as Furos, presumably due to trademark reasons. He’s primarily green and grey, though has black treads and a couple of yellow bits here and there. While the concept of transforming from a masked robot through into some kind of Cybertronian tank isn’t really new, this figure is an example of how the Titan Masters concept really shines. Hardhead’s head – Furos – pops off, turning into a fun little robot of its own. Furos can then be stored in the cockpit of the tank, giving it a little driver. Or alternatively, part of his cannon pops opens and he can be placed in there as a gunman. It’s such a small thing, but it’s immediately elevates it several notches above just about any other tank Transformer out there

As we know, correct scale is virtually non-existent for Transformers – but I like to think of the Titan Masters being around human size. This works quite well with Hardhead, and I’ll probably keep it as my yardstick for future reviews too.  

Hardhead’s transformation is that rare blend of easy and memorable, while not being dull. He has a couple of tell-tale signs of being designed by computer rather than by hand, but overall it’s a much smoother process than I have had with a larger Transformer in quite a while. Were that they were all so well-engineered.

Articulation is also excellent – a (detachable) ball-jointed head, ball-jointed shoulders, double-hinged elbows, cut wrists, ball-jointed hips, cut thighs, swivel-hinged knees (due to the transformation mechanism). If there was one thing missing that I’d like to see included, it would be a waist joint – but that’s just the nature of the figure’s transformation, and I can live without it. Even better, he’s still easy to keep standing – he doesn’t have that whole vibe of being able to be blown over in a stiff breeze which plagues some of Hasbro’s more heavily articulated figures.  

In vehicle mode, the tank’s treads are moulded rather than moveable, but they have been equipped with some discreet miniature wheels so they can be rolled along the ground. Additionally, there’s a few spots on the treads where other Titan Masters can be attached – you can up to six ready for action once you factor in the two cockpits. My only other Titan Masters are Decepticons, so they will not be taking Hardhead up on the offer -- but it's nice to know what the issues are head.

Hardhead has the rare distinction of being a Transformer that has equally cool bot and alt modes, something few have managed to achieve in the 30+ year history of the brand. Irrespective of your allegiances, he is a truly must-own toy. Highly recommended by the Lupine Book Club.

Transformers: Titans Return -- Crashbash

In the 4.5 billionish years this planet has existed, dinosaurs have been pretty much the coolest creatures to ever walk God's green earth. Sure, humans weren't around for their heyday -- but ever since that first Megalosaurus bones were discovered back in 1824, they've had a stranglehold on popular culture, showing up in all sorts of bizarro places -- not least of which was Transformers.

Titans Return is pretty much the reintroduction of the Headmasters concept to the Transformers franchise, last seen in the late 1980s. Basically, the theme introduces the concept of Titan Masters – small Transformers who can combine with larger ones to supplement their power by replacing their heads. While it’s an excellent idea for establishing a play pattern, it’s slightly disturbing in storyline terms – two robots bonded together for the indefinite future, the larger stuck in a useless state when the head decides to pop off and move around on its own. I’m sure that’s not quite how it works, but it’s the version of events that sticks in my mind.    

However, as these transforming heads are intentionally designed to be interchangeable with one another, Hasbro has taken the novel step of selling some heads separately, using it to reintroduce some characters who presumably might not have gotten a release in another form. But though a head that transforms into a teensy robot is pretty cool, it's a little thin for a regular release...so each of these figures also comes packed with some kind of vehicle that can also be transformed into a weapon -- which can then be used either by the miniature pilot or by a larger figure. Pretty cool, huh? 

Considering that Hasbro tends to overprice TFs a little, I expected these heads to sell for $15-20 each, but I found this one at Hobbyco for a much more reasonably priced $11.95. This means they'll probably be $9-10 at Big W/Target/Kmart. The first wave offers some good options, but I was naturally enough drawn to Crashbash -- a purple Decepticon t-rex? Had I died and gone to heaven??? After recovering from this  near-death experience, I seized it tightly and knew that I had to buy it. It would go with my bizarro collection of other Decepticons, which currently numbers at somewhere between "waaaaaay more Transformers than I had as a kid" and "why didn't I buy a Thundercracker when I had the chance, aftermarket prices are redonk now".

Now, Crashbash is a character that was released back in the 1980s, though he was then known as "Squeezeplay" and was a kind of crab-person thing. Pretty cool, but the only real resemblance this modern version has to his 1980s incarnation is in the head mode. The T-rex look is a new one. 

And it's awesome!!! Crab people are cool and all, as South Park taught us years ago -- but T-Rex alt mode conquers virtually all other contenders. It's made by combining the Titan Master and the weapon mode together, Ingeniously, the legs become the lower half of the jaw, while the Titan Master's arms become the T-Rex's arms. You can also cheat a gun mode for bigger figures by fiddling with the legs and tail while using the "cannon" as a gun handle, but I haven't included a pic here.  

The Dragon (weapon) mode, by contrast, is neither here nor there -- it looks kind of like some kind of dino-chicken hybrid, and I don't really plan to make much use of it. It's nice to give the Titan Master something to stand on to. 

And head mode? Well, with the purple colour he might look nice on Galvatron. But I think he's going to stay in T-Rex or Titan Master mode most of the time. Though it is cool that the Titan Master's own head is a miniature facsimile of the larger head.

Now, I do have some minor criticisms. First, the promotional render makes this toy look as though it's kind of lavender in colour, but the real toy is much darker, more of a magenta colour. This isn't a problem -- I prefer magenta -- but the increasing reliance on renders in Hasbro's promotional material is giving a less and less accurate impression of what the final toy is actually going to look like. Going back to hardcopies really would be a better option, even if their paint jobs tended to be a little... questionable.  

Secondly, be warned -- the Titan Masters are a bit fragile, so have a spare or two handy if your kid plays rough. I'm quite gentle, and I've already had a couple of white pressure marks appear on him. 

Overall? If this toy had existed when I was a little kid, I have little doubt that it would have been one of my favourites. There's something indisputably awesome about a gigantic chunky figure like Devastator, but I have a lot of love for figures that are near capsule-toy size too. Ideally, I'd build an army of these guys...but I'll probably limit myself to just to or three. I vote that these separately-sold Titan Masters are a big success!  

Transformers Generations: Combiner Wars – Cyclonus

Company: Hasbro

Year: 2015

Originally debuting in Transformers: The Movie back in 1986, Cyclonus has never quite achieved the fame of some of the A-list characters of the franchise, but that doesn’t mean he’s not pretty awesome in his own right. Controversy still dogs his G1 origins – is he a reformatted version of Skywarp, or Bombshell? 30 years on, no one is really sure. For good reason, more recent continuities have avoided the question altogether by simply making him a separate character. IDW continuity currently has him as a good guy, serving aboard the Lost Light – but here, he’s all villain.

Retooled from the Aerialbot Silverbolt, Cyclonus is (to my eyes) a much better use of the mould, primarily thanks to his purple colour scheme. It’s weird; I don’t like purple all that much in my day-to-day life, but I have a real weakness for purple on Transformers.  

Cyclonus is a little unusual in that he doesn’t have an accompanying wave of bots to serve as his limbs when in his combined Galvatronus form. According to the box, his “official” limbs are Sky Dive, Air Raid, Dragstrip and Breakdown – but his bio also indicates that he can wield hypnotic power to make any compatible bot a potential limb, including Autobots. Personal canons can obviously run wild at this point. Currently I own three compatible bots, so if I ever buy a fourth (and I probably will at some point) I may actually build Galvatronus. Keep an eye on my Instagram (@lupinebookclub).  

The transformation is simple in principle but quite frustrating in execution. DO NOT LOSE YOUR INSTRUCTIONS if you can help it; I had an absolute pain of a time trying to track down some online after mine vanished into the aether. But the transformation essentially amounts to a sort of shellformer, like most of the Aerialbots did -- fold the nosecone up and then fold away the limbs to create the vehicle mode. 

Speaking of which, the vehicle mode is supposed to be some kind of Cybertonian plane, but as it shares a mold with Silverbolt it essentially amounts to a purple Concorde jet. Which is pretty great; Concorde jets were amazing to look at, and it's a shame that they're no longer in service -- the speed at which they could travel between countries was incredible.  

(Side note: in a curious twist, the fins on his on the back of his vehicle mode are actually assembled incorrectly in the box – they’re flipped the opposite way to the original G1 toy. You can pop them off and reattach them easily, but they do look fine in their “incorrect” form – they’ve been corrected for these pictures though.)   

In bot mode, articulation is pretty good – ball-jointed head, swivel shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, swivel-hinged hips, cut thighs and hinged knees. The neck doesn’t have a lot of motion, but his shoulders, biceps and hips are ratcheted, so they’ll stay put – and also keep everything sturdy when in Galvatronus mode.     

Accessories are always kind of ordinary with Transformers these days – the fact that the main toy can transform is really the main draw – and Cyclonus continues that trend. He’s armed with the same weapon as Silverbolt, but this time it’s been cast in a greyish silver. It splits into two pieces – a shield and a gun – but I think it looks a lot better as one long rifle, myself.  

Dubious accessories aside, Cyclonus makes a fine addition to any Transformers collection. As a big ol' purple Decepticon, he was a near essential purchase as soon as I laid eyes on him, and he continues the high standard that the Transformers Generations line has been setting for some years now. He's mostly gone from shop shelves now, but you may still be able to find him kicking around at a Target or Kmart. Recommended.  

Transformers Generations: Combiner Wars – Swindle

Company: Hasbro

Year: 2015

I haven’t reviewed a Transformer in quite a while, but I have a couple more planned for the next couple of weeks…including one particularly big one that’s been eyeing me off from the shelf for a few months.

Though I’m definitely not all-in on the line, Combiner Wars continues to go from strength to strength with the release of the component Decepticons for Bruticus. Bruticus and his component Decepticons received figures relatively recently, during the 2012 Fall of Cybertron subline of Generations. However, as these were based on the game, they weren’t very G1-looking, and the actual execution got a bit of a mixed reception. But truth be told, I don’t remember Bruticus at all from my younger years of Transformers fandom. I don’t remember seeing any of his component toys (maybe Blast Off), as by the time I was old enough to really be interested in Transformers, the G2 re-releases were the ones on store shelves. Bruticus got one in 1994, long after they’d dropped off my radar.

Basically, Swindle is new territory for me, so you get to undertake the magical voyage of discovery with me. Apparently Swindle is a heavy retool of Rook (the Protectron), but they’ve done an impressive job of making him look totally different. He transforms between ‘bot and some kind of army jeep, just like the G1 version, but is now a little less squat and obviously a lot more articulated. The articulation is pretty much what you'd expect, and he moves very well. The main noteworthy feature is that he seems to have some sort of side-to-side swivel on his ankles -- it's surprisingly not part of his transformation, but it helps him stay balanced for deeper poses.   

On another note, I tend to prefer my Transformers without humanoid faces, but the purple sunglasses are a nice 80s retro-futuristic throwback, which in my book gives him an edge over some of his other befaced Decepticons.        

Swindle’s colour scheme is a nice desert camouflage in vehicle mode, but when you transform him to bot mode he’s actually got a lot of black and purple, along with a bit of dark, metallic grey. It’s not dissimilar to the colour scheme the Constructicons had back in G2, though somewhat more realistically executed (though I use this term loosely as realism doesn’t really factor in to Transformers). But speaking of G2, there will apparently be a G2 colour scheme repaint box set of Bruticus later this year too – I think I’ll pass on that one though, it’s a little too 90s neon for my tastes.      

And for those who like the mould but not Decepticons or the colour scheme, you’re in luck! Swindle has undergone a further retool to become Autobot Hound, who's be part of Sky Reign (who looks awesome, by the way).

In addition to his gun and his hand/foot piece for becoming part of Bruticus, Swindle is also packed with a copy of Robots in Disguise #12, which has been rebranded as Combiner Wars #4. It’s a good read – and reminds me that I need to pick up some of the IDW compilation – even if it doesn’t actually include Swindle in there. Still, that’s oddly appropriate, given that Swindle’s characterisation is all about ripping people off.   

I don’t plan to complete Bruticus; his combined form is pretty cool, but some of the regular bots just don’t grab me. But overall, Swindle is a great standalone character for any Decepticon collection. And even if you don't want Bruticus, he still works as a Cyclonus limb too.   

Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars Optimus Prime (Voyager Class)

Series: Generations

Company: Hasbro

Year: 2015

RRP: $50AUD

 INTRO

I am a Decepticons man through and through, but Optimus Prime nonetheless remains pretty much the best Transformer out there. But as a kid, I didn’t actually own very many Transformers and Optimus Prime was certainly not one of them. Though my memory is probably not totally accurate, I think he was a pretty expensive toy even then – probably around $100ish by today’s standards. I only knew one kid who had him, and believe you me I was jealous.

Though I came close to buying one back in Transformers: Armada days, I never pulled the trigger on it. So today I present to you the first Optimus Prime I’ve ever owned. Was he worth the years of waiting (since 1991)? Read on to find out!

OPTIMUM PLAYABILITY

The thing I like about the Generations theme is that they pretty much always strike a good balance between kid’s toy and adult collectable. They’re reasonably well integrated with one another, so even though certain series within the theme (like Fall of Cybertron) are designed to be faithful to their source material, they don’t look radically out of place when viewed as part of a larger whole. I guess it’s like a “Greatest Hits” line. More dedicated collectors than I may disagree, of course, but other than the Masterpiece range, I think it’s the best Transformers line on the market.     

Optimus here actually has three modes – robot, truck and head/torso of Ultra Prime. And not for the first time, I will complain about the instructions included. Hasbro needs to switch to using either photos or full-colour instructions – some of the instructions are frustratingly unclear – but fortunately Optimus is relatively straightforward to change. Still, though… 

As is typical of all Transformers lines, scale is a joke. In real life a truck is noticeably smaller than an F-16 fighter jet, yet Optimus towers over Starscream, for example. Though I think he looks kind of right next to Devastator in bot mode; I base my idea of scale on how big characters “should” be in my own personal canon. Optimus should be big, as he’s extremely powerful and the leader of the Autobots. But it’s okay for other bots to be bigger – even Megatron. It’s a pretty loose standard but it’s helped me avoid a ton of frustration over the years.    

The truck mode is perfectly serviceable. The edges are a little too rounded for my preference – I like my trucks blocky, rather than streamlined – but it’s still satisfyingly chunky. Kids will have a lot of fun driving him around, but I’ll probably keep him in bot mode most of the time.  

I haven’t even bothered switching him to Ultra Prime. Though I’ve bought a couple of Aerialbot Combiner Wars figures, I’m interested in Optimus more as a solo character – and some of the bots who are his “official” companions are not Transformers I’m interested in buying at all. Still, the figure does look cool – so I may do it one day.   

The real highlight for me is the bot mode. It’s not spectacularly different from most of the other 493287409325790732095732509 different Optimus Primes that have been released since 1984, but it’s a good distillation of the basic elements. Blue head, red body, blue legs, with grey/silver accents in the appropriate spots. Nothing flashy, nothing outrageously out of the ordinary – it’s exactly what I want for my first Optimus Prime. He has all the main points of articulation that you’d want, but some are a little less mobile than you might like. A lot of this has to do with allowances needing to be made for not only his truck mode but for his Ultra Prime mode. Nonetheless, the designers have done a good job of making him as poseable as possible, while still minimising kibble.     

My main nit was that I think the head is just a little too small, even allowing for the necessity of transformation. No doubt a 3rd-party company will release an upgrade kit, if they haven’t already.  But the main point of contention is likely to be the lack of trailer. I don’t terribly miss it myself, but it would have been radical to see how the designers fit it all into the Combiner Wars aesthetic. Still, the money spent on additional tooling would have driven the price of the figure up to a (personally) unacceptable level. And I’d rather have none than one of those cardboard ones that have been included in other Optimus releases.

ACCESSORIES

Optimus comes with two guns, which can also combine to form one larger one (presumably for Ultra Prime mode). I would have liked them to look a little more like his G1 pistol, but as guns taken on their own merits, they’re pretty darn cool. They don’t sit terribly deep in his hands, due to the unusual shape of their handles, but they can be stored on his “legs” when he’s folded into truck mode.   

He’s also packaged with a trading card, which is likely to vanish into the ether within the next couple of weeks. Cool art, but nothing to get too excited about.   

AVAILABILITY

Most of the Transformers: Generations figures sell out like nobody’s business in Sydney – and once a wave has gone, that’s generally it. But a couple of the Voyager Class figures, including Optimus here, seem to have gone through a couple of releases and actually been restocked. Incredible! So though he’s been out for a few months, you may still be able to track one down. I believe there’s also some kind of white repaint on the way – I assume it matches something going on in the IDW comics, but I don’t know.  

OVERALL

So, does he live up to more than 20 years of expectations? Well, no. I don’t think any toy can really live up to those kind of expectations…well, maybe the Masterpiece version. But at $50AUD, this is a great, cost effective way to get hold of a nicely designed, well-articulated Optimus Prime. It may not be the classic that the 1980s toys where, but it can certainly move a lot better!

As a toy, he’s no Devastator – but he is an essential addition to any Transformers collection.  Recommended for those who need a good, all-round G1-inspired Optimus. 

Funko Legacy: Nissa Revane

Company: Funko

Series: Funko Legacy – Magic the Gathering

Year: 2015

BACKGROUND

Magic: The Gathering. A card game beloved by millions around the world. It’ll steal your free time and even more of your money than Warhammer. I whiled away many hours myself with the game back in mid-high school, but I didn’t have the budget, skill or the inclination to make a more long-term investment in the game.

It’s also inspired quite an in-depth backstory, which I haven’t kept up with since around 1999. This seems to have come to the forefront a lot more over the last few years; there used to be a novel released for just about every set of cards release but now Hasbro has expanded into additional merchandise – including the subject of today’s review, action figures.    

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

The prototype shots of these guys looked incredible, and the sculpting seems to have made it through to the finished product; Funko have obviously invested a lot of time and effort into translating these characters into 3D. The only real area I don’t like is the back of the hair; it seems a little under-detailed, but that’s not the end of the world.  

Here’s the articulation breakdown:

*ball-jointed neck (totally immobile)

*swivel-hinged shoulders

*bicep swivels

*hinged elbows

*swivel-hinged wrists

*ball-jointed torso

*ball-jointed hips (fairly immobile due to the skirt)

*double-hinged knees

*rocker ankles

There are a few joints that could be added – one at the waist for instance – but it’s perfectly serviceable in terms of articulation. The main issue I had was that one of the knees was warped right of the box, which left quite a sour taste in my mouth. It could probably be straightened out with a hair-dryer though.  

PAINT

Paint is cleanly executed, but it’s a little flat. Though I understand we’re no longer living in a ToyBiz c.2004-06 era, a few bits of shading and highlighting wouldn’t have gone astray. However, the various tattoos (are they tattoos or warpaint?) are particularly well-executed.   

OVERALL

All things considered, it's a little odd Hasbro didn't just keep production of these figures in-house and re-use a whole bunch of Marvel Legends molds. Nonetheless, I was excited to see how the line from Funko turned out – and did really enjoy the POPs they did based on the same characters – but I think the execution is a little lacking. The warped knee is disappointing, but it’s not a deal-breaker. I can’t quite pinpoint what it is, but I’m left feeling a little underwhelmed by the whole figure, but I think it’s mostly to do with the paint. I’m curious to give another figure from the line a go – especially Garruk – but I’m currently in the once-bitten, twice shy category.

Spider-Woman (Marvel Legends Infinite: Thanos Wave)

Series: Marvel Legends 

Year: 2015

Company: Hasbro

BACKGROUND

So, here are with Spider-Woman, another Marvel Legend. As with Captain Marvel, I’m pretty sure I’ve read virtually none of the comics that Spider-Woman appears in. Maybe an Avengers comic or two; that would be about it. But I’ve always thought her costume design was great – so simple, yet so striking. In fact, until this year it’s been essentially unchanged since it debuted in the 1970s (and the original is substantially better than the new one, too). 

Jessica Drew has had both a Marvel Legend and Marvel Select figure in the past. While both were adequate (and even pretty good on some points) at their time, they’re both showing distinct signs of age. So now we get a very welcome update.  

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

Spider-Woman has the following articulation:

*Ball-jointed neck

*Swivel-hinged shoulders

*Swivel biceps

*Swivel-hinged elbows

*Pegged wrists

*ball-jointed torso

*cut thighs

*double-hinged knees

*rocker ankles

All of it works well; some of it was a little tight straight out of the box but not unworkable. Best of all, she actually stands up properly! Not nearly as much fussing around as Captain Marvel or Scarlet Witch.

Spider-Woman uses the same base body as Captain Marvel – which I suppose makes sense seeing as they’re apparently besties in the comics. While this is good for the most part, I think it would have actually made more sense to use the “leotard”-style body that Scarlet Witch had (and swap figure Hellcat uses). It would have given her just that little bit more room for posing her legs. It wouldn’t make much of a difference on some characters, but on someone who’s meant to be as agile as Spider-Man, it seems like a bit of an oversight. It’s a little more irritating as she actually does have Scarlet Witch’s hands too. With that said, Hasbro and ToyBiz have both have a mixed history when it comes to depicting the female form so I think this is an overall good compromise.

The only new feature is her head, which captures the look of the costume quite well. Her hair is quite hard plastic, so you’re locked in to a few specific poses, but this is a common thing with female action figures in general.    

ACCESSORIES

Jessica has two different sets of arm webbing – one spread wide for a gliding look, and another set that is folded, for when she’s doing things like keeping her hands by her side. I’m not sure if it’s a perfect solution to the webbing problem, though. The old figure had cel-style plastic stuck to the arms, which seems to crack and rot over the years. This is better than that but I think softer, more flexible plastic should probably have been used.  

Some kind of energy blast would have been nice, like with Captain Marvel, but I can live without it.

Additionally, she comes with two Build-A-Figure parts – Thanos’ head and one of his arms. I’ve seen the completed figure and I’m not overly impressed (he doesn’t look big enough to me, for one thing) so I think these will just go on eBay.    

PAINT

For the most part, the paint is of a very high standard. Some of the thick black lines are a little wonky around the edges, but there’s nothing so major that it can’t be overlooked. Though there are some minor flaws (like the yellow on the belly being a little thin) everything looks pretty good from a distance and there aren’t any major problems. The only thing I think is missing is some blue highlights on the hair; currently, it’s all solid black.

Interestingly, there are a number of orange highlights on some of the yellow areas of the figure, though they don't really show up in the picture. They’re quite subtle and help break up what could otherwise appear as very flat surfaces.    

OVERALL

I’m still quite new to the Marvel Legends range, owning 4 at this point. But so far I like the series and could see myself continuing with it in the future. All that I’ve bought so far have been of roughly equal quality, and Spider-Woman continues that high standard. She may not be especially innovative in her approach, but she’s consistently well-executed and probably my favourite Marvel Legend in my limited experience so far.   

Captain Marvel (Marvel Legends Infinite: Allfather Wave)

Captain Marvel

Series: Marvel Legends 

Company: Hasbro

Year: 2015

BACKGROUND

No, not that Captain Marvel. Rather, my Marvel Comics kick continues with yet another character I really know very little about.

In spite of sharing a name with the company the character is from, Captain Marvel is actually fairly C-list – the original iteration was probably best known as the superhero who died and actually stayed dead for more than 5 minutes. But the last couple of years there’s been a bit more emphasis on promoting the current Captain Marvel – Carol Danvers, who’s previously spent most of her career as Ms Marvel, and will apparently be getting her own film in 2018.

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

Captain Marvel is the swap figure for Scarlet Witch as part of this wave – both of them are released in identical boxes, which have been bestowed with the name “Maidens of Might”. Apparently the original concept behind these swap figures was that they would be more or less the same figure, with a few key details (like the head or paint) different. However, these two figures look to share barely any (if any) pieces between them at all. I think the hips, thighs and knees are the same, but that looks to be about it.

Sculpted with short hair, Carol has been sculpted with a sassy expression, much more Anglo-American -looking in comparison to the Eastern European Scarlet Witch. Her body looks fairly generic, with no sculpted details, aside from her sash. She's fit, with a few curves thrown in here and there. Not overly muscular – with the exception of the thighs, which look just a shade too large in comparison to everything else, to my eye. Realistically, you could probably use it for a lot of different female characters and people would say “yeah, that looks about right”. Such is the nature of parts re-use in modern toymaking. However, this shouldn’t be taken as a negative; it looks perfectly fine and doesn’t enter into the outrageous objectification that often affects women in comics.  

She’s got the following articulation:

*ball-jointed neck

*swivel-hinged shoulders

*swivel biceps

*ball-jointed torso

*swivel-hinged elbows

*swivel-hinged wrists

*ball-jointed hips

*cut thighs

*double-hinged knees

*rocker ankles

No waist joint, but this isn’t a bad thing; it would have broken the sculpt and made it look quite ugly. The shoulders were quite stiff; this is at least in part due to the relatively thick paint on them. Additionally, the ankles don’t really move from back and forth; just side to side. I suspect, though I can’t be certain that is because the feet are new and haven’t gelled properly with the existing calf/ankle piece.

She’s got flat feet, rather than heels like Wanda, but her centre of gravity is a little funny so it was still quite tricky to get her to stand. You’ll be able to do it with a bit of work, but it was a little annoying nonetheless.  

PAINT

There are some impressive little details on Carol, but they’re not immediately obvious at first glance. She’s been given buttons on the forearms of her gloves, as well as the “star and stripes” design on her chest. The stripes carry over to her shoulders, where the paint gets a little thick, though still looks good on the whole. Also, both her hairpieces look great, thanks to the wash that’s been applied.  

The yellow stripe down the centre of the costume doesn’t quite align with the chest area, but it’s not massively noticeable. There are also few spots of dark blue slop spotted around on the red, but your chances of being able to find them are probably mixed – some are in spots you just won’t be able to see while the figure’s in the box. Last but not least, the eyes on her head are a little off-centre from the sculpted detail, but as they’re both uneven it’s less of an issue.  

On the whole, the paint apps are quite impressive; in particular the sheer number of them. I assume that the money they saved on the Scarlet Witch’s very minimal paint has been spent here. The main areas to watch out for are the stripe design (mine was a little chipped in the box) and her eyes.

ACCESSORIES

Carol comes with two accessories – one is an alternate, helmeted head, as pictured above, while the other is a translucent, soft piece of pink plastic that’s presumably some kind of energy ball. It’s even got glitter moulded into it, which means I won’t be using it too often.  

The Build-A-Figure pieces are from the Allfather – head, axe and cape. They’re not of Odin, though, they’re all to go with “elderly Thor”. These will likely end up going on eBay – I doubt I’m going to be able to complete the Allfather, but if I do it will be as Odin.  

OVERALL

This is the second figure Carol has had in the last 12 months – the first was in her Ms Marvel incarnation, packed into a 3-pack with Cap and Radioactive Man. Of the two, though, this is the one I’d go for. As someone who’s not really invested in the character, this is a much better costume and more current with the comics. I don’t know if I’m going to race out and read up on her history, but she’s such a cool design I’m glad I picked this figure up.

Thor (Marvel Legends Infinite: Allfather Wave)

Series: Marvel Legends

Company: Hasbro

Year: 2015

BACKGROUND

I’ve never been a big fan of Marvel’s take on Thor. I was a huge fan of the Norse myths as a kid, and the Marvel portrayal of the character was just too incongruent with my understanding of the violent,  RED-HEADED Thor for me to enjoy.* A doctor with a walking stick that turns into the Norse god of thunder? No deal. Though purists may disagree, I much preferred the Ultimate version of Thor, where you weren’t sure if he was a lunatic or the real deal for most of the time, and the Ancient Aliens approach that has been taken for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Why then, are we looking at a figure of Thor which is clearly from neither of those preferred sources? Well, that’s a good question – you’ll have to read on to find out.  

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

Well, I never said you’d have to read very far. Basically, this Thor just plain looks great – and that’s why I decided to give him a go after my positive experience with the Scarlet Witch.

This Thor heavily reuses elements from this figure. The arms are different, the helmet has been retooled and I think the cape is new, but other than that it looks to be the same, even down to the hammer. Normally I’d be annoyed by so much reuse, but the original figure was a convention exclusive back in 2011, so the odds are reasonably strong that you don’t already own one. And, as OAFE predicted, it has now been used again, in a plainer paint job. It’s taken a bit longer than perhaps was anticipated, but I suppose it’s not a massive surprise – movie Thor has cast a long shadow over any merchandise related to the character in recent years.

I initially thought he was something of a “greatest hits” figure, but closer inspection indicates the absence of a few key elements – his chest circles have been greatly scaled down, for instance. As you probably saw in the above link, the closest reference point is Olivier Coipel’s art. His redesign of the character was pretty big news when I was in my comic-collecting prime (2007), but I don’t think I ever actually read any of it. Overall though, he looks fantastic – it’s particularly impressive when you consider that most of the sculpting is now 7 years old. Plenty of figures from that era have not aged anywhere near as well.    

There are just a couple of questionable points. Though his golden locks do flow from the back of the helmet, they’re partially covered by some kind of brown cloth – the effect, when viewed from behind, is not dissimilar to one of those dorky flapped caps you probably had to wear in primary school. Asgard, it seems, is not afraid to fly in the face of fashion. My only other real irritation beyond the mullet-cap is that Thor also seems to be looking down slightly. You can’t do a lot about this, but I suppose given his massive size he’d be looking down on just about any other figure he was paired with anyway.  

Thor’s articulated in the following ways:

*ball-jointed neck

*swivel-hinged shoulders

*swivel biceps

*ball-jointed torso

*swivel-hinged elbows

*swivel-hinged wrists

*Swivel-hinged hips

*double-hinged knees

*hinged ankles

As might be expected, the shoulders are somewhat restricted by the cape and the biceps appear to be as well, particularly when you’ve got the arms sitting in a neutral position. The hips are also restricted by the “skirt” overlay. None of these are dealbreakers for me but your own mileage may vary.  

"Do you even lift, bro?"

His knee joints, calves and feet are cast in a slightly softer plastic, which feels almost like rubber. Just be careful when you’re bending them; though I didn’t have any issues it did seem like tearing might be a bit of a risk.

ACCESSORIES

Thor comes with two accessories – his iconic hammer, Mjolnir, and an enormous sword. Presumably this has been used in the comics at some point, but I haven’t seen it before. Mjolnir is cast in a slightly softer plastic than the sword, so you may have some minor issues with warping on the handle.  

For his Build-A-Figure piece, he comes with one of the Allfather’s legs -- not particularly exciting, but essential for him to stand. 

PAINT

At an initial glance, there isn’t actually a huge amount of paint on Thor – however, there’s a lot of stuff all over him. The brown on his legs and belt, little spots of silver and all the little details on his face and head, for instance. Like Scarlet Witch, he has some nice airbrushing on his cape too, which adds some additional depth. The only problem area is on his neck – it’s cast in black plastic and then painted skin colour, so there’s been some wear.  

OVERALL

Thor is a character I don’t have a lot of interest in, but this figure was able to overcome that issue. Though I don’t plan to pick up any of his comics anytime soon, I’m still quite pleased with the figure and am glad I decided to take the plunge. I do still want to complete the Allfather -- and then I could have father and son side by side.

*I should add that for whatever reason, it has never been an issue for me with Wonder Woman or Kratos and their respective (frequently questionable) portrayals of Greek mythology.

Alpha Bravo (Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars)

Series: Transformers: Generations Combiner Wars

Year: 2015

Company: Hasbro

BACKGROUND

Hasbro has declared 2015 to be the “Year of the Combiner”, and the first of its releases are on us now – the Aerialbots, the original Autobot Combiner Team that first debuted back in 1986. So today, we take a look at their newest member – Alpha Bravo!

Alpha Bravo is something that seems to be quite rare in Transformers lore these days – a new character! Back in ye olden days of the 1980s, all of the Aerialbots were planes, but Hasbro have decided to mix it up and throw a helicopter in there too. Though I’m traditionally a nostalgia buff, I’ve got no real emotional investment in the retro Superion so I think it’s a change for the better. 

Going off TF Wiki he doesn’t seem to have appeared in any of the cartoons as yet, but he has appeared in some of the IDW comics (which I really must get round to reading). He’s a blank slate to me, so that’s fine. Hopefully he doesn’t end up being dreadful if/when he makes it to the animated world.   

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

Like many Transformers before him, Alpha Bravo is obviously heavily inspired by Japanese mech shows such as Gundam and Macross/Robotech. But one of the closest points of reference is actually from Lego – this guy, who you see in the photo to the left. 

From a mech design standpoint, he’s kind of generic, but as an Autobot he’s quite distinctive. For starters, he’s got a faceplate instead of a mouth (which instantly boosts any character about 10 points in my book). Also, his primarily orange and white colour scheme really makes him pop in amongst my TFs, who are primarily dark-hued Decepticons. Bot mode alone justifies the purchase, in my book.      

Articulation is as follows:

*ball-jointed neck

*ball-jointed shoulder

*swivel-hinged elbows (the hinge is also ratcheted)

*ball-jointed hips

*cut thighs

*hinged knees

The “toes” also move, but this is part of the transformation and won’t necessarily help with posing, due to their angle. Most of the articulation works very well – a bicep swivel might have been nice, but it’s not really necessary. The only real problem area (and it’s not a major one) is the hips. This is a problem I’ve run into a few times on Transformers figures. On most human-based action figures, the hip is usually some variation on a ball and socket joint, just like a real-life hip. Some Transformers are like this too, but most of them force a squared-off balljoint beneath an equally square or rectangular hip – naturally this creates an issue and will limit the poses you can place your robot in. Not a major drama, just something to flag.    

The alt mode itself just doesn’t quite grab me, though. At first glance it kind of looks like a space shuttle (based on the nosecone) but it’s actually a helicopter. There’s nothing really wrong with it, but I think the rotor should be back a little further, and the relative lack of paint in comparison to the prototype shots makes it a little flat.   

Still, it’s a huge amount of fun to transform between modes. It’s quite intuitive; I was able to figure out most of the broad strokes without looking at the instructions, but what threw me was the legs – the lower halves of the legs actually break open to conceal the upper halves when you’re going into vehicle mode. With this said, there’s still a lot of little tabs and slots all over the place that are very easy to get wrong. The ones holding the tail rotor down in vehicle mode are particularly tight – be careful when changing him back to robot, as you don’t want to break him.

The vehicle mode doesn’t make it immediately obvious that there’s a robot stuffed away in there, which is also nice – the main “tell” is the hands/missiles.  

ACCESSORIES

Alpha Bravo’s main accessory is his assault rifle, which can be held in either hand. It’s plain black plastic but has a couple of nice details, particularly the ammo feed. When he’s in vehicle mode, you can plug the gun into a 5mm hole on his underside.

Like all of the new Aerialbots, Alpha Bravo can serve as either an arm or leg for Superion. His default position is a leg though, so he comes with a “foot” piece.

Last but not least, he comes with a trading card which has nice art but isn’t very toy accurate – he looks more red than orange in it and also has two weapons. I might put it to use as poster on one of the Turtle’s walls or something.

PAINT

I’m yet to see the Transformer who would be a contender for paint-job of the year, but Alpha Bravo’s is some of the neatest work I’ve seen in the Generations line as yet. No fuzzy lines or accidental overspray…it’s a nice change. It’s not amazing, but the only real weak points are the gold on his arms/missiles. The tampographs are also exceptionally well-applied.   

AVAILABILITY

Alpha Bravo has been available at both Target and Toys R Us in Australia. I’m yet to see them anywhere else, and based on prior waves of TF: Generations, I’d suggest getting in quickly.

Hasbro has taken an interesting approach to this and the next wave of Combiner Wars. Drag Strip (a Decepticon who is part of another gestalt, Menasor), was released as part of the same wave as Superion.

The Combiner Wars figures are more or less interchangeable between their particular gestalts, so you can make a complete Superion now…but you won’t be able to make a “true” Superion until the Menasor wave is released later in the year, as this includes Air Raid – who, irritatingly, is actually the only Aerialbot I had planned to buy.  

OVERALL

The new Superion looks amazing, but I just don’t think I can afford him at the moment. Other toys have my finances locked down for most of 2015 – in particular, DEVASTATOR, who will no doubt cost a king’s ransom. Awesome as it would be to have two massive combiners to fight each other, I think I’ll just pick up Air Raid when he’s released and call it quits.

Taken solely on his own merits, Alpha Bravo is incredibly fun. His alt mode may be a little underwhelming, but he looks so great in robot mode that it doesn’t really matter.