Transformers War for Cybertron Kingdom Commander Class Rodimus Prime: You just always have to be controversial, don't you?

 I don't know if it's a bad habit of mine or a bad habit Hasbro has developed, but "Rodimus Prime" and "Controversy" seem to go hand in hand. The managerial plans for the 1986 Transformers animated movie are well known in the community. In an attempt to tie replacing stocked characters on shelves with a shift of the main cast in media, Hasbro tried to get kids to like a replacement for Optimus Prime. A new leader for the Autobots would rise in the form of Rodimus Prime, with commercials even teasing Optimus's demise. However, that plan became tainted by people blaming Rodimus for Optimus's death in the movie. Power of the Primes was, by comparison, far less controversial, but many hated how the execution of the gimmick was handled for him and his black repaint: Rodimus Unicronus. Unwanted Visible hands in two of the three modes, trailer kibble on the back, Hot Rod's thighs awkwardly acting as shoulders for Rodimus, there was just a lack of polish in the overall toy. It just felt clunky compared to how effortless his wave mate, Optimus Prime, handled the gimmick (though I think we can all agree that Optimal Optimus managed it the worst). Now it's not a matter of engineering, but something else entirely. To begin rounding out this pseudo, unofficial series of reviews celebrating the 1986 movie, let's look at the chosen one who crushed the dreams of many a child in 1986. Arise Rodimus Prime!

Before covering the toy, let's cover the controversy first: The Size class. As mentioned in the Hot Rod review, one thing Hasbro has been doing is making toys that scale with a size class but selling them at a larger size class due to enhanced engineering. For Studio Series 86 Hot Rod, he was a Deluxe Class sized toy but sold as a Voyager, a somewhat frustrating but easy to ignore element as the toy was $15 more (based on recommended retail price). Another thing Hasbro has been doing is releasing Voyagers with a lot of accessories and calling them Leader Class toys (for example, Earthrise Optimus Prime and his trailer). What's causing the controversy here is that Kingdom Rodimus does both of these, which stands out badly when you consider that he's the third ever Commander Class toy, and the price jump from Leader to Commander is more significant than the jump from Deluxe to Voyager. When he was officially revealed, people were furious at him because he is a Voyager Class toy with Leader Class engineering sold at a Commander Class price primarily because of the trailer. It was a hard pill to swallow compared to the previous two Commander Class toys, Jetfire in the Siege toyline and Sky Lynx in Earthrise. As someone who acknowledges the need for the trailer for car mode, but was hoping it would be something more along the lines of a third party take on Rodimus Prime, DX9's Carry (where the robot was the entire vehicle and not just the car), it was something I wasn't overly impressed with at first either, especially for the recommended retail price of $150. Thankfully it doesn't seem to be too hard to find him on sale, and with the Christmas Season sales beginning soon, it'll likely be even easier to see him for cheaper. I bring all of this up now because I will be making critiques of this toy with the understanding of its full RRP (even though I got it for a little over $120).

Looking at the Space Winnebago mode (because no one knows what this is supposed to be), this has one thing over the Power of the Primes toy: The look of the detachable car modes. Due to PotP's car needing to look more like Hot Rod's car mode while still connecting to become Rodimus, the car mode didn't look like a car, more so a doorstopper with wheels. The sleek curves of Hot Rod's car mode seemed too flat, which meant that I often kept both Rodimus Prime and Rodimus Unicronus in either Combined Vehicle mode or Combined Robot mode (because the robot mode for Hot Rod was also rubbish). Kingdom Rodimus' detachable car still looks like a car, but for those looking for it to look more like Hot Rod's car, you're going to be disappointed as now we have an opposite situation. The car mode has a lot more bulk to it now, but I find it fitting for Rodimus Prime. It's a car mode that trades speed for power, not only to lug the trailer around but to move around any terrain. It's a car mode that invokes the power of Optimus's truck mode while still having Hot Rod's sense of speed. 

When plugged into the trailer, the overall combination is fine, but I wish some elements were a bit more refined. One of the most significant elements of this is the prominent quality control issue most people have with this toy: the trailer is not shut. I've not found any conclusive fixes to this, the one I've personally been using is wrapping a rubber band around the front for a few weeks, but while that has mostly worked for me, it doesn't seem to be a definitive fix. I wish there were more locking points for the sealed trailer to secure the two sides better. Another minor design element that I wish was different is the overall size of the trailer. I find the car spoiler poking out the sides to look awkward, mainly because it causes a visible gap in the smokestacks that are meant to connect to the car's engine (based on the intended sculpting). I wish either the trailer was a little wider, or there was a way for the car spoiler to compress in a little to try and hide it. A nice addition the trailer does have is a Masterpiece styled accessories tray, intended to hold three specific effects parts (two smoke effects for the smokestacks and a "light our darkest hour" Matrix illumination effect). An otherwise useless compartment in the front of the trailer is ideal for storing some of the smaller blast effects. The main section of the trailer can hold either an Autobot car or the sentry turret alongside Rodimus's gun and sword, giving the overall set a nice amount of playability, especially when compared to Optimus and Ultra Magnus' truck modes. 

For me, though, the robot mode is where Rodimus shines. While the overall execution of Studio Series 86, Hot Rod was less than ideal thanks to tolerances and quality control, the same can't be said for Rodimus. The transformation is one of, if not the best in the trilogy. The tolerances are balanced so perfectly that they're effortless to move but sturdy enough to hold any position. The sculpting on the plastic is beautiful. But the use of paint is probably the weakest element of this. I'm not a fan of moulding large chunks of Transformers just to recolour it with paint completely. The leading cause of this view is figures like Power of the Primes Jazz and Kingdom Tracks having the mass majority of their cars painted transparent plastic just for the sake of the windscreen). Thankfully Rodimus isn't as egregious as those examples; the spoiler was moulded with the same plastic as the windscreen. However, I can't tell what colour plastic the thighs are underneath all the orange. This isn't a judge of the quality of the paintwork itself. Everything yellow and orange on the robot mode is painted plastic. Nevertheless, the overall effect is impressive; the issue mainly comes down to questionable plastic sprew organization, an issue not limited to Rodimus.

As with SS86 Hot Rod and Earthrise Optimus before him, the smaller size but higher price tag does give him extra points of articulation, making him one of the most agile Transformers mainline has seen in a long time. The articulation is on par with what many expect from a Masterpiece Transformer toy, with the only thing missing being an ab crunch. I can easily see an upscaled version of this working well as a Masterpiece stands in for Rodimus. With my copy of the toy, I noticed that I don't see many bringing up the new Matrix of Leadership. This isn't the same Matrix that comes with Earthrise Optimus Prime and SS86 Hot Rod. It looks to have been the same CAD file, just shrunk down to allow it to fit in Rodimus' chest. Unfortunately this means that the same issues I had with Optimus' Matrix also holds for Rodimus; in fact, it's even worse here because it's even smaller. Another minor nitpick for me is the size of the sword; I wish it were bigger. It would make a great sword for a Deluxe Class toy to hold, but figures can only hold it with the ability to open their hands. 

It's hard to deny that this is a good toy; any issues I have with it on its own are minor issues at best. But the question of cost does need to come back again. Yes, it is a good toy, but I don't think it's worth $150. He lacks the presence of the other two Commander Class toys, and if you're not someone who'll be displaying him in his alt mode, or actively playing with him, most of the cost of the toy will feel like a waste of money. Would people have bought a Rodimus Prime that was just the car? Probably not because the trailer is a part of the look of G1 Rodimus Prime. It's not as easy to ignore as Optimus Prime's Trailer. Not having it would be like releasing a G1 Ultra Magnus that's just the truck cab, a nice novelty maybe, he is a nice easy repaint of Optimus after all, but for what many people know as Ultra Magnus, he needs to have the car carrier trailer. It was a no-win situation on the design team, and it was always going to cause some controversy. What might have helped was if there was more of a definition to what Commander Class as a concept is, even if it was a second Commander Class figure in Kingdom as a way of saying, "This class can be for either semi big characters or smaller characters with a lot more engineering". After all, one of the reasons why Cliffjumper's height didn't cause more issues was because his wave mates included Wheeljack and Hoist. If rumours are true, then the definition of the class will continue to change as it's looking like 2022's Commander Class figure is going to be Motormaster, which would technically blend the "Big impressive bot" and "smaller but with a lot more engineering" definitions together. Time will tell how that experiment goes for them. As for next week? Well, who else could it be other than Megatron's replacement?

Hasbro Pulsecon 2021 Day 2; G.I. Joe and NERF: A strong temptation to review 3 3/4 inch...

 And welcome back for the Pulsecon opinion pieces on the Hasbro Pulsecon reveals for 2021. While the first post covered Transformers Legacy almost exclusively (purely because I don't think Star Wars content interests a lot of the general audience for my content), this will be a bit more diverse. While the bulk will be focused on G.I. Joe, I decided to include what turned out to be a surprisingly short NERF presentation (I thought they would have shown off more than one new gun and info on a V.R. game). To the one or two people that saw the two Marvel Legends reviews, I'm sorry. Still, because of how badly those did, I won't be covering Marvel Legends here, primarily due to the length of the panel (almost two hours of Marvel Legends according to the YouTube progress bar?!); it would likely be a post on its own. Analytics were not kind to Gwen and Miles' reviews, so I can't justify the work. Sorry guys, but on with the show!

Thank you to HISSTank.com for saving me the effort of making one of these in Powerpoint.

Because of how short it was, I'll cover the NERF panel first. The bulk of the panel was focused on a V.R. game in development called NERF Unlimited Championship. The game itself looks interesting. I can see it having a decent player base, but due to how fractured the V.R. community is in terms of development and how niche V.R. as a gaming platform is, I don't see it having a lot of long term potential. As it stands right now, it's coming to the Occulus Platform for V.R., but if it became more accessible as a general First Person Shooter game on consoles and P.C.'s, I'd probably give it a shot. We know there is a market for more cartoon based shooting games, as evident by things like Splatoon and especially Fortnite. On the more mature end of the spectrum, they revealed the newest addition to the NERF Limited line (a line focusing on recreating weapons from popular franchises as NERF weapons) to be the Halo Needler. I love how it looks; the Needler is one of my favourite designs for a Sci-Fi gun. I love how they have the crystals glow when it's active, though it is a shame that there was no room to have the crystals retract when firing one of the darts. It would have been a nice touch if they made that work. Though I'm not an active NERF gun collector, the only two I have are a Retaliator Elite and a Barricade RV-10 with minor Q.C. issues; it is one I'm tempted to get because of how nice it looks. 

Onto the G.I Joe Panel (though technically panels). They started the stream with Classified, but unfortunately, there were a lot of audio issues, especially for the introduction, the first reveal and an in-depth look at the Pulsecon exclusive: Master of Disguise Zartan. Like with the exclusives in the Transformers panel, I won't be covering Zartan here as I plan to go more in-depth at a later time. The audio issues were very distracting and frustrating due to the first reveal being the Cobra Battle Android Trooper (here on out being referred to as the B.A.T.). Encase the overwhelming focus of Transformers on this site wasn't obvious, I love toy robots, and the B.A.T. looks great. Like a lot of the Army Builders in the Classified line, there's a lot of customization options built-in, allowing for a lot of diversity when it comes to displaying the figure as an army. With the reveal of the regular B.A.T., along with an all-new repaint in one of the replacements to the Cobra Island subline, Python Patrol, I'm surprised they didn't take the time to show off the B.A.T. creator, Dr Mindbender. There's likely one coming later down the line, but it still feels like an odd omission, especially with their focus for releases being somewhat tied to storytelling (at least according to the stream). 

That's not to say that what was shown off was terrible, far from it. Other reveals include a Python Patrol Cobra Viper and the Joe equivalent in the Cobra Island replacement, Tiger Force Outback. Both look good, though I'm curious to see how they handle the distribution, especially given Cobra Island's track record. For general retail (I hope), we got to see a more traditional take on Storm Shadow, Spirit and his eagle companion Freedom, along with a new Deluxe release similar to Commando Snake Eyes and Timber: Croc Master ( with Fiona, Diablo and Georgie). Storm Shadow is about what I expected; I just wish they went a little further with the modernization, similar to what they did with Snake Eyes. However, I appreciate that you can now put his arrow in his quiver; that's a significant improvement over the Arctic Storm Shadow release that I've already reviewed. On the other end of the excitement spectrum, Spirit and Freedom look great. I cannot wait to get those two, the sample shots they've shown look fantastic. However, I can't evaluate how this new toy is as a respectful take on Native American culture. Respecting the culture is something they've brought up when discussing him, but I leave the judging of that element to people far more qualified than a mid 20's Australian white guy. Finally, I'm honestly shocked Croc Master is a thing at all. I've got no idea who he is, but when/ if I get to review him, I'm very curious to learn more about him. 

There was some focus put onto the Snake Eyes movie, nothing major, though. A deleted scene, a look at one of the extras included on the home release (I believe it's included at least) and a Halloween costume... I have nothing more to add to this because Halloween isn't a big thing where I live, but for those wanting to cosplay as movie Snake Eyes, there's an option, I guess? The final two reveals from the panel are from their Retro collection. New versions of Storm Shadow and Commando Snake Eyes, including improvements to try and stop hands breaking along with the return of O-Rings. For those who exclusively collect Classified, I believe O-Rings were used to handle waste swivels and maybe ab crunches for the original toys. I'm not sure of this as I'm not a 3 3/4 inch collector. The O-Rings have apparently also seen a change of material to try and improve durability, and it remains up in the air if they work with older figures and vehicles, though. On the subject of vehicles, the Joes are getting their first Haslab crowdfund project, a new take on the Skystriker, one of the most well-known vehicles in the Joe's arsenal from the '80s (I'm not sure if "one of the first" counts as it was in the second wave of vehicles). A lot of people seem to be viewing this as a crowdfunded re-release. While that's somewhat true, it seems to be a faithful modernization of the original toy, improving engineering elements, introducing new sculpting details, and being a mix of both a licensed Grumman F-14 Tomcat and toy accurate Skystriker. New customization elements for display options and army building potential (I dread to think of how much money someone has if they're willing to army build a USD 230 toy), along with unreleased characters and costumes included in both the base goal and the stretch goals. This thing looks fantastic, and I'm somewhat glad it's not available for pre-order here yet (if at all) because it's tempting to get even though I've got nowhere to put it, and I'm already backing Star Saber. At the very least, I'd love to review this toy, but I cannot justify getting it other then having a representation of the plane in my collection. While I would say there's no chance of there being a Classified scaled version of the plane, less likely things have either become reality, are going to become reality, or are apparently being worked on (seriously Fans Toys, who said a Masterpiece scaled Titan was a good idea?!). I hope it does get made, though, for all of those who want one. 

Between the two days, it does seem like Hasbro is getting better at Direct Consumer marketing, but there is still room to improve (however that could, in part, be because I'm so used to Nintendo Directs). There are many things to look forward to in the new year, so much so that I'm in the process of reworking release schedules or at least coming up with new schedule ideas. I hope you've enjoyed today's content, and I'll see you next week for Kingdom Rodimus Prime.

Hasbro Pulsecon 2021 Day 1; Transformers Legacy: THEY REMEMBERED THE S IN GENERATIONS!!!

 Welcome to the two-part recap of Hasbro Pulse Con for 2021. For those who want to see a full recap of the two days, unfortunately, I won't be able to provide that as some brands that I'm interested in either won't do well here or likely won't do well here based on number tracking from the first sight. Other brands, on the other hand, like Power Rangers and Fortnite (brands I'm not interested in), will probably be me going, "it looks fine?". As such, Part 1 is focused on Transformers; Part 2 will be focused on G.I. Joe (and potentially NERF, if for no other reason than curiosity on how they can show off NERF guns in this style...) Anyway, onto the reveals. 

 

The opening parts of the Transformers section were focused on external brand elements, with things like game tie ins, new games, and a walk through attraction. For the two people in the world who wanted a crossover between Transformers and Smite, that is apparently going to be a thing. Missed opportunity not having God Neptune and King Poseidon in the crossover. Actual God Neptune and Transformers God Neptune would be a fight I'd want to see! The only thing of real note was the trailer for Transformers Beyond Reality, a VR experience for Playstation VR and Steam VR. However, the reason it's of note is because of the sluggish animation. The fight between Optimus and Megatron at the end of the trailer felt more like one of those old Street Fighter/ Mortal Kombat knock-off games, thanks to that slow, sluggish feeling. Considering as it's launching soon, I doubt it is going to be improved by release. Another thing to bring up is the release of the Transformers Devastation Soundtrack, which, if I heard right, is coming out September 5th next year? Maybe that's a teleprompt issue, as they seemed to have problems with it during that section of the stream. Perhaps it was a typo? If it's right, though, did they need to try and hype up a soundtrack that, based on how fast the internet handles game soundtrack rips, people likely already have access to? It would have been an excellent time to announce a sequel or a re-release on current hardware, but apparently, that's not happening. Strange.

For the toy reveals, I was expecting a full-wave reveal. Legacy (given that name because they're going to be doing new toys for other characters outside of G1) will follow the release structure of Kingdom, with Core Class, Deluxe Class, Voyager Class and Leader Class being the main wave structure. From previous years in the War for Cybertron trilogy, we've become accustomed to 2 Core Class figures, 4 Deluxe Class figures. 2 Voyagers and 2 Leaders making up case assortments. Usually, this doesn't mean that all of those will be brand new toys, but for Earthrise and Kingdom, the bulk of Wave 1 was new figures, only the second Leader being a re-release (Astrotrain for Earthrise, Optimus for Kingdom). Here, we got to see the four Deluxe Class figures, one of the Voyagers and the Leader, leaving a good chunk of the wave missing. If this was to give Studio Series some attention, I could understand that, but no, it didn't happen. Time limits for the stream maybe? Anyway, for reveals, we got a new G1 Skids, G1 Drag Strip (with a tease of Menasor on the horizon), Transformers Prime Arcee and G1 Kickback as our four wave 1 Deluxes. Prime Bulkhead for the Voyager showed off, and G2 Laser Rod Optimus Prime was the new Leader Class toy revealed. Out of the three G1 figures shown, I love the look of Kickback the most; it's a nice upgrade from his Titans Return release. My only hope is that Bombshell and Shrapnel are just as good because the last releases of the team didn't look great together. Skids looks fine; I often find G1 Skids to look a bit dull, so a G1 faithful Skids isn't exciting for me. Drag Strip seems decent, but without seeing the other Stunticons, it's hard to judge him on his own. I am a little concerned about the sizes of the Deluxes when compared to the past War for Cybertron trilogy, they seem to be smaller, but it's hard to tell based on how the stream was shot. 

You know, just a few differences...

Prime Arcee and Bulkhead. I'm torn on these two, Bulkhead more so than Arcee. With rumours floating around the line bringing other characters together, people assumed it would be more faithful to the sources for those characters. It's not an unreasonable assumption to make, as Generations has previously been focused on bringing new versions of G1 and (in this past year) Beast Wars characters that are modernizations of their original designs. Seeing that kind of care put into more modern designs was an exciting idea. Unfortunately, what we're getting isn't a modernization of those designs but rather a G1ification of those characters. The issue I have with that is the marketing. If it was presented as "Hey, we're designing a new Bulkhead that's inspired by Generation 1 design cues", I would be fine with that; it's not a bad design for Bulkhead after all. But because they're explicitly saying that this is meant to be Transformers Prime's Bulkhead, I'm expecting something more in line with his Transformers Prime design. Arcee is better off in this regard. Except for a more squarish face, it's a lot closer to the Prime Arcee design; it's what many, myself included, were expecting. As for Laser Rod Optimus? It looks cool, but I'm more excited for it inevitably turning into a new version of Robots in Disguise (2001) Scourge. 

 
The new play pattern for the year revolves around combinable Energon weapons. Their implementation on individual figures seems to be well-executed (the use of Arcee's front tire in particular as an Energon weapon was an excellent use of an otherwise useless part in robot mode); I wish they showed they showed off how some of them connect together. With this apparently being line-wide for all classes, though, it does lend credence to my theory regarding leaked listings for the line. There are some figures later on in the line labelled as "Energon Monsters". With this weapon pattern reminding me so much of the Energon weapons from Transformers Energon, I think there's a decent chance of the Energon Terrorcons getting new toys in the future (something I'd be interested in seeing as those designs are fun for army builders). 

 
When the event was talking about the toys, the event was okay. There are just some things I wish they would improve on when it comes to this direct to consumer marketing strategy. Things like showing off the whole wave of figures (I was hoping to see that Voyager Blaster) and not focusing so hard on one line per stream. I hope we're not waiting long to learn more. I'll cover the Pulsecon exclusives in some way, shape or form later, but for now, I'll be back later today to talk about the Day 2 content. 

G.I. Joe Classified Cobra Island Major Bludd: Really trying to break that first boss stigma aren't ya Bluddy?

Due to my lack of knowledge about broader points on the franchise, particularly the "A Real American Hero" era, some characters get a lot of attention, but I struggle to grasp why. Jinx is one, but that's because I've only seen her in the original G.I. Joe movie, where her gimmick was that she was a lousy fighter unless she was blindfolded. While she's more interesting in shows like G.I. Joe Renegades, the original source wasn't that interesting for me. I bring this up because Major Bludd is another one of those characters. He's somewhat interesting in later interpretations (though I struggle to remember much about them), but he came off as a very "First Boss" member of Cobra in the original cartoon. Brock from Pokemon Gen 1, the wrecking ball from Sonic 1, Wispy Woods from Kirby, bosses you remember existing, but don't leave much of an impression because they're the first boss. When he was leaked for Classified (remind me to do a post at some point talking about Hasbro leaks if it interests you because I've got stuff to say, but it may not be interesting), it was a fitting inclusion, but one I probably would have skipped if I didn't know of an easy way to get Classified Figures imported. So, how's the serious, adult collector reboot treating you Cut Man? 

Sculpting wise, Bludd is an interesting figure when compared to other figures in the line. Design-wise, he looks to be a take on the original design run through the same filter as the v6 version from 2005. Going into this review, I thought the cybernetic right arm was an introduction for this design of the character. Still, it looks like it was a part of the original toy (just more visibly shown as a robotic arm and not just an unpainted black arm). Bludd has the feel of a front line trooper in terms of design; he has more body armour and protection on him when compared to other Cobra leaders. I love how the body armour is designed; it's refreshing seeing an extra layer over the torso that doesn't block the ab crunch. It makes him look far more dynamic when compared to figures that limit that joint. The robot arm is also very nicely detailed, thanks to an aggressive feeling sculpting the "metal" plates look like muscle, and even sculpting under the shoulder pad to explain how the arm would move if it were real. Unfortunately, on my copy of the toy, the ratchet in the joint is exceptionally stiff, and I've barely gotten it to move outward. It's not an inherent deal-breaker, as any position I want to replicate can be faked without it; it's just a minor blemish on the quality control. 

While I like the look of the base figure, I'm not as sold on his accessories, though. The two guns look great, and the helmet looks good while it's on him (it would, however, be nice if it worked similar to Lady Jaye's hat to make it more secure on him), everything else is a bit of a miss for me. The dog tags I find to be entirely redundant, and I often leave them off. The backpack with the rockets is the biggest oddity for me. You can plug the rockets into one of the two guns, but because the gun is designed like a handgun, it looks awkward when it's got a rocket on the end of it, doubling its length. Is the pack meant to be like Mandolorian jetpacks, and the rockets are meant to fire from the backpack? If so, couldn't there be some better way to secure them because breathing on them will knock them out. The accessories are based on the original toy, but I don't think these do a good job replicating them because the gun from those toys looks like it's more of a, to put it the best way I can, a rocket crossbow launcher without the bow. Here, the rockets look like an optional form of ammo, and it makes the launcher look awkward as a result. The gun makes for a great looking firearm but an awful looking rocket launcher. This is one figure I'm content with not having completely geared up.

While the core of the toy, Major Bludd himself, is excellent, some elements could have taken a bit longer to perfect, to improve. However, I can see why many people like him; Bludd would likely make my top 10 of the Classified line so far. The best of the line so far? I'm not convinced of yet, but part of that comes from not knowing who would be that "best of Classified 2021". That list will come, but I have two more G.I Joe reviews to get through this year first. The focus of those reviews is up to you (as I doubt any new products will make it here in time). Your choice of Joes are: Scarlet, Flint, Lady Jaye, Breaker, and Commando Snake Eyes with Timber. For Cobra, your options are Destro, Zartan, Cobra's army builders and The Baroness. You have until my next upload, which will cover the Pulsecon reveals that interest me. That will be next week's post, but the following review will be one I wanted to do months ago, but delays got in the way. Rodimus Prime!

Transformers War for Cybertron Kingdom Deluxe Class Predacon Scorponok: "What happened here?"

If there is one thing that has been nice about Kingdom, it's the focus on getting the Season 1 Beast Wars characters. Though there is a gap so far in the form of Tarantulus and Inferno, rumour has it that we'll be getting them next year. Unfortunately for all the good figures, some will be worse, though "absolutely terrible" is in the eyes of the beholder. For every Blackarachnia, there's going to be one like today's subject, where the issues come more from how you prioritize elements of Transformers. From Second in Command of the Predacons to nameless cannon fodder, and now to this. This year has not been kind to you, has it Scorponok?

 
I want to start the review of the beast mode with the most significant issue and the cause of the title: the Scorpion legs. I remember when they revealed the Kingdom toy line and talked about the first wave of toys, they said they spent a lot of time getting the tolerances right for Blackarachnia's spider legs. Even though they're ball joints, they're tight and nicely support her weight in spider mode (this even holds true with her Buzzworthy Bumblebee repaint). Scorponok doesn't get that luxury. In comparison, his beast mode is severely compromised, with the legs being the starting point. The legs feel hollow; the ball joints are loose; the scorpion legs themselves don't support the robot's weight. That title goes to the opened up chest with a robot leg stuffed into it. Usually, with Transformers waves, some compromises are made to figures to make others better. That's the perception of the situation, at least. I don't know if that holds here because I can't see where the compromises went too. Scorponok's wave includes a reissue of Earthrise Wheeljack, Fossilizer Wingfinger, and Autobot Tracks, none of which feel like the cause for the compromises. Is it because they knew the legs were never going to support the robot? Maybe. One day I hope to review the original Beast Wars Scorponok as the way it handled robot mass is extremely different. It would have been nice if they could have worked that engineering into the new toy, but that might not have been feasible at a Deluxe budget. There is also a third party one intended for a Legends Class Scale display that might also get a review later to see how well the bot junk is handled. While the underside of the beast mode isn't great, the top is really good. It's why the issues involving legs sting that much more. Once again, the texture work on the plastic is fantastic, adding to the creepy crawly feel of the figure. It's a shame that it's so static, with things like the tail not having a lot of articulation points without taking the other robot leg out of the tail. Overall, not a good beast mode. The positives bring it back a bit, but it feels like a letdown compared to others in the line. Does the robot mode do it better? 

It's complicated. In robot mode, Scorponok falls into a similar situation as Siege and Kingdom Ultra Magnus. He's in scale with other Predacons and has a design based on artwork from the original figure's box. But to some, it doesn't feel right, as evident by the thigh extension upgrades you can buy that make the legs into a glorified stand for the Scorpion. For me, the legs aren't the issue for the robot; it more comes down to the boxed shape of the chest. It's a minor issue, but it does throw off the look quite a bit. The robot is a significant saving grace for this toy. Though it's still not as good as other figures in Kingdom, it doesn't feel as compromised as the scorpion mode does. There are still compromises. The hollow tail looks terrible, you're not getting much of a waist swivel out of him due to the tail, and the head doesn't like to move due to how it's sculpted (which does look nice, by the way). But none of those issues feels like glaring issues compared to the overall look of the figure. The scorpion pincers look great in both modes, and thanks to them needing the robot arms, they're nicely articulate in both modes as well. I also love that he comes with both his twin missiles and the Cyber Bee, both of which effortlessly store in the pincers, though I do wish the missiles weren't hollow as those gaps are hard to ignore.

While I don't think Scorponok's one of the worst in the line, he's undoubtedly one of the worst Beast Wars figures in the line. A large chunk of that comes down to how good the other characters are, which is unfortunate but not unexpected. The good elements do claw back some quality, but it ends up making the figure underwhelming, something that stings even more, when you consider who it is. This would be like getting an underwhelming Starscream, only without the barrage of Seeker repaints that will follow. I kind of wish this got the same treatment Studio Series Hot Rod did, where it was sold at a higher size class for the sake of engineering. It could have been really interesting to see how they handled the robot mass for the Scorpion mode. Again, it's not the worst of the line (that title currently goes to Tracks), but unless you're really into Beast Wars and want an entire team of Season 1 Predacons, I'd say skip it.

Transforemrs War for Cybertron Kingdom Voyager Class Rhinox: Who says you can't have brains and muscles?

If you were to compare the main casts of Transformers shows throughout the years, you'd quickly find some tropes the personalities tend to fall into. The leader, the backstabbing second in command of the villains, the kid appeal character, the loner on the heroes side, to name a few. I bring this up because today's subject is a fusion of two of these tropes, the group's muscle and the engineer. A fusion of G1 Ironhide and Ratchet, with a bit of extra wisdom thrown in. A long-anticipated figure for me in the Kingdom line, allow me to introduce to you Rhinox.

As you've probably noticed by now, the vast majority of Beast Wars figures sacrifice articulation for sculpting when it comes to the beast modes, only breaking that rule if it's needed for the robot mode. Funnily enough, it's hard to make plastic move like realistic skin and muscles. I start the review here because Rhinox suffers from this pretty badly compared to other Maximals in the Kingdom line, second only to Rattrap (out of the ones I currently own). Without using transformation joints and breaking up the sculpt, you will not be making this rhino charge at anything. It's a good thing then that the sculpting is exquisite, with a lot of texture and subtle paint applications on the rhino skin to make it a very lovely looking Rhino shaped brick. Ok, maybe not a brick, the mouth can move, the front legs can move a little bit, and the back legs can move at the knee, but that's all the movement you're going to get out of him. From what I've seen, this is far more limited than the Thrilling 30 Rhinox from 2014, but I honestly think this looks better in Rhino mode when comparing the two (based on videos and pictures, I don't own a Thrilling 30 Rhinox). Thrilling 30 is more realistic to actual rhinos, whereas Kingdom Rhinox is more in line with the cartoon model. Maybe it's because I'm more familiar with how rhinos are animated and not how they look in the real world; Kingdom Rhinox looks more accurate to me, though a significant factor of that could be the colours rather than the sculpting. If anyone wants me to properly compare the two (and is willing to sell me a Thrilling 30 Rhinox), let me know, and I'll put that on the priority list. 

One element of the transformation frustrates me, more so when going into Rhino mode than going into robot mode. The leg transformation feels very cluttered, the clearance for moving parts around is a bit too tight, and because of that, it feels like I'm bending plastic to make parts move past other parts. It's not a pleasant transformation, something that I wished was refined a little more. The result, though, is a nice looking Rhinox, something that is very show accurate, though it does cheat in certain areas to pull it off. The Rhino mouth now no longer forms the chest plate, and the robot's main body looks a little too flat. Neither issue bothers me as the fake mouth makes the chest look a lot nicer, and the arms and rhino head nicely cover up the flat back. What does bother me, though, are the guns. For the sake of beast mode storage, Rhinox's Gatling Guns of Doom look bad from any angle other than from the front. While they are nicely painted from the front, the handle elements make them look more like the toy accurate flail sawblade rather than the cartoon accurate guns. It's an odd choice for something that's clearly aiming to replicate the cartoon look. I would have prefered the loss of internal weapon storage for them if it made the guns look better. It would have even been an excellent excuse to give Rhinox more C.O.M.B.A.T Ports (something that I wish wasn't all but exclusive to the G1 characters). I love how poseable Rhinox is in this mode. While he was a brick in Beast Mode, the joint implementation in robot mode makes him one of the most poseable Voyager figures I've ever seen, with the only joints missing being a waist swivel and an ab crunch, the latter I'm willing to accept as a loss as we got butterfly joints in the shoulders. 

While I can't say which is superior, this or the Thrilling 30 version, I do think this at the very least compliments the T30 release. A full replacement? Not entirely, but it does act as a nice Rhinox for those to get who can't/ haven't yet found a T30 version for sale. Neither is entirely perfect; we might be waiting for a Masterpiece version for that to happen. At the very least, this does what I wanted it to do almost perfectly, be an excellent representation of the Axalon's engineer.