Transformers War For Cybertron Kingdom Deluxe Class Waspinator: Scorpion + Spider = Robot Wasp?

 A week late for several reasons, one of which I'll discuss at the end, so I won't waste much time with this intro. For the final Predacon review of the year, it's time to look at the Predacon Punching Bag. The indestructible yet incredibly disposable Waspinator. Try not to read this in a Waspinator voice, though. You'll likely hate yourself for it.

Waspinator in Waszp mode suffers from a similar issue to Scoropnok's scorpion mode, but it feels less egregious here. The bug legs are limited to swivel joints for the sake of the robot mode, limiting what you can do with posing for the beast mode, amplified by the fact that the middle and back legs are moulded together. It makes Waspinator feel more rigid when compared to some of the other Beasts in Kingdom, but it's not as much of an issue as, for example, Scorponok because... well, what are you going to do with a wasp? It would be nice if the legs could move a bit more, at the very least separating the middle and back legs to give some more natural flight poses for those who want to put him on a flight stand. As it stands, all you can move are the pincers and the wings when in this mode. On the wings, though, many have an issue with the plastic colour it was moulded in. To have the bug and bot mode eyes be purple. The wings were also moulded in purple. I honestly don't mind this, as I think the purple wings add a nice bit of extra colour to the bug mode. While a selling point of the Beasts was "realistic animal modes", in practice, a lot of them were stylized in some form or another for the sake of making toys. T-Rex's aren't purple (to our knowledge), spiders don't have golden legs, scorpions aren't purple. Just let him have this; he's the Predacons punching bag; he deserves something nice.

In robot mode, Waspinator feels more like Blackarachnia, in that the robot mode looks very cluttered due to Wasp Mode junk. It's a messy robot mode, but not one you can change because of its iconic design for Waspinator. Granted, it's not entirely accurate. The pair of bug legs on the robot legs are new for this take, as they're generally on the arms. Due to this toy re-imagining tricks from his 2013 toy, there are bug legs on the robot legs at all might be seen as an eyesore compared to the original toy. I'm also not a fan of how they handled the blaster. For the sake of beast mode storage and the fact that spring-loaded shooters are no longer a thing in Transformers, Waspinator's gun just looks like a random bit of wasp he's holding as a classroom pointer. It somewhat looks better with a blast effect (something that would have been nice to include, especially if it looked like his old stinger), but I'm not even sure if it is meant to be blast effect compatible, as the nub on the end of the blaster is a bit smaller then the blast effect posts usually are, making any effect really easy to knock off by mistake. An unintended feature likely caused by a minor quality control defect results in Waspinator's head being effortless to take off. But, it's something that works in this toy's favour, as Waspinator was known to come apart in the show. Now that I say that, I kind of want to see a Weaponizer take on Waspinator now.

Should you get Kingdom Waspinator? Probably not if you have the Generations one. While this one does look good with the other Kingdom Predacons, arguably a lot better than the Generations one does, it doesn't feel very interesting. It's a toned-down version of the Generations one, with a lot of the excitement gone due to the changes in engineering and the inclusion of gimmicks changing in the last eight years. The main reason this took a whole extra week to work on was that he's a mediocre toy to talk about, nothing terrible, but nothing stands out either. Like Dinobot, he's an average figure, but unlike Dinobot, the average toy is perfectly fine. The final review of G.I. Joe Classified is next week, ironic as I may be helping out a Transformers booth at the local Comic-Con that weekend. As much as I want to talk about Cobra Grunts, I think I'll close out the year for them with the last two members of the Cobra Leadership team released so far: Destro and The Baroness.

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. 

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.

Transformers Kingdom Deluxe Class Ractonite: A more cohesive pile of bones

As the days tick on, the end of Kingdom looks to be on the horizon (based on leaks); the Predacon squad is coming along, even if some crucial members are still waiting for a new release. Tarantulas, Terrorsaur, Waspinator and Inferno are still significant holes many people are waiting to fill in the season 1 roster. However, in the meantime, we can still enjoy the Fossilizer gimmick with the second Dinosaur Fossil to join the war effort, Ractonite. Is he better than his wave one companion? Well, yes and no. 

Starting in fossil mode. In terms of general looks, I prefer this dinosaur mode over the Paleotrex mould from the last time I reviewed Fossilizers. The main reason for this is the extra mass in the chest; while it's an ironic complaint, it makes the dinosaur mode not feel as malnourished. While I know it's an odd complaint with a toy that's meant to look like dinosaur bones, but the skeletal aesthetic does handicap the designs overall, it's one of the reasons I'm currently (opinion may change when I get it in hand) not a fan of the wave 3 Fossilizer, Wingfinger. There are more gaps on this one than the Paleotrex mould, mainly in the legs, but the white plastic and the bone design don't make them very noticeable. The gaps blend in well and add to the aesthetic like these are a degrading pile of bones. What does suck, though, is the compromised articulation for the sake of the robot mode. I wish the front legs had ankle tilts, and the inability for the head to turn side to side is a real shame. While it's not an issue exclusive to Ractonite, most of the beasts have had stiff necks, it's hard not to be spoiled by Beast Wars Megatron, and most of the other dinosaur transformers have had enough articulation for it to not feel like a hindrance. The Styracosaurus body shape that this is based on makes it inherently stiffer when compared to someone like Paleotrex (even if Paleotrex's weight distribution is so bad, most of those dynamic poses will result in a face plant). I'm not sure how I feel about the grey paint, though. The white plastic wouldn't have worked on its own, but the grey colour doesn't compliment the plastic either, compared to something like Paleotrex, where the colours are more complimentary. It feels like Ractonite's been playing in the same Cyber Mud that the Siege Figures had on them. 

While the paint doesn't work well for the beast mode, it does work a lot better in the robot mode, a robot mode that in itself is ok? It feels tamer compared to Paleotrex, more reserved, ironic considering one of the arms is coming out of the Styracosaurus' mouth. While Paleotrex is insane looking in his way, Ractonite is more the traditional Beast Era insanity, homaging how Beast Wars designs handled their Beast Mode junk. With the exception of where the front legs go, I could see this being a regular Beast Wars toy if it wasn't going for the living skeleton aesthetic. That said, though, he is a Fossilizer, and part of the gimmick is the ability to break him down and turn him into weapons for other characters. Unfortunately, on my copy, the tolerances for some of the joints and connections aren't great. As a result, many combinations, like the giant bone war hammer, aren't fun to play around with as the connections don't hold together, and the joints struggle to take the weight. It's less of an issue in the robot and beast mode; it's why I'm only covering those (the bone war hammer looks fantastic, though). Articulation is adequate, the parts used for the shoulders are cumbersome and make it impossible for him to do things like a T-Pose, but the rest of the articulation in robot mode is fine. The arms look very gangly thanks to the proportions, something that a torso extension would have helped with, but it is frustrating that he has no hands at all. Even Paleotrex tried to pull off hands.

Ractonite is both a step up and a step down when compared to Paleotrex. I enjoy the extra mass thanks to the thicker bone structure, but as a Fossilizer, he's not as versatile as Paleotrex. He's not as configurable as Paleotrex; there aren't many parts that can be other body parts. I think for that reason alone, Paleotrex is probably better just as a toy, even if visually I prefer Ractonite. While I couldn't cover it today due to COVID Lockdowns, and it currently waiting for me about 20km away, there is a repaint of this figure called Tricranius, lava themed repaint with some minor retooling. It's an interesting looking paint job at least. If you can find him on sale, he's worth a purchase. The good balances out the bad, and if nothing else, he makes for a great army builder for the Predacons. To get back onto schedule, I'll be reviewing an Autobot next Sunday (unfortunately not Rodimus, more Amazon delays). However, a G.I Joe review will be coming sometime soon on a Wednesday. At the very least, I'll see you next time for a review a long time coming. The Good, the Bad, the original and the dead, it's time to review Earthrise Optimus Prime.

Transformers War For Cybertron Kingdom Deluxe Class Airazor: Behold, the gender ambiguous falcon

While I'm sure many will agree that the War for Cybertron series on Netflix ended with a whimper, some standout moments stood out for the better, while others stood out for the worse. One of those was Airazor, the Maximal scout that looked to borrow a bit from Tony Stark when it came to her robot mode flight. A fan favourite from the Beast Wars show, it was inevitable that she'd be in Kingdom, but after being away for so long, how does the first female Transformer on toy store shelves (with a toy that was actually designed to be female) hold up after being absent for 24 years? 

One comparison to immediately draw when looking at Airazor is the wave one femme fatal, Blackarachnia, as many of the problems that Blackarachnia has in her beast mode, Airazor also has. However, like Blackarachnia, that's not an issue. Unlike female Autobots like Arcee and Chromia, the problems aren't limited to female Maximals and Predacons; very few Maximals and Predacons have beast modes that aren't compromised. Making robots out of realistic (to a certain extent) animals isn't easy compared to vehicles. Because of that, some are going to look like a crumpled up robot hiding under an animal. Airazor does not fit in her falcon mode; many exposed robot parts can easily be seen regardless of the angle you look at her. But as with Blackarachnia, I struggle to care because the features of the beast mode that are a Falcon are beautiful. I love the wingspread and all the feather detailing along with her wings and back. The falcon head looks fantastic, and even with the (albeit clunky in execution) neck movement, it doesn't take much to get it into beautiful flying positions. With all the joints in the wings, it's possible to get a somewhat convincing grounded pose out of the bird mode; however, doing this will expose the robot chest and back of the head. It's unfortunate, but there aren't many alternatives, especially as the robot mode needed the priority.

Another comparison to make to Blackarachnia is that representation of her robot mode from the show has been sparse. While Blackarachnia has had toys since Beast Wars that have been closer to her onscreen model (which in itself was heavily modified from the original toy), Airazor hasn't had that privilege. Outside of convention exclusive repaints trying to give her a vehicle alternate mode, Airazor has not been seen on shelves since 2000, which in itself was a tweaked version of her Transmetal toy. There hasn't been a toy of her look in the show due to it being drastically changed from the original toy, due to the original toy initially being a male character. This toy had something to prove, and if the robot mode were done well, many people would readily accept the beast mode compromises. This toy does not do the robot mode well; it does the robot mode almost perfectly. With one sole exception on my specific copy of the toy, I cannot find any fault in the robot mode design. It's lean. It's nimble, it's kibble free as the only parts that could be considered beast mode junk, the talons and the wings, actually improve her look, making her look even more dynamic. The head sculpts beautiful, with the only blemish on this toy being a slight quality control error misplacing one of the paint applications on her eyes. It doesn't look good when facing forward but makes for a very natural head turn position and making her look even more dynamic. The robot mode alone has put her in as one of the best figures in the Kingdom toyline so far for many people, and like Blackarachnia, she puts the recent Fembot toys to shame. Some might call this cheating, as unlike other female transformers, there's nothing inherently feminine about her design, save for potentially the face. I wouldn't be surprised if this is partly because Airazor in Japan is still a male character, which makes him one of the first openly gay Transformers characters. It's like what happened in Sailor Moon, only without turning a gay relationship into an incest relationship.

When it comes to recent female Transformers, Beasts 2, Bots 0, they're just killing it when it comes to female characters as toys. The Falcon mode is not great, requiring minimal effort to break the illusion of being a falcon. But for every issue the Falcon mode has, the robot mode makes up for and then some. I'm glad this toy is getting a second release as a Beast Wars Skywarp, though I do hope we'll get a Generations Magnaboss at some point; I miss three bot combiners. On the subject of three bot combiners (technically), I'll be reviewing Fossilizer mould number 2: Ractonite (and, if lockdown permits me, Tricranicus)

Transformers Studio Series 86-04; Hot Rod: Pissing people off since 1986

 Hot Rod cannot catch a break, can he? Hot Rod's been a character bound to controversy since his inception, and though not all of his appearances have caused issues, the ones that do tend to get a lot of negative attention. To the community, he's seen as the poster boy for Hasbro's "out with the old, in with the new" mindset that caused a lot of beloved 1984-1985 characters to be killed off in the 1986 movie, with some (either jokingly or seriously) still claiming he was the one that killed Optimus Prime. Many a meme exists of his collaboration with Megatron to kill the beloved big rig. Jumping 35 years later, and Hot Rod's got a new controversy. Smaller characters, sold at higher price points padded out with accessories. Both he and his Matrix infused alter ego Rodimus Prime (Rodimus moreso than Hot Rod) have taken pages from Siege Astrotrain and Earthrise Cliffjumper and are filling out their price range with lots of accessories. Hot Rod's a Deluxe Class toy being sold as a Voyager, while Rodimus is a Voyager being sold as a Commander. The original plan was to review both of these figures together; QC issues and shipping delays have put Rodimus on the backburner for now. His time will come, but in the meantime, is Hot Rod worth the extra $15? 

Starting in car mode. While I think the car mode looks excellent, tolerance issues plague this toy, and the car mode suffers from it the most. For the sake of the transformation, the panel lines don't look clean and intentional, making some parts like the ends of the headlights stick out like they're being held on with gaffer tape. Some of the tabs themselves are also relatively easy to snap. I've snapped off a tab on one of the smokestacks on the copy I have, which makes the panel line gaps even more significant due to a missing locking point. For something taking so much strain, it's annoying that it wasn't given more support. If you manage to get everything into place properly or can look past the gaps, the car mode looks good. One issue that many might have, though, is that it's not movie accurate. A few minor shaping differences, and a different colour pallet, opting more for a toy accurate colour scheme. With a Fan First Friday coming soon, I wouldn't be surprised to hear if a movie-accurate colour scheme is on the way, similar to how Galvatron is getting a toy accurate colour scheme. While I think the paint scheme with this release is ok, I wish some things were handled better, like the flames on his hood, but overall, it's not bad. I love the look of the car mode; I think the sculpting differences between this and the movie work in the toy's favour, adding to the sense of speed it has. However that is entirely subjective, it might be more of a problem for you, or you may not have even noticed. 

Ahh, gotta love mistransformed product shots...

Hot Rod comes with a lot of accessories, with the overall package being a bit hit and miss for me. First, you get the guns from his original toy, which can peg into the car in either the engine or slots on the hood of the car (which also double as robot mode storage), but these have a habit of scraping off the silver paint. It's a shame because the guns are nicely sculpted. Another accessory you get is his buzzsaw from the underwater scene on the Quintesson planet, which can also tab into the guns for the sake of storage. Finally, for now, you get some effect parts for his arm blasters, which can tab into the smokestacks in car mode. I'll cover the last two accessories once we get to Robot mode, as they cannot store anywhere in car mode. The buzzsaw is a nice inclusion, though the sculpting is kept intentionally plain for the sake of making it look like it's constantly spinning. The effect parts for the arm blasters are an annoying compromise for me; they were done in blue as a part of gang moulding, which looks bad when you consider the Autobot energy blasts are a yellow/ orange colour. Hopefully, a movie-accurate repaint has the parts moulded in that colour instead of Matrix Blue (more on that later).

When you get into Robot mode, you get a good looking but also not very exciting Hot Rod. One big issue with 2021 toys of the 1986 movie cast is that thanks to them being divided between Studio Series and War for Cybertron, there's an awkward mix of standards for the aesthetics of characters. This becomes really noticeable when you get cases like Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime. Rodimus goes all-in on the WFC aesthetic, with lots of detailing in the plastic, whereas Hot Rod goes for more movie-accurate detailing, making him look very dull in comparison. That's not to say that this is a bad toy, far from it. The Deluxe size at the Voyager price range has meant that the transformation can be more complicated, and extra joints were included to add more playability to the figure. Unlike other Transformers, there aren't many visible hollow spaces on the figure; a common shortcut designers use to cut down on the budget. The three areas I can find, the back of the pelvis and the bottom of the feet, are minuscule and so far out of the way that it's not a problem. Unfortunately, tolerances are once again an issue because while the figure looks very limber, certain areas are uncomfortably stiff, a prime example of that being the shoulders. A mix of joint placement, sculpting oversight, and uncomfortably stiff joints has resulted in some figures breaking at the shoulders. I want to say something is similar to a fault the original Masterpiece Hot Rod/ Rodimus Prime had. It also makes some poses somewhat awkward to do, including the position that's one of the big selling points of the toy, the ability to do the "Light our Darkest Hour" scene from the movie. The final two accessories are to pull off this moment, a Matrix (the same one that comes with Earthrise Optimus Prime), and an effect part to go over it to make it look like it's opening (this effect part being why the laser effects were also blue). Hot Rod's hands even act like Earthrise Prime's do, in that they can open up to have the Matrix handle slide over the thumbs. The only problem with this is the small size of the Matrix combined with the joint positions in the shoulders; it is challenging to get Hot Rod in a place where holding it feels natural or closely resembles the movie. A large part of that also comes from how small the Matrix is, for the sake of storing in Earthrise Prime. Storage for the Matrix isn't an issue for Hot Rod because there's nowhere to keep it on him. While it is movie accurate, if it wasn't going to store on him anyway, it would have been nice to get a Matrix that was sized to allow figures to hold it properly, something almost every Matrix gives up for the sake of storage. While it is fantastic that Hot Rod has a fold-out visor, a flip-out welding torch and a flip-out plug for the buzzsaw, I would have prefered those got cut to get a better Matrix. I'm also disappointed that he didn't come with a fishing pole, 0/10.

While this is a very good, gimmick-free Hot Rod toy, some issues take the shine off. I want to love the car mode, but it feels like it's fighting to stay out of car mode. Robot mode looks good, but the sparse detailing makes it look rather basic compared to his older self in Kingdom. While I like most of the accessories, the big selling point of the Matrix opening loses its charm due to the issues with the shoulder joints and the size of the Matrix itself. For the sake of storage, the small size works, but not when the figure is holding it. I hope that the stiff joints and the connections needed to keep together in car mode are improved, either on the version currently in stores or a potential Generations Selects release. Though I have minor complaints with the accessories, the joints and locking points are the most significant issues I have with the toy. It'll be interesting to see if Rodimus improves on those issues; for now, he will be one of the following Autobot reviews once he comes in. In the meantime, the next review continues the Heralds of Unicron, with Kingdom Cyclonus.

Transformers Generations Selects Transmutate (along with Kingdom Deluxe Class Paleotrex and Netflix Skelivore): "Man, I am tellin' ya, the things coming out of these [repaints] is just getting weirder and weirder."

War for Cybertron; Siege: Vehicles tied to the Titans (and a set of z list repaints) that can be broken down into weapons for other figures in the toyline. Excellent idea, executed mostly well. War for Cybertron; Earthrise: Micromaster buildings that can be broken down and become armour for other figures in the toyline. Cool idea, not as good of execution as Siege, mainly due to the reuse of the same two moulds. War for Cybertron; Kingdom: Dinosaur fossils that become bone weapons for other figures. Well, you have my curiosity, at least, especially when you do repaints for characters like Transmutate. 

While Paleotrex and Skelivore are brand new characters made for the toyline, Transmutate is an... interesting specimen. She was a one-off character in the Beast Wars cartoon. Her stasis pod was damaged in the show's opening, and when she made her debut in and was killed off in the episode, she is the namesake of, she was portrayed as a confused child in the show due to being viewed as incomplete, unfinished due to the pod's damage. Transmutate was terrifying in the show, not just because of her high pitch scream as a defensive measure, but the way she looked and moved in the show combined with the cheap CGI budget the show was known for made her genuinely disturbing to look at. So while the episode itself is excellent, be aware that it comes with some nightmare fuel.

Come on Hasbro, give us a Rampage. You know you want too

 
Transmutate didn't have a transformation back in Beast Wars, but as a part of her being a repaint of Paleotrex, she gets to share his. Paleotrex, Skelivore (a pack-in figure with Megatron in the third Netflix Leader Class Spoiler Box that I will not be reviewing), and Transmutate all transform into Tyrannosaurus fossils. That information, though, comes from TFWiki, and something about that feels wrong to me. While I don't know what these are, I'm almost certain they aren't T-Rex fossils. It's unsettling to see these in a Beast Wars toyline, where all the other Maximals and Predacons are living versions of the animals they transform into. It would be terrifying to see dinosaur fossils running around, let alone turning into giant robots. However, with the sculpting being mostly accurate to actual dinosaur fossils, along with the engineering of the Weaponizers of Siege and Modulators of Earthrise carrying over, these are extremely clean transformations, probably the cleanest out of all the Beast Wars characters. Unfortunately, though, due to the nature of their beast modes, they're not very stable in beast mode. The big heads make them very top-heavy, and while they will stand, I don't know how long the joints will last due to the transformation requiring joints like the hips to be friction plugs and ports. I also wish there was more articulation in the beast modes, things like a neck swivel to let the head turn from left to right, along with some ankle tilts to help get the most out of all the joints in the legs. 

Like the Weaponizers and Modulators, you rip them apart and put them back together into something resembling robot modes to transform these three. Unlike Siege and Earthrise's attempts, though, there's no one way to get to robot mode. The components are more ambiguous, and with some of the later Fossilizers, pieces such as hands aren't defined, relying on any 5mm port or any plug that can take a 5mm port to act as the hands. These give the toys many more playability options, making them the most versatile figures in the toy line, even before getting to the bone weapons gimmick. Below is a picture of three combinations of the toys, each only using the parts you get from one copy of the toy. 

While the playability is excellent, it's hard not to notice how different they look compared to other Beast Wars characters. Due to the bone aesthetic, they feel like zombie robots, which can either be a good or bad thing depending on your personal preference. Regarding the accuracy of Transmutate, due to this being a repaint, it looks nothing like the character does no matter what you do. However, I think this gets the spirit of the character's design, which isn't a guarantee with repaints. I love how they retooled the head, replacing the bone mask Paleotrex and Skelivore have (which in itself is a reference to Optimus Primal's mace, an accessory the original toy had) with the ability to do the scream she's known for in the Beast Wars cartoon. It's a nice touch. I'm not going to go into the bone weapon gimmick as, like the Weaponizers, many combinations can be done with them. The bone weapons do look convincing when they're trying to be melee weapons (like a giant bone axe or bone sword), but less effective when they're trying to be ranged weapons. I think Skelivore pulls off the ranged weapons the best, as the design and colours given to him are meant to represent something like Dark Energon constructs for Megatron. My biggest issue, though, with Skelivore is that the use of transparent plastic makes him far more brittle when compared to Paleotrex and Transmutate. My copy has fragile connections for the Dinosaur feet and shins (which can be but doesn't have to be a wrist swivel in robot mode). 

These three are a lot of fun. It's hard not to be entertained by them, thanks to the parts forming gimmick. Because this mould was built from the ground up for an original character, nothing limits their design. They don't need to look like the titan companions of Siege's weaponized, and they don't need to look like the Micromaster bases of Earthrise so that most pieces can be designed for the gimmick first and the robot/ beast mode second. Though some parts like the crotch are still a bit tedious to find a use for when combining onto other characters, especially when the weapon ports are more limited on Beast Wars characters, there's still enough playability in them to not rely on the ability to become accessories for other characters. Paleotrex and Skelivore are also generic enough to work as great army builders for the Predacons so that you could have a whole army of dinosaur skeletons. Definitely worth the purchase if you can find them. Next week though, it's time to go from some small dinosaurs to big ones and review one toy that's been a long time coming. "Yessss."

Transformers War for Cybertron; Earthrise Deluxe Class Smokescreen and Bluestreak: The problems with Earthrise Part 2

As critical of Earthrise as I have been lately, as evident by the Top X List I did a while ago for 2020 figures, I overall enjoyed the Earthrise line, there were a lot of good figures in it. However, one thing I did find frustrating about it was the character reuse. A noticeable (though minor when compared to the rest of the figures released) chunk of the characters that made up the Earthrise toyline was also made available in Siege, just redone in a way that gave them "earth modes". While for these two, I appreciate an alternative way to get them as their Siege releases are a pain to get here (well, mainly Bluestreak), it does feel a little patronizing for those who did like the Siege versions. Granted, a part of that comes from people calling for the rest of the Siege toyline to get the same treatment. This doesn't look to end anytime soon, as Ultra Magnus in Kingdom will continue the trend. Leaks are suggesting Sideswipe and Mirage will eventually also get that treatment (aren't you excited to get at least six figures you bought recently all over again?!). All that being said though, how do these two compare to the Siege Space Datsons?

Optical Illusion. Those two words are the first two that come to mind when I see them in car mode. On their own, they look smaller than the Siege versions in car mode, but when sticking them side by side, they're the same size. The Siege one is a bit wider and a bit longer, but the Earthrise version is taller. The minor differences though don't feel large enough to justify why I keep thinking they're noticeably smaller. Those who don't want to buy two exclusive two packs, the Siege Prowl and Barricade do go well with these two Earthrise cars; it's how I'm personally going to represent them as it helps keep all four of them looking and feeling unique. The car modes themselves look fine; however, Smokescreen looks noticeably better due to one main reason. Quality Control for Earthrise was not great, likely due to the pandemic (or at least I hope it's due to the pandemic). My Bluestreak is the worst example I've had of QC issues in Earthrise, at least the kind that's not easy to fix. I haven't had mine break yet (thankfully), but it is noticeably harder to get everything pegged into place in Car mode, along with keeping everything pegged into place.

 

Meanwhile, it's more frustrating for the robot mode to peg the arms into place, almost as if the red part of the torso came out of the machine wrong, but not in a noticeable way. It's an understandable thing to get wrong, even as I look at it now, I can't spot somewhere that clearly shows the problem, but being understandable doesn't absolve it of not being frustrating. From what I've seen, it could be a lot worse. Though the two mould share engineering, there aren't any pieces that look reused. While it helps make them more distinct, some like the wheels that I wish they did reuse, because these wheels don't look great. I also appreciate that both come with three weapons each, two shoulder blasters, and a standard gun (a vast improvement over the general retail Siege versions, where the lightbar was the reason none of them got three guns). Deco on both look great, I especially love Bluestreak's paint job, and the fact that both got actual headlights further highlights the improvements made to this when compared to the Siege versions. Aesthetically though, I still prefer the Siege version, just because I think the space car looks better, especially when the paint on Barricade helps make the mould shine.

 
Robot mode is where things get a little more sporadic in terms of which one is genuinely better. Bluestreak's quality control aside, there are merits to both moulds in terms of engineering. I love how the torso was handled in the Earthrise one, as it allows the arms to better lock into place. The new one is also slightly taller, with better proportions and a more compressed backpack. On the flip side, though, the Siege version proportions have a nice charm to them. I prefer the bulkier arms, and the silver paint on the legs helps hide how hollow they are. The Earthrise cars have a panel to try and hide this on the inside of their legs, but I think it attracts more attention due to how little of its hollowness covers up. Thanks to Bluestreak's QC issues, even though both moulds have hinges on clear plastic, the Siege version feels more durable. It feels like there's enough give in the plastic for the transformation to feel fun without forcing it to go from mode to mode (an issue I find annoying in the Earthrise versions legs). A minor complaint I have is the heel support for the Earthrise version. For Siege, the heal feels like a proper part of the foot, while on the Earthrise version, it feels like an afterthought. 

There's no one right answer when it comes to which one is better. Both moulds have their strengths and their weaknesses. I wanted to make this comparison because it felt like the push to being "more G1 accurate" made people ignore the Siege version's strengths. I'm keeping Prowl and Barricade as the Siege versions, and Smokescreen and Bluestreak as the Earthrise versions (though Bluestreaks may depend on how bad that QC issue gets). Would it be nice to have four that match? Yeah, but regardless of which way I go, I'm going to have a hard time. Siege Bluestreak and Smokescreen are quite expensive now, and I don't need Earthrise Ironhide as I'm not too fond of the retooling they did from his Siege mould. I also don't need a Punch/ Counterpunch in Nightbeat colours, Earth Mode Barricade's pack-in mate. I don't envy the people who own all four in both versions, but it is a frustrating thing to deal with. I'll settle for having a version of each character, even if they don't match. I wish I had that same level of control for the Seekers (which will come later).

Transformers War for Cybertron; Kingdom Deluxe Class Blackarachnia: Yeah, I couldn't find Megatron this week.

He'll come, eventually. The stock has only just started popping up anywhere close to where I live, give it some time.

After the beating I gave to the Arcee mould, along with the criticism of seven different characters all sharing (with varying levels of retooling) the Power of the Primes Moonracer mould, I figured it would at least be fair to review the newest female robot mould. Surprisingly, it's the one that appears to have limited repaint potential... unless they decide to make an army of spiders for Generations Selects. Blackarachnia! To get one thing out of the way first, I didn't cover the Golden Disk Card gimmick with Primal because there isn't much to say, it's a collectable card. Luckily, I could get a set of the Wave 1 cards without needing to trade, but it's hard to care about collectable cards.

 

Starting in the spider mode, objectively, it's not great. The robot mode contorts itself in a way that tries to keep itself clean, but several parts are exposed, such as the knees, shins, feet, and the entirety of the arms. Depending on the angle, you can also see her robot mode head. However, unlike figures like Earthrise Arcee, I don't particularly mind the visible robot parts, as they did make an effort to try and make it work. Beasts will always have some robot mode bits poking out, and considering the daunting task that is trying to turn a humanoid robot into a spider, a creature where there is very little mass for a robot to go. One advantage she has going for her though is that the beast mode is cleaner than her recent Masterpiece counterpart, at least in places. The abdomen (I don't know spider anatomy, this is coming from an unquestioned image search) is a lot cleaner, with more effort to blend the legs into the look. By contrast, though, the shoulders are in a more awkward position, and there's no way to hide them. What also doesn't help is the two sets of eyes on either end of her body, due to the paint detail for what will be the robot mode waist. For the moment, the ball joints for the legs are nice and tight, allowing her to stand in spider mode with no issues. It would have been nice if she had more articulation points on them, but it's not a deal-breaker for me. Like with the relatively recent Masterpiece figure, Blackarachnia's Poison Anchor stores under the body, which works and doesn't break up the look so long as you're looking down at her.
 

Disclaimer, my copy of the toy has a quality control issue, and due to its position, sadly, I have to put a minor NSFW warning (for those who care about those kinds of warnings). The tab connecting her breasts and collar to the rest of the body did snap off on me when trying to turn her from robot to spider mode the first time. On my copy, the pined hinge is strong enough to keep the panel in place in both modes, the tab breaking off hasn't detracted anything from the figure's structural integrity, hence why I'm continuing this review with a "broken toy". Be careful, though, as the cause for mine was the need to use excessive force to separate the two for spider mode. With all of that said though, I love this robot mode. It's nice to have a female transformer that isn't lugging their entire alt mode on their back, as the only spider kibble that can be found here are holdovers from her design in Beast Wars. Like Generation 1 Grimlock (another that will come when I can get him), the spider legs don't feel like alt mode junk, but parts of her design give her a personality. She's also extremely poseable, almost all the standard WFC articulation points, with the only one missing is a waist swivel due to transformation. That being said, my one complaint with articulation in this mode is that I would have liked an extra swivel in the claws so that they could move independently from the swivel in the elbow. As I mentioned last week with Primal, Blackarachnia doesn't do the WFC gimmicks. She has four Weaponizer ports on her (behind her thighs and on the bottom of her toes), limiting the Weaponizer combinations she can do. She also doesn't have any ports to show her being shot by another character. However, her weapon and the spider legs' ends can all accept blast effects to show her attacking an enemy (the legs being an excellent reference to the cartoon.

Except for the broken tab, Kingdom Blackarachnia is a prime example of what I want to see out of Fembot toys. She's a fun transformer, with excellent cohesion between spider and robot modes allowing for a good looking robot without an entire second mode stuck to her back. Supposedly, Tarantulous will be an original mould when he shows up sometime next year, which makes me wonder how they plan to reuse this mould, or if they plan to in the first place. Is she flawless? No, but in my eyes, she's currently the gold standard for female Transformers—more of this, less of Earthrise Arcee.

Transformers War for Cybertron Earthrise Arcee, Netflix Siege Elita-1 and Galactic Odyssey Paradron Medics Lifeline: Oh dear...

 Is it just me, or does it feel like we're regressing? I applaud Hasbro and Takara for them adding more female characters to the franchise and giving them more toys, but I'd be lying if I said they were doing a good job at it lately. The problems mostly come from the execution of the toys themselves, primarily by kibble management, and a barrage of repaints. I can cut Victorion and Megatronia some slack as "repaint spamming" was the subtitle of Combiner Wars. The three girls of Titans Return were all unique in their own ways, even with two of them sharing Blurr's mould, Power of the Primes was when it felt like they were taking the piss with it. A fembot combiner with limb bots that were the same toy, just with different colour pallets, with alt mode junk slapped onto their backs in a hideous way (which says something for a Combiner Wars styled limb bot). That mould got retooled into Tentakill and Scylla for Pirahnacon and God Neptune, which somehow made the alt mode junk look even more slapdash. The mould got retooled into Siege Chromia (and then repainted into Nightbird for Generations Selects), and like before, she had kibble issues! Siege Chromia is a figure where they could have addressed the backpack issues if they remembered the problem fans had with her last toy (Generations Chromia, a retool of Transformers Prime Arcee), and let people use the windscreen as a shield. Now in Earthrise, where they at least made a new Fembot mould, that allows you to do something with a large chunk of the backpack, but at a cost. Earthrise Arcee, a figure many consider to be one of the worst toys in the Earthrise line, not that it saved her from getting two repaints.

Usually, I start these reviews in Alt mode and then go into Robot mode. However, in this case, I think it's best to start with the reason for the flaws, before going into the flaws themselves. The robot modes themselves look ok. The parts that are the robot look quite good, with solid articulation that's serviceable, although I do find it odd that they don't have wrist swivels. Paint applications on Arcee though are ok except for her face, in that she doesn't have any paint on it (except for her eyes), which makes the detailing on it look fuzzy, unfocused. Granted, the white face is G1 accurate, but like the Siege Rainmakers, G1 accurate isn't always a good thing. Paint though is something that Lifeline improves on, sporting pretty much all the same paint applications as Arcee does in robot mode, but also has some colour on her face and head to help break up the giant chunk of white and make it look more like a face and not a ball with blue eyes. I also appreciate the fact that Elita-1 isn't a full repaint, as the torso, shoulders, and head are all original for this toy, giving her a different presence compared to her pink and green sisters in arms. However, for some reason, all three get tiny pistols moulded in the same plastic as their windscreens, which looks terrible. Instead of a way to store them on their hips, they plug into their strangely defined asses... make of that what you will. Unfortunately, though, that's where the positives (and in the case of weapons and storage, questionable choices) end.

A G1 faithful Arcee was always going to have some form of a backpack on her; it's more a matter of how large it would be and what you can do with it. Unfortunately, the Earthrise Arcee mould has an awful backpack on her, regardless of the version of the toy you have. The entire car mode is crushed onto her back if you choose not to parts-forming anything. It looks ugly, and even when removing the part that you can, the entire back half of the car, you're still stuck with something that looks bolted onto her back, but does at least look better, all it would need is a few extra joints to compress it a bit more. If the sides had hinges on them so that the backpack (not counting the back of the car) could create a triangle-like shape with the car hood's headlight sections, I think that would have gone a long way to help to improve the backpacks. If you do detach the car's back though, you can fold out some panels and turn them into hoverboards for the girls. Yes, this is dumb. Maybe if they did more to make these look like actual vehicles and not just the backs of cars, perhaps this could have worked. At most though, these are subpar stands that you can use to have the girls do poses on (though my Lifeline does have slightly weak hips, however, that's more of a minor QC issue with my copy of the toy).

As for the car modes, they're not great. For the sake of a shell forming transformation (when the alt mode wraps around the robot mode), the three cars look boxy, something that goes against the design of Arcee's alt mode, a rounded, sleek futuristic space convertible. What doesn't help is that due to the car mode being nothing but panels, it doesn't hold together securely compared to any other Carformer in recent memory. Elita's is probably the worst of the three due to paint, or a lack thereof for the car's back. Still, when the only thing making a car better is paint (the winner of that once again going to Lifeline, with Arcee coming a close second as the only thing missing is some grey on the sides), you know you've got an awful alternate mode. I can forgive a bad alternate mode if the robot mode is great, it's why I can give a pass to stuff like Siege Soundwave and his rectangle pooping spaceship mode. These three are why I think G1 Arcee needs a massive, modernized redesign, something that tries to incorporate the car mode into the robot mode. The G1 cartoon design was not designed to be a toy; it was intended solely for animation in the cartoon and movie. While they've been able to do accurate cartoon designs for the other movie characters, Arcee has consistently failed due to varying degrees of awful kibble management. Sure, Masterpiece and Third-Party companies have come close, but I genuinely think it is impossible to pull off a completely cartoon accurate robot mode that also transforms. The feminine physique first, transformers second thing for the fembots needs to stop. They're great characters and deserve great toys. Stop designing them like Transformers Cybertron's Thunderblast, where the kibble blatantly looks like kibble.

The frustrating thing is that I wanted to like this mould. I've wanted a G1 Arcee to add to my collection. She was one of the final members of the 86 movie crew that I was missing having a version of. I also wanted a better version of Elita-1, and though I wish it were taller, upscaled to stand closer to Optimus' height, it wasn't something I was expecting out of this. Why did I get Lifeline? Because I like seeing novelty characters get new figures, and even if I wasn't the biggest fan of the original toy, it is nice at least to have a version of Lifeline in my collection. I know this mould had potential, it's not a lost cause, especially as people are customizing Arcee to ditch the backpack to give her a better looking back in exchange for losing the car mode. What makes this frustrating is that these three are tiny compared to other deluxe class figures in the line when it comes to plastic mass. You'd think there would have been more room in the budget to do things like better compressing the mandatory backpack, or giving something to the back of the car to make it look more like a hoverboard, but there isn't. They're not compatible with the War for Cybertron play patterns either, as none of them have any decent weapon ports (save for on their feet), nor do they have any blast effects plugs in robot mode, with the only two meant more for the hoverboard gimmick. There were just enough cut corners to turn this from passable, to frustrating.

I can see why people are keeping the old Generations or Takara Legends one if you're wondering why there aren't any comparisons to it, it's because I don't own one. The only comparison I could make is Elita with her Power of the Primes version, and that's not a reasonable comparison to make. Arcee is getting a reissue in Kingdom. If you're desperate for a representation of them, they'll do, but you can do better for Arcee and Lifeline (according to the community). Elita though? This figure is the best version of her so far, which is a depressing thing to think about, considering her status in the franchise. A leader in her own right, a character gaining a lot of attention recently thanks to the Netflix seasons, and the best representation in plastic that she has is a repaint of one of Arcee's worst G1 toys.

Transformers War For Cybertron (Earthrise) Deluxe Class; Cliffjumber: Well... Deluxe might be a stretch...

Oh boy... time to delve into some of these issues of the War for Cybertron line... Starting in Siege (not counting Studio Series as I don't actively collect the line), the size classes seem to be more of an indication of difficulty, rather than size. While that acts as a benefit when they release the larger Deluxes like Ironhide and Spinister, Earthrise, year two of the trilogy looks to be pushing those limits. Honestly it's impressive that they're trying this as people are still angry at the Leader Class Shockwave and Astrotrain from Siege. On top of the size issues, a practice known as Partsforming is looking to play a big part of the line. While people were fine with it for the Weaponizers, and that will continue with the... Modularizers? Is that what they're calling the bases? Armorizer still sounds nicer to me. Anyway, while those still use the process, people are less forgiving of it when it comes to the upcoming Arcee, who I'll go into detail on when she's released. Partsforming, and being shrunk down to a Legends Class sized character being sold at deluxe prices though? You can just imagine how people have been reacting to the new Cliffjumper. Is it warranted though?

To quickly deal with them. Inside the boxes of Earthrise toys, you get a piece of a star map, and a "scanner", and by the end of Earthrise, you should be able to complete a full map of the Transformers universe. I'm not bothering with the map, so I'm not going to be covering it from here on out. Starting in Car mode, and giving credit where it's due, this is a nice looking Cliffjumper car mode, just that compared to other Deluxe car bots, it's tiny. It's smaller than a Nintendo Switch Joycon (look, I'm writing this while I kill time between shifts, I don't have many size comparisons on hand right now). It's a solid little Sports Coupe, with the only major bit of kibble being robot mode hands being slightly visible, something that weapon storage helps cover-up. Cliffjumper does at least scale nicely with the other mini bots in car mode, along with the robot mode. Speaking of...

While one specific part of the transformation is frustrating to do on my copy of the toy, when he's in robot mode, it's hard to deny that he doesn't look like a great Cliffjumper, and it's nice to see a G1 Cliffjumper that isn't just a red Bumblebee (though I don't think anyone is expecting that to last, this guy screams "Retool me into Bumblebee!", maybe even some Throttlebots in the Generations Selects line. Goldbug, Chase and Freeway for example). Due to being labelled as a Deluxe, he has got the advantages of the size class and price range, he's way more articulated than any of the other Minibots released in the Generations line, and the transformation itself is very interesting and fun to do. I also like the fact that he gets his Bazooka, and the weapon itself can be rearranged for numerous configurations in both Robot mode and Car Mode. But... the "Shield"... here is where the partsforming comes into play. The back of the car has to be removed for the transformation. While it can be used as a shield, the main purpose is to be used as a back cover to clean up his back in robot mode. While it works for that purpose, the effect would probably look better if it didn't look like he stuck the backend of some random car onto his back. At the time of writing this, I have both Cliffjumper and Hoist in terms of the Earthrise Deluxes, with Hoist being who I got first. Because of that though, I'm struggling to see where the cut costs from producing a smaller figure went too. Though there aren't as many unnecessary gaps in the pieces, they are still there, though not as obvious as on someone like Hoist. While I can tolerate gaps for joints and engineering, holes like in his forearms and legs that are just there to cut some of the cost away from the moulding process I, and many others find annoying, and it's something that I would have liked to have seen dealt with for Cluffjumper, who's already smaller than all the other Deluxes in the line.

Though Cliffjumper justifies the cost in terms of engineering, not having a class between Deluxe and Micromaster does hurt the perception of the toy. It's not in any way a bad toy, and it would be nice to get other Minibots with the same engineering treatment. But when looking at it on a shelf next to the other wave 1 Deluxes, it's a hard sell to the average customer. Here's hoping Runabout and Runamuck are the usual Deluxe size, especially because I want to put them side by side Topspin and Twin twist,, but right now the main goal is being able to actually get both of them in Australia at all. 

Top 10 Transformers Purchased in 2019

With a new year and a new decade upon us, I thought it might be nice to look back on what's been, because 2019 was a solid year for Transformers. Siege was a huge step up over Power of the Primes, Cyberverse gave characters not cast in plastic for several years a new chance on life, and Studio Series continues to replicate the movie designs (whether or not this is a good thing or not depends on your view of the movie designs). With 2020 looking to continue the upward trend, and even improve on the engineering in Cyberverse, I thought I might look back at the 10 best figures I obtained in 2019. They don't need to be released this year, they don't have to be objectively the best, just the stuff that I've enjoyed the most that I obtained this year.

10. Cyberverse Skybyte

While the spark armour gimmick of the Cyberverse line was more of a mess then I'd hoped for, I will admit that Skybyte on his own was a nice figure. Basic engineering, but fitting for what is basically a Legends Class toy. As good as previous Skybyte toys? No idea, this is the only one I own, but perfectly serviceable. A fun toy to fidget with, thanks to the basic, but to the point transformation and small size. Besides, it's nice to see something other then G1 get nostalgia love.

9. Siege Shockwave

I like a good spaceship Transformer every now and then, and while many purists might not like all the extra stuff added in to turn a space gun into a spaceship, it doesn't take away from how playable Shockwave is. If you want to completely ignore the armour, you've still got a good voyager sized Shockwave that turns into the space gun. At the end of the day, I love toys that are fun to mess with, that don't feel like they're going to break if you do something wrong. Shockwave's fun, a strong release in Siege bogged down in the controversy of all the extra plastic that a lot of people didn't want but had to get to avoid the "you're selling a gun to my child" controversy. He also looks great in black, at least based on pictures I've seen.

8. Studio Series Hightower

I had to put this thing somewhere on the list. Is it a good toy? No, but it's hilarious that it exists at all, considering as the design itself is universally hated. I'm not against non-humanoid robot designs, but Hightower's design is a joke, and that's honestly the best thing about it. I love how stupid this thing looks, I find it hilarious that someone legitimately thought that this was a cool design. Until the rest of Devastator comes out, and even probably after, this guy has the title of the funniest transformers I have, and for that alone, he makes the list.

7. Siege Micromasters

I'm lumping all of them together for this one (except for Wave 5, I'm missing those two), as, like Skybyte, they're fun to fiddle around with, and with Earthrise teasing at Micromaster bases in the future, it'll be fun to have a modern take on the Micromaster play pattern. If I had to pick a favorite of the wave 1 moulds, it would have to be the one used for Flak, along with Roadhandler at number 2, Lazerbeak at number 3. All I can really say is "more Micromasters please, and try to refresh the stock here once in a while, I'm sick of seeing Wave 2 on shelves! (While you're at it, for the love of Primus, stop putting Studio Series Blackout and Grimlock on shelves!)

6. Siege Jetfire

Jetfire is probably one of my favourite characters in Transformers, so from the announcement of it happening, I was onboard for Siege's take. The end result is a fun display piece. As good as third party offerings of Skyfire? No, but again, it's that playability that I enjoy in collecting Transformers, so while Siege Jetfire might not be as amazing as the Fanstoys one, but he can certainly outgun him. A very minor complaint of mine is that I wish he had a bit more weight in him. He feels a bit too light for someone of that size. Not KO levels of light, nowhere near it. It might just be a me thing because while I'm not what you'd call buff, my job requires moving heavy stuff around.

5. Studio Series Dropkick (Car mode)

Why aren't their more muscle car transformers? I'm not joking around here, there are a surprisingly large amount of vehicles that have the potential to be cool transformers, but you never see them (or rarely see them at best), with Muscle cars being one of them. It's why I've enjoyed the car forms of Bumblebee villains Shatter and Dropkick. While Shatter has a bad kibble problem, Dropkick's

4. Studio Series Scrapmetal

What've I've enjoyed the most about figures in the Studio Series line like Scrapmetal is that while they've taken creative liberties, to me at least they're creative liberties that improve the looks of the characters, decluttering the movie designs and making them stronger as a result. To me, while there are parts of the movie designs I like, they always look messy with parts overkill cluttering the look, and parts coming out of nowhere to make it look even worse at times (I swear movie 1 Bumblebee has two engines for feet). The simplification for the sake of making working toys does mean that we get nicer looking designs (for the main body at least), and Scrapmetal is probably the best example of this. It's nice as a standalone toy, and I'm curious to see how well it holds up as Devastator's left hand.

3. Siege Impactor

A long-awaited figure to join The Wreckers, and one that certainly didn't disappoint. While locking the IDW head behind a US exclusive is annoying, the original looking head still looks great and doesn't detract away from how great of an overall figure Impactor is. It's strong, commanding, might have been better as a voyager, but there's still a clear presence to him on a shelf, in both tank mode and robot mode. Perfectly fitting his long-awaited arrival as an official toy. Would have been nicer though if his legs weren't so visibly hollow though.

2. Siege Spinister

From an absolute nobody that no one expected to be any good, to what many, myself included, view as one of the best Siege toys released, and also the best helicopter Transformer released (though when your competition includes Studio Series Dropkick, there's not that much competition in it). Spinister's a lot of fun to mess around with, movement feels effortless, the transformation is fun, there's very little I can actually fault him for, and what faults I have, most of them I can easily look past for the sake of the overall figure. If you could only get one figure in Siege, get Spinister.

Before moving on, a few honourable mentions

• Siege Skywarp: Fun in a squad, just wish those Rainmakers weren't US exclusives
• Studio Series Drift (Helicopter): A bit too much kibble on him for my liking, but it's a far better Helicopter then Dropkick's one was
• Siege Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime: I really wanted to love this thing, but the Ultra Magnus retools get in the way, and to this day I still don't know how those shoulder pads are meant to store in space fire truck mode.
• Studio Series Ironhide: Honestly the biggest issue with this guy has just been the release schedules of Studio Series with entire waves being almost impossible to find on shelves while older stock keeps being brought in and shelf warming.
• Siege Optimus Prime: I've got more to say about him in the new year, as a joint review of him and Takara's Nemesis repaint is a goal of mine to cover. A lot of fun to mess around with though, I just don't want to give it to the toy that's guaranteed to be good because it's Optimus Prime

And for number 1...

 Galaxy Force Megatron

A collection such as toy collecting is a representation of who you are. The stuff you gravitate towards tells a bit about yourself, what you enjoy, what you hate. It's an amazing feeling to find a grail from your childhood, something you've wanted for a long time and now finally own, and Galaxy Force/ Cybertron Megatron was one of my grail pieces. While I was introduced to Transformers in late Armada/ early Energon, Cybertron design-wise was a line that felt like it could do no wrong for me as a child, and even to this day holds a special place in my heart. If I had the space and the money, I'd probably try and put together a complete collection of that line. I'll admit Megs isn't quite as graceful about gimmick integration as Optimus is, but he still has a presence to him that I do think some incarnations lack. For that reason, Galaxy Force Megatron is my number 1 Transformer toy purchased in 2019.

With that, it'll be interesting to see what happens in 2020. I've got some things lined up, like a review of the Generations Selects Seacons, a goal of mine is to try and track down a MakeToys Thunder Manus so if that happens, you'll see that as a review. Studio Series Devastator is still happening as far as I know, and Earthrise looks to have a lot of interesting stuff in the pipeline if leaks are to be believed (I'm hyped for Snapdragon and Doubledealer).