Transformers War For Cybertron Haslab Unicron: Behold, the Chaos Bringer!

 What could end 2021? What could be the final review of the year, a final send off to the year that reminded us "things could get worse"? Up until the last week before it was released, I did have this guy on pre-order but ended up cancelling it due to the rocky nature of 2021. JobKeeper was ending. Work wasn't restarting reliably; it was hard to justify an $800 toy with no stable income coming in. So, I wrote it off, thinking I wouldn't get a chance to see it in person, let alone review it. Well, that chance would eventually come when Melbourne's version of Oz Comic-Con came around. On Wednesday Night group chats for the Transformers Collectors Club Australia, I said I'd be willing to help them with events as, to quote myself, "it's what I do for a living anyway." The current president of the club backed Unicron and brought his copy along to the event, and it's thanks to him that I was able to work on this review. Notes were taken at the show, though, and while I didn't get a chance to transform him, I did pay close attention to him transforming it, along with the transformation videos on YouTube by others who have reviewed it. Logistically, this was the best way to get this review done, even if it means it's not as thorough as other reviews have been in the past. 

 

 
I'll start with the accessories, as most are nothing to write home about. The largest and necessary one is a display stand primarily for the planet mode. While the robot can support its weight in robot mode, the stand can remain attached to the figure in both modes and dramatically helps with the transformation. While elements like the removable back leg for the sake of moving the figure closer to the wall is an excellent addition, one thing it could have benefited from was a rotation point at the base of the main arm to help move all the weight during the transformation process. Due to the weight and all the ratchet joints in the figure, an inbuilt way to spin it would help immeasurably. Due to their small size, what wasn't on display at the booth was the nano figure of Galvatron, Hot Rod, and the Autobot Shuttle. Galvatron and Hot Rod are nothing special, but considering as the two characters are barely a centimetre tall, there's understandably not much to them. From what I've seen in other reviews, though, the Shuttle's well-sculpted and is an excellent small display in its own right, in a similar style to models like the old die-cast Star Trek ships, but on a much smaller scale. A nice pseudo accessory he comes with is a removable head. While it's not a Headmaster, the gimmick is a nice inclusion for those who want to display the head on its own and a battle-damaged alternate face to replicate its status in Season 3 of the cartoon. The head has its own separate stand that can hold the minifigures and ship mentioned above, with room to include the ones that come with the Generations Selects Behold Galvatron set. However, these are small fry to the main event.

As for Unicron himself, I was stunned seeing him for the first time in Planet Mode. Words can't describe how big this guy is. For what is effectively a ball with spikes, Unicron is genuinely impressive. The transformation is almost seamless, with the panel lines for transformation blending effortlessly into the sculpted detail. The planet mode is the most eye-catching model for Unicron, and even in this form, it's nice to see the gimmick with the maw, where all the teeth can move in unison if you spin the yellow ring around it. It's a nice novelty feature, even if it's not one many will use. The blast effects posts on both the planet and robot mode are... divisive for me. On the one hand, I like that he has them, as specific blast effects would work well on him to make it look like the Autobots and Decepticons are firing their most potent weapons at him. On the other hand, some of them are in awkward places, and the variety of effects parts isn't there to justify the feature, let alone the ones that would look good on him (ones like Earthrise Soundbarrier's, for example). While the planet mode looks good and is an excellent representation of Unicron's most iconic mode, it's hard to talk about what is essentially a plastic ball with spikes and a ring, so let's get to the more exciting mode.

In robot mode, the only way to describe Unicron is imposing. The biggest ever Transformer lives up to the name thanks to how big a footprint he takes up in any display. Unicron demands attention with even the most basic positions you place him in. However, you'll likely only be placing him in these basic positions because of how heavy he is and how strong the ratchet joints support his weight. With that said, though, almost everything you'd want to move for poses can move. Seeing it in person, the only thing I could think of that would be nice to move around more are the wings, having a hinge where they connect to the shoulders to splay them out more, but that is an incredibly small nitpick. Like in the planet mode, I love all the sculpted detail on him; every surface in both modes is sculpted beautifully. Even the wings, which are very hollow, look really good due to how purposeful the open spaces appear. It helps make look Unicron even bigger. However, one major flaw that many have with the toy is how the designers handled the execution. Unicron is a shell former; almost, if not all of the planet mode, ends up on either his shins or his back in robot mode. In photos, this does look bad, really bad. But in person, it's something that works to his advantage, as the kibble helps make him look even stronger, even more imposing. Could the engineering be improved? Yes, see "Totally not Zeta Toy's Totally not Unicron" that was announced simultaneously and released before this project was. But the issue with better integrating the planet into robot mode, the more frustrating the transformation is, something that I've seen first hand as transforming Unicron isn't easy, purely due to the weight. I'm terrified to think how painful of a transformation "Studio Cell" Unicron would be if he were as big and heavy as Haslab Unicron is. 

Credit to Nathan who took this photo of the booth.

When looking at this from its perspective being a Generations-style release, there's very little to criticize. There aren't any major issues that bring the figure down. By the same merit, though, $800 for a Generations figure is hard to justify, even more so when you compare it to the roughly $500 Studio Cell figure that had Masterpiece styled engineering and was more accurate to the movie. For the cost, it's not unreasonable for people to want something with more complex engineering to help clean the figure up. However, all the barely contained planet chunks help give the sculpture a unique presence that the movie-accurate design doesn't have. I know first-hand how much attention Unicron got as many people stopped to look at how impressive it is. He's one of the best shell formers ever released by Hasbro, but on the matter of if Shellforming was the right approach, that's more debatable and up to personal preference.

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.

Transformers War for Cybertron Kingdom Voyager Class Dinobot and Grimlock: No, not Dinobot Grimlock.

When Kingdom was unveiled, there was a specific set of characters that people couldn't wait for, and were characters that a new toy of them would be inevitable. Dinobot was one of these characters, as not only is he a beloved character from the Beast Era, but a spotlight episode for him, Code of Hero, is regarded as one of the best Transformers Episodes ever made. Considering he's one of five Beast Wars characters (not counting reprints and Lio Convoy) to have a Masterpiece figure, not including him in the toy line meant to represent the anniversary of Beast Wars would be a disastrous oversight. However, a bit more surprising was the inclusion of his repaint, Grimlock, in one of two exclusives that bundled an Autobot with a Maximal. Granted, Hasbro will use any excuse to repaint a figure that they can get, so Grimlock was likely; it just felt like an odd choice to include with a new Mirage toy, especially when G1 Grimlock was available in the Studio Series line (though out of all the possibilities, it probably still made the most sense). We've tackled Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Rattrap, Airazor and Rhinox; how well does 2021 treat one of the most infamous warriors in the franchise (and his white cousin)?

For a lot of toys this year, the term "Mini Masterpiece" has been thrown around. While I think how it's being used is wrong, I believe there is a grain of truth to it. Many toys have borrowed elements from Masterpiece engineering to achieve the two modes. Still, due to the downscale of cost, the engineering's used mainly for large chunks rather than minor tweaks. Dinobot is an excellent example of this as while the base concepts in his engineering are similar to the Masterpiece in certain elements, the compromises are far more visible due to the smaller budget. This velociraptor mode looks ugly; there's no getting around that. Due to the robot legs needing to go somewhere, the entire underside of the raptor mode looks awful, and due to how much the legs stick out compared to a raptor's body proportions, there's no natural way to fix it either. From the top-down, the raptor model looks really good, and all the Kingdom signature beast detail is nicely on display here. However, even at this angle, the illusion is ruined by the robot mode feet. Compared to how the legs integrate into the toy, elements like the robot mode-specific deco visible in what would be awkward areas of the Raptor mode don't stand out as much. However, an eyesore is easily the Raptor hands. For the sake of robot mode engineering, the fingers are too long when compared to (what we know of) raptor hands and claws, and the locked position of them always makes the hands look awkward no matter what you do with them. Another compromise for the sake of the robot mode was the articulation.

Compared to other Beast Wars characters, Dinobot's raptor mode feels uncomfortably stiff, thanks to the locked neck, the immoveable tail, and the thighs being locked in place, denying the ability to get good running poses. In addition, many have complained about one element of this mode: the end of the robot mode's sword being used as the tip of the tail. Due to the paint on the sword is based on the Masterpiece's metallic pink blade, it leaves the tail with a pink tip. If that bothers you, Grimlock's sword blends in better with the tail, but I find the deco on him to be less impressive when compared to Dinobot. Also, elements like the deco on the dino thighs feel less interesting than Dinobots, an interesting turn of events as Grimlock was an exclusive repaint, often resulting in a deluxe paint job compared to regular retail. Unfortunately, that might be due to the one he was bundled with, Mirage, getting the deluxe treatment, a shame for those who were after the set for Grimlock like I was. I love Grimlock's green eyes, though, and it gives the beast mode a robotic feel to it that almost helps with hiding the robot mode junk trying to pass itself off as a Raptor stomach. 

With the beast mode clearly suffering, one can hope that it was all for the sake of the robot mode. Thankfully, the robot mode for Dinobot is gorgeous! Dinobot is almost everything a Dinobot fan would want in a Voyager Class representation of the character in robot mode. He's one of the more agile figures in Kingdom, thanks to the extra joints in the shoulders for the sake of beast mode. 5mm ports on the palms of his hands can help fake the tail shield spinning gimmick the original toy and the Masterpiece had while maintaining the friction to hold his gear. Unfortunately, it's not very useful outside of his weapons because most weapons are designed for regular hands (sorry, you can't have him hold G1 guns, I'm sad to say). Paint applications are beautiful, with the only thing that feels like a glaring omission is painting the bone details on his shins, likely cut due to the transformation. Thankfully the moulding on the legs is there, so there's very little extra work that would be required if you're into customizing your figures. For those that aren't, I don't see an upgrade kit coming that could help fix this as the joints are covered up nicely, with pins not designed to be removed, locking the plastic pieces together. Once again, though, deco seems to be the issue with Grimlock, as not only is he missing paint applications, but applications intended for beast mode look awkward in robot mode, coming off as half done. The outer half of the knee spikes, thighs, and feet are painted white to blend into beast mode, but it shifts to the colours for robot mode, down the middle of each, resulting in a half-painted mess. The chest is also missing details, as some aspects in the moulding intended to replicate the Beast Wars Cartoon's Raptor head chest that Dinobot uses to full effect are lost on Grimlock. It seems like the priority that was given to Grimlock was for the beast mode. Still, it looks like a wasted effort, especially when the robot mode's engineering is so well done due to how heavily compromised the beast mode already was. 

What's frustrating about this toy is that it's okay when a character like Dinobot deserves an amazing one. However, the issue with that mindset is that Beasts are always going to be compromised, and though this feels like too much of a compromise, it's hard to deny the sacrifices that were worth it when you see the robot mode. As a Raptor, Dinobot's toy is awful when compared to the other beasts in Kingdom's line, up there with Scorponok's beast mode due to how rigid it feels. As a warrior, though, the toy is practically perfect at the Voyager scale. The two cancel each other out though, to make the toy okay in the line, very average when compared to others. As for Grimlock, I wish it got the same Robot mode attention that Dinobot did, but that was probably due to Mirage needing so much of the packs budget.

Transformers War for Cybertron Kingdom Leader Class Galvatron: Now with 100% less Jet Mode.

While Titans Return was justifiably praised back when it was the main Generations Toyline, very few Transformers toylines are without blunders. Some would argue that one of the biggest blunders the line had was its take on Galvatron. Though many of the choices for Voyager Class figures in the toy line were very questionable, Galvatron was one of the strangest as the goal was to make a triple changer out of a canon when the option for a toy gun was no longer going to cut it. As a result, Galvatron was given a jet mode that would make anyone with even basic knowledge of aerodynamics cry and a cockpit on his back that nobody asked for. If you have a seething hatred of Titans Return Galvatron, well, good news, today's subject does precisely what you want, have a purple Decepticon turn into a space canon. That alone would be worth an upgrade, but how well does Kingdom Galvatron hold up on his own. It's finally time to look at the last Herald of Unicron, in both cartoon and toy/kind of sort of comic colours.

Well... the one and only alt mode is undoubtedly a canon... As much of a cop-out bit of criticism as that sounds, it's hard to talk about G1 Galvatron's Alt mode because, like Megatron's original alt mode, it's interesting when compared to other Transformers but inherently not as exciting as something like a car or a plane, or a monster. You have small wheels on the tank treads and the angle leg (I don't know cannons), allowing you to roll him along the ground, and the joints in all three legs allow for you to angle the cannon. Apart from that, though, there isn't much to say. Elements like the front legs and the arms with treads sticking out the shoulders look bad but is a common thing for Galvatron. It's just how it has to work at the limitations this toy has (though one thing I do have to give credit to the Titans Return version for, the lower arms end up behind the main leg element, making it look more cohesive from the front). A pre-applied rub-sign sticker is the only major thing to bring up between the general retail release, and the Generations Selects release. Most of the differences become more noticeable in robot mode.

Missasembly issues on early releases of Kingdom Galvatron excluded (mine has the right shoulders if anyone is curious); I like this take on Galvatron, though I wish some minor things were addressed before release. I love the overall proportions, with the only minor exception being the panels on the side of his chest. While, on the one hand, it does break up the overall look of Galvatron and does make him look a bit too chubby (clearly, he's been putting on the lockdown weight, too), it also makes him look more imposing and stronger. The arm cannon is another element that I'm not a big fan of. I'm not a fan of where they put the 5mm post to connect the cannon to the arm, and I think the barrel looks a bit too long and a bit too thin. The 5mm post is my biggest issue with the cannon, though, as the ports on the arms limit you to either putting the cannon in a spot where it's accurately positioned on the arm but limits dynamic positions you can put him in. Your other option is a spot where the cannon should connect too and gives more articulation freedom, but makes the cannon look even longer and not sit in properly depending on the position of the upper arm. It's little things like those that, while they aren't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, become far more noticeable because this toy is so close to being a fantastic Galvatron toy. It's why I got the Generations Selects release as well, which has a colour scheme more closely aligned with that of the original G1 toy. It comes with a sticker sheet to give it more of the G1 toy details, but the base plastic and the Kingdom detailing is so well done that it feels redundant to include them. Combined with my disdain for putting stickers on toys (blame LEGO), and I've decided to keep them off. One thing I was surprised about with the Toy colours was the choice of Purple. It's surprisingly darker than the retail release and stands out beautifully against the muted grey (compared to the retail toy's heavy use of silver plastic). 

Both toys come with three accessories that are both interesting inclusions and redundant bits of plastic. First, both toys come with guns based on the design of his ship from the 1986 movie, The Revenge, something I do find odd as the original toy did come with a gun. The sculpting is beautiful on the weapons, and the two can combine to form an interesting looking sidearm, but it's always going to feel redundant compared to the cannons both toys come with. Something far more interesting was the inclusion of a Matrix of Leadership on a chain to reference his jewellery in the 86 movie. It's ok for a toy, though the chain does feel like a bit of an afterthought in the initial design concept. I have no issue with the chain being a solid bit of plastic; it feels a bit too small for me, though, resulting in the Matrix not sitting right. An extra link or two in length could have helped with this. Credit to them, though, I love the fact that Toy Colours Galvatron comes with the Creation Matrix from the G1 Marvel comics. I'm surprised a Creation Matrix repaint of the Matrix of Leadership didn't happen sooner. 

The issues I've brought up are just what they sound like, minor issues, nitpicks at best. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the best mainline G1 Galvatron they've designed. Almost completely flawless; I doubt anything would be topping this any time soon. If you can find one, get it because you won't be disappointed. 

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 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.

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.

Transformers Shattered Glass Voyager Class Megatron: Last time, I promise...

With the inclusion of Shattered Glass Optimus in the last review and a parcel that was due in with Shattered Glass Megatron, I figured I'd delay the review by a week and cover something a bit more recent. The original plan was Earthrise Runamuck and Runabout, but instead, let's continue on this mini Shattered Glass marathon I was planning on doing anyway. Plus, it gives another chance to look at that tried and true mould that's now had three posts dedicated to it (at least I didn't review the Netflix ones), the Siege Megatron review. This won't be a review looking at engineering (barring one exception). This is the third review covering this mould; nothing's changed in terms of engineering. This is a figure sold on the aesthetics, so how well does it pull that off? 

 

Credit where it's due with this version of Megatron when compared to the five previous versions (not counting Earthrise). This has three modes: the tried and true Tank mode. Thanks to some bonus accessories and half transforming Megatron from tank to robot, a Jet mode inspired by the original Shattered Glass Megatron, a repaint of Transformers Energon Megatron. Though I have an Energon Megatron, I'm not going to make a proper comparison for the sake of review as it's not complete (I'm missing the sword and the missile), one comparison I can't help but make between the Energon version, and even the other Siege versions is the stability. Because this is a tank that's being forced into something looking like a plane, the connection points required to complete the look aren't there, it makes the jet mode feel as flimsy as it seems. In the looks department, though, once again, it's a tank that's trying to be a jet, and seeing as the back of the tank becomes the front of the plane, the flimsy feeling just becomes stronger. Thanks to the fact that the front of the tank does not change at all for the sake of the jet mode, all it gets are some extra wing pieces that plug into 5mm ports. That is the only change to give it the jet mode. I go into this more at the end of the review, but while I respect the effort of trying to make this work, it does sting and blatantly feels like a downgrade. The tank mode isn't even an official mode. Was it too much to ask for the front track sections to be remoulded into something resembling thrusters?

Remoulding of parts is also one of the most significant issues I have with the robot mode. Like with the G2 repaint reviews, it's hard to get anything out of this mould other than "G1 Megatron in different colours". One of the biggest reasons for this likely traces back to Generation 1 and the new toy regulations that meant that Megatron couldn't be a gun anymore. Unlike Optimus, Megatron hasn't had a consistent design until relatively recently, with media designs that change drastically compared to his Autobot counter, who has had a mostly consistent set of design cues. On its own merits, this is an excellent looking repaint. I love the black and white head (though I wish the eyes were brighter, and the evil scowl, the blue vents on the backpack, all the little painted details on the chest; objectively, this is a good repaint of the Siege mould. But is it a good version of Shattered Glass Megatron? If your perception of what SG Megatron is meant to look like is closer to the Energon toy, then no, it doesn't do it. Ironically, if they put the work into making Kingdom Galvatron look like SG Megatron, it would have been closer to the original due to how many cues Energon Megatron's toy took from G1 Galvatron. 

 

I remember a few weeks ago, myself and a group of Transformers fans were talking about why we collect the lines we collect, what our endpoints are in our collections. One thing I mentioned in that discussion is that I personally don't feel like I've started looking at an endpoint because the biggest draw of Generations (and all its subline rebrandings like War for Cybertron), the line I primarily collect, isn't doing the stuff I want yet. Don't get me wrong, it's doing a lot of exciting things, and I've enjoyed my time collecting the line from late Combiner Wars and onward. But if you were to ask me what I want, what I want to see if the line had no limits, and what my possible, if unlikely to happen, the endpoint is, it's modern versions of the Transformers I grew up with, the Unicron Trilogy. While many of those toys wouldn't benefit much from a modern toy, due to how stagnant engineering has gotten from the early 2000s to now, all that would happen is the toys getting smaller and the removal of gimmicks. But for someone like me who is starving for representation of those designs and representations done properly, I'll take it. When you compare Galaxy Optimus from Siege to the Transformers Cybertron toy, it feels like they did the design dirty by making it a retool of Ultra Magnus. Cybertron Hotshot from the Generations Selects line feels like they did the design dirty by making it a repaint of Siege Hound, and this... this feels like it's rubbing salt in the wound. I've got some parts coming in that may help bring this toy closer to the Energon Megatron that was the base mould for the original Shattered Glass Megatron because this is not a good retool. This is an excellent paint job for the Siege Megatron mould, but this is an awful modernization of the Energon toy. What saves me from hating this is the fact that I wasn't expecting much. When rumours were circulating about this line of repaints, I was honestly expecting even less than this; I was just expecting a repaint with no extra pieces. Given the limitations they had going into this, this is a fine toy, same as the other examples I mentioned earlier. They're fine toys when looking at the limitations they had to work with. It just hurts for someone like me who sees all the love American G1 gets in recent years. From modern reimaginings in Generations, stylized redesigns in lines like Cyberverse and faithful adult premium collectables in the Masterpiece line, not to mention the majority of media that comes out for the brand, a consistent thought in the back of my mind when I see all of it is "can we get some love too?". At best, it feels like, at least before Kingdom started, anything past Generation 1 was given scraps, passable repaints to hold onto trademarks. I know G1 will never go away, that G1 will always be on shelves. But, Generations is a plural after all, and 80's nostalgia isn't the only nostalgia to exist.

Transformers War for Cybertron Trilogy Optimus Prime Marathon: Nothing but Prime Time today.

For health and safety reasons, do not do a drinking game involving the number of times the word Prime is used in this review. 

 

 

So it occurs to me that I've only reviewed one War for Cybertron Optimus Prime, the Galaxy Upgrade one that was a remould of Siege Ultra Magnus designed to look like the Galaxy Force/ Cybertron Optimus Prime. I'm surprised no one noticed that, though these posts aren't exactly known for igniting internet attention. Because I haven't covered WFC Primes in detail, there may only be two moulds, but six toys covered, along with some upgrade kits acquired along the way. The subject material for today? Siege Optimus Prime, Netflix Nemesis Prime, Earthrise Optimus Prime, "Alternate Universe" Optimus Prime, Netflix Optimus Prime and Generations Selects Shattered Glass Optimus Prime. Funnily enough, this is not the biggest review I have planned. Bigger ones are coming. 

 

So, six trucks, but before tackling the trucks themselves, allow me to take a moment to go over everyone's accessories. Siege Optimus is probably one of the easiest of the lot, second only to Shattered Glass Prime (who I'll refer to as SG Prime for short). You get a nice looking, though very hollow Ion Blaster and a shield that can unfold into an axe. I like the axe, and it's a shame that it's only available here and on the cell-shaded 35th-anniversary toy (I skipped because I'm not fond of cell shading paint applications on toys). With the Earthrise mould, and all the primes that were sold as Leader Class toys in 2020 (Earthrise Prime (ER Prime from this point on), Alternate Reality Prime (Dead Prime) and Nemesis Prime), a trailer was included as an accessory. The trailer took me a while to appreciate, and was what got me into buying upgrade kits last year. Out of the box, I hated all three of these trailers, but with some help from kits found on TFSafari (though potentially not officially) and then later Nonnef Productions, the trailers now look really good. It's nice to have Optimus moulds with trailers, and the inclusion of Roller for those who couldn't get the Centurion Drone helped make the trailer an excellent modernization of the G1 trailer. By default, the trailers came with the repair unit/ laser turret that was blast effects compatible and could double as a jetpack for the Earthrise mould (the effect doesn't quite work on Nemesis). Still, while it's a neat play feature, it doesn't look good from an aesthetic perspective. Dead Prime's trailer also doubles as the table he died on in the 86 movie, a perfect accessory for Studio Series Perceptor coming next year! All the Earthrise versions also come with a Matrix compartment (I still wish Kingdom Magnus had one) with the same Matrix that came with Studio Series Hot Rod; this was the toy to have it first. My thoughts on the Matrix then also apply here, but my copy of SG Prime didn't have the paint applied properly. It's only painted on the front for some reason. How odd. The final accessory the Earthrise moulds share is a new compactable Ion Blaster that can fill out a gap in Truck mode, be stored on the back in robot mode, and be held. Though I think the Earthrise blaster is a bit too small, I do like that it's not hollow like the Siege one and looks a lot better overall when compared to the 2019 version. Netflix Optimus comes with two exclusive Battle Masters, Enerax and Sheeldron; Yellow Energon themed repaints of the Battle Masters Pterexadon and Soundbarrier, respectively. Enerax I'm fine with, though a minor issue with QC on mine makes the pin connecting the handle a bit too loose for my liking, Sheeldron on the other hand, is one that I'm not a fan of. For things intending to be shields, I prefer characters hold them in their hands, something that you can't do with Sheeldron because they engineered him. It's an easy fix with a 3D printer, sure, but a letdown nonetheless. For Nemesis Prime, you get a mix of Power of the Primes, Siege and Earthrise Prime accessories. You get the arm cannons, Dark Saber and Battle Master Giza, all of which I enjoyed from the Power of the Primes version, though my only complaint is that I wish the arm canons were smaller to better scale with the toy. You get the Ion Blaster from the Siege version, the trailer and repair unit/ laser turret/ jetpack from the Earthrise mould and encase that wasn't enough accessories; you get a Battle Master in the form of Fangtron from the Slitherfang mould (which with a minor modification can be held in the robot's hand), a blast effect for the shield and three Energon cubes. You physically cannot fit all the accessories into the trailer. You can barely get everything onto the truck mode, and that was before the Nonnef upgrade, including a black Roller. It's excessive but impressive that all of it was included at all. Many would have accepted a lot less. The only other "accessory" to mention is that SG Prime came in a two-pack with a Shattered Glass themed repaint of Ratchet, but that's a story for another day.

 

Before reviewing the trucks themselves, there is one question that should probably be answered first. Why so many? There are differences between the six of them, some more so than others. Siege Optimus and Netflix Nemesis are designed to look more like a futuristic cybertronian truck. It's the design used by both characters in the War For Cybertron series on Netflix. If I had to pick a mould I prefer, this one would probably just beat out the Earthrise one, though the keyword there is "just". I like futuristic vehicles, and the little design cues give the truck mode an aggressive feel without straying too far away from what many views as the traditional Optimus design. This look feels like an Optimus in his prime (pun not intended). This has a very early war feel to it, something the Netflix series doesn't portray when it comes to voice direction. It's not flawless; I'm not a fan of the Cyber Mud on Optimus, something they thankfully ditch for Nemesis, and the gap in the back of the truck looks bad when looking at it. It's also a gap that's easily ignored, thanks to it only being visible from the back, making it feel like far less of a problem. There's a lot of fun to be had with the mould. It feels more like a toy than the 2020 Prime mould does, and it's why I think it just nudges out the 2020 version.

 

 

The remaining four all use the Earthrise mould, which is meant to look more like a normal earth truck. Earthrise Optimus is the standard Optimus Prime colours, bright red, bright blue; if you've seen an Optimus Prime design, chances are you know what to expect (this version was also available in Kingdom, so if you are looking for this toy, you might still be able to find it on shelves). Netflix Optimus is similar in that regard, but with one key difference, the shade of blue. The darker shade of blue and the duller clear plastic (a more traditional toy glass colour compared to the blue on the regular release) is meant to resemble the original Optimus Prime toy, as the cartoon did change its colours slightly. It's a nice nod that I wish they went all the way with, but that's best saved for robot mode. Dead Prime's colours are designed to be precisely what they sound like they are; they're the colours of Optimus Prime's corpse in the 1986 animated movie, a design cue that's frequently reused to depict a dead Transformer. You don't get the full effect of this one until you get to robot mode, though, so once again, put a pin in this for later. Finally, there's SG Prime; a colour scheme meant to replicate the colours Optimus had in the Shattered Glass universe, Transformers version of the "Evil Mirror Universe" popularized by Star Trek. It's the reason why the colours are meant to be more sinister in tone; it's for an Optimus that's more sinister, sadistic, a tyrannical leader of the war-hungry, destructive Autobots. An excellent colour selection, to be sure, a Prime for all your needs, but as a toy in truck mode, it feels more boring to me. That's not to say it's not impressive, far from it. This is probably the best looking G1 Optimus Prime toy released on the mass market (the Masterpiece doesn't count). It feels like an evolution of the Siege version, leaning more into the "robots in disguise" mindset. It's not entirely original though, a fair chunk of parts are reused from the Siege mould (mainly parts of the lower legs, feet and head), and the wheels come from a Studio Series Optimus (I think the Bumblebee one, but I could be wrong). Engineering wise, something about it doesn't feel right to me when comparing it to the Siege version. The robot legs don't seem to sit in place properly, and the lack of a locking point for the cans on the side of the truck does get annoying when playing with the toy. Weapon storage for this one is a lot nicer when compared to the Siege version, but the Siege version does get a pass on the traditional weapon storage of "stick it on top" as the whole story, and aesthetic of Siege was "guns everywhere!". 

 

 

For all the issues I have with the Earthrise truck, it's hard to deny the improvements made for the robot mode. While visually I like the truck mode for the Siege version because the robot mode tries to stick as close to the G1 cartoon model as possible, the truck mode parts that have nowhere to go stick out a lot more. Some parts like the underarm machine guns are enjoyable in their own way, but the backpack is unsightly, at least on the Optimus version; it blends in very well on the Nemesis version, probably due to the colour differences. The only thing that comes close to that on the Earthrise mould is the front bumper and front wheels, but thanks to that assembly being on a clip, if it really bothers you that much, you can just take it off. I prefer leaving it on as the bar assembly on its looks out of place without the bumper. Regardless of the mould, though, both toys do an amazing job representing the character. I love the overall proportions of the Siege mould, both toys do have the same proportions, but the way they handled the Earthrise mould's hips makes him look lanky compared to the Siege version. The leg assembly for the Siege mould is also a lot more interesting when compared to the ER one, but on the flipside of that, the way the torso works on the Earthrise one and how neatly the truck cab compresses into the chest is really impressive. It's a minor miracle, though I wish the head cavity for the truck mode was a bit bigger; it's a very tight fit in there. In terms of individual elements between the six of them: 

 

• Siege Optimus: Like with the truck mode, the cyber mud does not look good. I still think that the only figures that did the Battle Damage look properly (officially at least) was the Netflix toys that had the battle-damaged paint jobs.
• Netflix Nemesis: The muted colours look imposing in robot mode, an impressive feat considering as this is just a repaint, unlike his Power of the Primes incarnation where he did get a new, more menacing head. As I said earlier, I wish some more work was done in the accessory department, mainly downscaling the arm cannons. A version that Takara put out on their own with a different paint scheme also came with a different sword, a repaint of the sword that came with Titans Return Alpha Trion, which I think looks a lot better than the sword we got, mainly due to the blade. While I'm not entirely sold on getting that version of Nemesis Prime, I want that sword and a Star Saber repaint of it.
• Earthrise Optimus: I'm not a fan of the plastic moulding distribution for this one. I know that sounds like a weird complaint, but hear me out on it. Because of how they split the plastic moulds, paint was needed to make parts the right colour, that that feels wasted and due to things like the grip texture on the gun, and the tight space for the head that I mentioned earlier, it has lead to paint chipping, which is why I know the back of Prime's head was cast in red while the front was cast in blue, while the hands were cast in grey. On the subject of the heads, though, the lack of silver around the eyes (something that the two Siege toys had) makes the blue eyes blend into the head. Many people have taken the Siege head and put it onto the Earthrise body for this very reason, especially as they are the same parts.
• Netflix Optimus: There are no moulding issues with this one, making the whole thing feel more sturdy when compared to the regular release. However, the eyes remain an issue, something that likely wouldn't have been a problem if they went all-in on the callback and gave him yellow eyes. I feel this was because when Earthrise was revealed, the prototype of the regular retail version they had on display had yellow eyes, and people got upset about that. It's a shame, too, because it would have helped with this one.
• Dead Prime: The mould distribution is also apparent here, but it doesn't feel like an issue due to the more muted colour scheme and (mostly) more durable paint (though once again, the hands are an issue, I think it has something to do with how the gun is designed. Robot mode is where this toy shines, with subtle but well-done battle damage and new moulding on the head to make it look like it does in the movie as he dies. A nice touch, as well as the fact that the only vibrant thing on this toy is the Matrix compartment, even if it's not accurate to the movie. 
• SG Prime: The only one of the Earthrise mould to not have the blending eye issue (though it once again makes sense for Dead Prime). The blood-red eyes recessed into that dark blue head does just enough to make this look imposing and take away the heroic qualities many consider baked into an Optimus head sculpt in the head sculpt. I also like the fact that the red is brighter than the red used for Nemesis' eyes. It's a nice bit of detail to help separate these two evil versions of Optimus. I'm not a fan of how they handled the inverted Autobot logo; due to it being on the shoulder with a lot of detail on it, it makes the shoulder look more cluttered while the other looks very barren now that it no longer has a faction symbol. 

To repeat myself (for those who skipped to the end), while I think the Siege mould is slightly better due to personal preferences for the truck mode, the Earthrise toy has the better overall robot mode; neither toy completely outshines the other. Both are excellent toys. I think the only reason I prefer the Siege one is for the same reasons as my preference for the Siege Datson squad; many people were willing to toss the Siege version aside for the sake of more G1 accuracy. "Not being completely G1 accurate" isn't a bad thing. Which one should you get if you can only get one? I don't know. As much of a cop-out answer as this is going to sound, get both and decide for yourself. They are just that close in terms of quality. You have options, at least if you don't want two G1 looking Optimus Primes.