Transformers War For Cybertron Kingdom Core Class K3; Vertebreak: Does she count as a Spooky Scary Skeleton?

 Ever since watching the Beast Wars cartoon, there has been something about the pilot episode that has confused me. Ignoring the "it's because of the toys" reason when the Darksyde is searching for compatible alternate modes for the Predacon crew. It finds Dinosaur fossils; why didn't the Dinosaur Predacons turn into fossilized dinosaurs? It was searching for biological alternate modes for the Predacons, and bones are biological material. Why did the computer create a muscle and scale mockup for the bones based on their placement before turning most Predacons onboard into Dinosaurs?

I bring this up because of one of the gimmicks for the War for Cybertron Trilogy. In all three toylines, Siege, Earthrise and Kingdom, specific figures have been designed to be broken apart and reassembled into different configurations, both for Transforming between their alternate and robot modes and the ability to turn into accessories for other figures (to mixed results). For Siege, it was the Weaponizers, Earthrise had the Modulators, and Kingdom has the Fossilizers. "Now you too can give your red and blue truck a giant bone sword!" Though today's subject doesn't get to break apart like her Deluxe sized wave companion Paleotrex, she does get to inherit the Fossilizer aesthetic, giving us a female Transformer that turns into a Dracorex fossil. Meet one of the newest Predacons, Vertebreak!

 
As mentioned above, Vertebreak turns into a Dracorex fossil, and one of the biggest compliments I can give her right off the bat is that the alt mode looks great. Except for the silver screws in the joints, it's pretty hard to tell from a distance that she transforms at all. Thanks to the bone sculpting effortlessly blending the sculpting gaps for the sake of transformation, this toy can easily be passed off as an ordinary dinosaur fossil toy. The only outlier in this is the ball sockets on the ankles, and it makes her look like she's wearing Dinosaur foot-shaped high heals. I appreciate how minimalistic the paint decoration is, keeping to the skeletal design by mixing the black and very dark brown plastic, giving it a simple look that doesn't feel basic. Articulation is fine for the most part. Some of the limbs, like the arms being moulded in, I can live with considering how small the components are. However, it would have been nice to have an actual mouth and not a bit of soft plastic moulded open. 

 

The transformation isn't anything spectacular for a Legends/ Core Class character. Remove the tail, flip out the arms, Dino head in the chest to reveal the robot head, then give her the tail as a... Bone sword? Bone whip? A Predacon version of the Sword of the Creator from Fire Emblem? The tail weapon is nothing to write home about, but it's at least a common use of beast kibble, and it even has well-disguised back storage. It's not as sturdy of a connection as Rattrap's is and will fall off if you knock it, but it will hold reasonably well. The robot mode itself is pretty nice, with some silver and red paint being revealed for the robot to add some extra colour to it. The ball joint articulation is back for everything but the knees, giving you everything other than a wrist and waist swivel. However, her most significant problem is that she's competing with Rattrap as a wave mate, so while she's nice, she feels underwhelming compared to Rattrap as she's far more basic by comparison. 

The core of Vertebreak's problems come back to that last line. "She's far more basic by comparison". There's nothing wrong with the toy itself. It's a nice cheap Transformer with a lot of play value thanks to the straightforward transformation and well-placed joints. But when put side by side with her wave companions, Rattrap and Optimus Prime, nothing stands out about her. She hasn't got the excellent engineering of Rattrap or the brand recognition of Optimus Prime. As a result, she looks like a low effort wave filler by comparison, which is a shame. Vertebreak might not be a spectacular toy, but she is still an enjoyable one and one I do recommend picking up. The original plan was to review Cobra Commander next, and regarding Toybox reviews, he will be the next one covered on the site. However, with all the buzz surrounding the Snyder Cut, I think it might be good to dust off the Main Site and review not only the movie itself but the streaming service I saw the film on, Binge.

Transformers War for Cybertron Kingdom Core Class K2; Rattrap: Still think we're all going to die?

I mean if this toy came out last year, there's a good chance I would have agreed with him.

With the, shall we say, waining popularity of the Battlemasters and Micromasters in Siege and Earthrise, along with the vocal demand to bring back the Legends size class, it's no surprise that Hasbro caved in to demands and did just that. Launching in Kingdom Wave 1, Hasbro released three Legends Class type toys under the new Core Class branding (because consistent naming schemes don't make sense in the eyes of Hasbro). For the next two weeks, I'll be looking at the two Core Class figures I was interested in out of the initial wave, Predacon Vertibreak, and this week's review of Maximal Rattrap.
 

I'll start with the rat model because it has a similar issue to the one I had with the two Spiders from last week. It looks great, but the articulation in the rat model is (while for good reasons) lacking when compared to other Transformers. He's about as articulated as most Generation 1 toys in alt mode, but the difference is that those are cars and trucks, while this is a rat. None of the legs moves outside of a transformation joint for the back legs, the tail doesn't move, and the head can only move when going into robot mode. I'm more forgiving of it for its size and the fact that the transformation is well done; however, if you're looking for something as agile as the Generations one from 2014, then you're going to be disappointed. Another note of comparison between it and the Generations one (from what I can tell from video reviews) is the lack of integrated weapon storage, which was one of the big selling points of Beast Wars. Like Optimus Primal's Swords, Rattrap's gun has nowhere to go in Beast Mode other than pegging onto the side of the leg. It's another minor issue that I'm willing to look past due to the size, though it would have helped fill in the hole under the stomach, which is very noticeable thanks to the robot thighs peeking out of the side, and the visible hands underneath the start of the tail. For some positives, though, the sculpting work on the rat model is excellent. I love the sculpted fur on it, and the paint applications are minimalistic but help it stand out (it would be nice if the tail was painted like the hands and feet are, but it's not a deal-breaker). It's a shame that, for a figure based on a character that came from a toyline all about detailed animal modes, Rattrap's rat mode feels forced in, it is the weakest of the three modes, but a part of that comes from how good the other modes are. 

After an entertaining but straightforward transformation, the robot mode is by far the toy's standout mode. While he's not flawless, the good far outweighs the bad. I love how elegant he is to move around, only missing a waist swivel and a pair of wrist swivels, but for a figure of this size, I don't mind him missing things, especially when everything else is so well jointed. As with the original Rattrap toy, Ball joints are the primary source of articulation, with every joint other than a swivel for the neck being achievable with a ball joint. This makes moving him around very easy; however, due to the joints relying on plastic friction, this may change over time as the joints become weaker. The only issues I have with the joints are the lack of a locking point for the shoulder assemblies to stay. It's not a deal-breaker, more like a minor inconvenience. Once again, paint is used sparingly, with the only new paint applications revealed in this mode being the robot mode face (or at least, more clearly seen as he does have a visible robot head in Rat mode) and silver on the lower arms. I love the fact that he has little Maximal logos on his arms. One of my most significant issues from a few years ago during Titans Return and Power of the Primes was stickers being used for faction logos for the Voyager toys and anything larger and more expensive to purchase. The fact that they could get Maximal symbols, something they likely didn't have on hand because of how uncommon Maximal toys are in relation to Autobots and Decepticons (at least in the last five years), this miniature is impressive to me. One advantage Core Class has over the older Legends class figures, at least the ones during the Prime Wars trilogy, is that at the cost of them getting smaller (to better scale with the bigger figures), they're coming with accessories again. Rattrap comes with a nicely sculpted blaster (that is blast effects compatible). While its implementation in Beast Mode isn't ideal considering the original Beast Wars toyline, the robot mode implementation is great thanks to the ability to store it on his back seamlessly.  

 

As someone who doesn't have the Generations Rattrap, would I have liked this to be a mini version of that toy? Yes, but the sacrifices made for the sake of the size class still work well overall. Though I am jumping the gun a little in terms of timing, this is the best Core Class figure in Wave 1 of Kingdom and a new standard for Transformers at this scale. I'm not someone who is against smaller Transformers being in the Deluxe scale for the sake of engineering, so I hope that they don't limit these kinds of characters to just this size once Kingdom is over. I'm not entirely convinced Warpath and Huffer weren't intended for Earthrise yet, so it. If you find him, he's worth picking up, though if you're not a stickler for size, the Generations one might be better. I'll see you next week for the Predacons one, Vertibreak.

Marvel Legends Into the Spider-verse Gwen Stacey and Maximum Venom Ghost-Spider: At least this can last a while.

 "Will this mean I'll start collecting Marvel Legends and Black Series? No, I'm not made of money!"-Mediaholics Toybox's review of G.I. Joe Classified Duke. My curiosity will be the death of me, I swear.

Well, with my curiosity fueled by the return of, and my introduction to, G.I. Joe toys with the Classified line, along with seeing a wave of Into the Spiderverse figures on shelves, it was not a good combination for someone who is curious by nature, and still waiting for the Events Industry to recover from COVID-19 with time to kill. Though my knowledge of the comics isn't excellent when compared to other fans, some things do pique my interest, which is why this is a dual Ghost Spider review. Thanks to the Build-A-Fig accessories, these will likely go on for a while as semi-regular reviews, if for nothing else, then not having random torsos lying around my collection. Shall we try and see why there's love for Marvel Legends? Oh, and encase you're curious, yes, that quote does extend to Star Wars, but that's for another day. It can wait.

"Alright people, let's start this from the beginning one last time." To start things off with answering some questions as to who these two are and why I'm reviewing both of them at the same time when they look nothing alike, that requires a bit of unpacking. In a basic summary, Gwen Stacey was Peter Parker's first love in the comics; The Night Gwen Stacey Died being regarded as one of the most important comics in Spider-Man history. Many, many years later, a comic event was being written themed around Spiderman known as Spider-Verse, a multiverse adventure pairing many different versions of Spider-Man together. A mix of pre-established comic spiders like Miles Morales from the Ultimate Marvel Universe, spiders based on media representations like the then ongoing Ultimate Spider-man version of the character, along with versions of the webhead that flip the concept on its head all being brought together for a story. "What if Gwen Stacey got bitten instead?" was one of these "flip the idea on it's head" ideas. This event is where the Spider-Woman that the fanbase nicknamed "Spider-Gwen" came from, and when she was dimension-hopping, she got herself a special Venom Symbiote. She would eventually adopt the alias of "Ghost-Spider" when she was brought into the central comic universe. Symbiote part excluded, her role in the Spider-Verse and popularity from that series was one of the driving reasons why Spider Gwen was put into the Sony Animated Movie from 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. Anything I could say about that version of her can be summed up as "go watch Into the Spiderverse, it's a great movie." My apologies to the more well-known fans about this likely butchering of the character's history, there is a lot to it, and I know people don't like to read a lot, so I had to keep this brief.

I'll start this review with the Build-A-Fig pieces; so that if I do more reviews of Marvel Legends, I don't need to go into this process again. With the majority of Marvel Legends figures (that I've at least seen), a themed wave of figures tends to come with a piece of a larger figure that you can put together if you collect all the figures in that wave. Both figures come with the torso of their respective figures, Gwen Stacey (the name I'll be using when referring to the Into the Spider-verse character) comes with the torso of Stilt-Man (who wasn't in the movie, but that is best saved for a dedicated review). Ghost-spider comes with the torso and weapons of Venompool, who, as far as I can tell, is Deadpool with the Venom Symbiote. It is a solid idea for getting larger figures into the market, though annoying for those who don't like leaving random pieces of figures lying around (like me). When writing this, Stilt-Man is complete, and Venompool has a set of legs to go with his torso. If these reviews interest people, I'll keep making them, and they'll eventually get reviews once I've covered the characters lugging around their body parts. In the meantime, let's look at Gwen. 

To get one positive out of the way first, with the significant exception being the Maskless Gwen face, this can be quickly passed off as the comics Ghost-Spider, the traditional look, not the symbiote costume, due to how faithful the Into the Spiderverse design was to the comics. Those looking for a Gwen from the comics and can't afford the late tax (the first one I could find on eBay was $100+ shipping, and an Amazon listing had her almost $190). Completely accurate? No, but within the ballpark. If you're hoping I compare this to the Edge of Spider-verse version, you'll be disappointed as I don't have that one, and I'm not paying those prices. Maybe if I can get one second-hand, as I do enjoy the character in all the media appearances that I've seen, but that might not be for a while. As for the Spider-verse version that I do own, when she's wearing her mask and hood, she looks like she's jumped off the screen. However, to compare it to something like modern Transformers Masterpiece figures, there is extra detail here that, while likely coming from other characters, adds enough detail to help it feel alive. To jump ahead a bit, I think the two figures here share moulding for their lower chest, but that's me basing it that the abdominal muscle-sculpting looks to be the same. Even in basic poses, the sculpted muscle tone gives the figure an air of power to her, like this is someone that can, and will, beat you up without breaking a sweat. 

While as good of a figure as it is, there are parts about it that I'm not a fan of, thanks to a mix of things like unknown expectations going in, accessories I wish she came with and accessories that I'm not fond of the result. I've been focusing on the masked look because I'm not a fan of her unmasked face. Don't get me wrong, it's sculpted well, and the detail with things like the eyes is impressive, but she has a dead eye look about her with the mask off, which is kind of unsettling. The face needed a better expression on it, something like the smug smile from the forest where she debuts as Ghost-Spider/ Spider-Woman would have been a lot better at giving some more life to the face. It's a shame that it's the face the figure is wearing in the box. She comes with other accessories: a pair of web-shooter hands to swap out with the fists she has by default and a Spider-Ham figure that can't move (outside of a ball joint for the head) but is well sculpted and works well as an accessory. It would have been nice if she had come with gripping web hands, encase someone wanted to use some white string as makeshift webs, but a part of that goes into a flaw I have with both figures, so I'll save that for after I talk about the symbiote suit.

One of my significant issues with the traditional Spider-Man Venom suit is that for as nice of a look as it has, it's somewhat surprising how well red and blue characters being painted black works; it is just a black version of the Spiderman suit. No extra details, no bells and whistles, just a black suit, likely due to its introduction and the cause of the suit coming after the fact. I bring this up because Ghost-Spider's suit fits the Symbiote suits' potential now that people accept that the symbiotes are more than a set of black threads. I love some of the details like the jacket with the spiked shoulders, and the hood being designed like a symbiote mouth. Honestly I think the hood is a far better way at executing the symbiote mouth when compared to other costumes such as Miles'. The "tongue" I'm a bit hit and miss on. While it looks fantastic in comic art, I don't think it's translated well to plastic, even though it is nicely sculpted. I think it has something to do with the length of it. I think it's a bit too long if you have it just dangling, but you can wrap it around her leg and have her hold the end of it in one of her hands. I also like that it's more of a dark blue and not black, which helps her stand out a bit more when put next to other symbiote suits. Unlike Gwen, you don't get extra accessories like alternate hands or a head without the hood on for her, but I don't have an issue with that as it's not needed, and the clawed fingers are the only hands she needs. 

Articulation on both of them is about the same. However, Ghost Spider's hood and jacket limit the head movement, and the joint in her chest doesn't seem to want to let her arch her back. The overall articulation is fine for what it is, but it is limiting when you consider how limber she and other spider characters are in media. While I've been able to replicate poster shots of Gwen's Into the Spiderverse design, neither can pull off things like a wall crawl or a "spider landing"; fingers of one hand on the ground, the other arm in the air, the body as low to the ground as possible). The problem with articulation is that it is hard to balance the figure's movement with its sculpt, especially when there's nowhere to hide the hinges, such as on figure-hugging, single-piece super-suits. Would I have liked these two to be more agile? Yes, but I don't know if that would have been worth sacrificing to the sculpt needed to pull it off. At the very least, though, was it too much to ask for a forward ab crunch on these two?

From an outsider looking in, one of the biggest problems is that it is a very, very deep rabbit hole due to the massive catalogue of heroes, villains, side characters, and alternate costumes for all of them. When you combine that with a business model that encourages you to get figures, you don't want to complete larger figures. From there, enabling you to start pairing them up with other characters thanks to the web of connections that are the many different Marvel Universes makes getting into the line as a new collector very daunting. With two of the ones I took the plunge with, what I got were solid but a little underwhelming. Great representations, to be sure, but I can't help but think things could have gone further when it comes to stuff like articulation. I plan to do more reviews of Marvel Legends in the future, for both the Spiderverse wave and the Venom wave of figures. Past that, though, is a bit more up in the air. I might not know how deep this rabbit hole goes, but I know it goes deep, and many figures have hefty late taxes on them. See you next week for a review of Maximal #2.
 
Also, I should say this now encase anyone wants to ask; I've got no plans to review now brand new wave of X-Men figures, which only just launched at the time of writing. I recognize some by name, none by design.

Transformers Generations Selects GS01 Combat Megatron and GS14 Megatron (G2): Time to roll out the 90's repaints!

 What do you do when you need to repaint a so unabashedly designed toy to be one specific character? Well, you pander to younger fans and give it a paint job inspired by other toys of that character. While you're at it, why not get some free brownie points by picking versions that you can no longer sell to the general market because even in this day and age, the '90s refuses to die. While I have plans to review the most significant part of the Decepticons representation in Earthrise, Starscream and his merry band of repaints, that will take some time. I want to wait until I can get some specific versions of the Siege Tetrajet and see if the rumours of another G2 repaint are true. So until that time, why not look at some unique versions of the recent Mega Tanks?

 

First, a bit of backstory, as while most of the traffic for these posts do come from knowledgeable people, I can't guarantee that's all of the traffic. So, what the frag is Generation 2? Starting a few years after the original Transformers toyline finished (for parts of the world, but let's not go into that here), Hasbro tried to revive interest in the brand by launching the Generation 2 toyline (which retroactively renamed the original toyline into what we know it as today). The plan was solid in theory, mixing new toys with repaints of older toys with more gimmick variety and a colour scheme fitting of the '90s. It bombed, hard, so much so that their next attempt to breath new life into the brand was to give it to the staff they inherited from the Kenner buyout, which in turn threw out the rule book and gave us Beast Wars. Probably the best visual explanation of this was the first release of the two leaders. While Optimus was a rerelease of his original G1 toy with extra accessories like a soundbox and spring-loaded weapons, Megatron got a new toy. No longer a gun, he was released as a green and purple slab of a tank, and it's for that reason, among others, that I'm starting this review with GS14, the G2 repaint of War for Cybertron Earthrise Megatron.

Starting in tank mode, and it should be said upfront that, while there aren't any major shared parts, the engineering for this toy is almost the same as that of the WFC Siege version (which I will get back too later, as that's what Combat Megatron is a repaint of). Sculpted to look more like a traditional tank rather then a Sci-Fi H-Tank, but the arms become the turret, the sword becomes the tank barrel, half the treads are legs, the other half is a backpack, and the head is still poking out from under the tank if you look underneath it. That last part is far more noticeable here as the front of the tank between the treads is now almost wholly exposed; they do not attempt to cover it up. However, what they do cover-up is the back of the tank. They do this with a panel that doesn't do much to hide the fact that it's his legs contorted in a weird way as it's just as hollow and exposed as the front. Effort for trying, I guess? While the general retail release (or what would have been the readily available release) kept things to the Generation 1 colours. Black, grey, and a bit of red, I guess that you know what Megatron looks like if you're reading this review. G2 Megatron, on the other hand, goes for the 90's colours that the original toy had, green and purple camouflage with patches of orange (and black for the treads, that didn't change). It is loud, obnoxious, completely impractical, but it is accurate to the original toy and design; I can't fault it for that. It is a treat, though because of how loud the colours are, it stands out hard compared to other Decepticons. Regardless of what mode you have Megatron in, he is going to stand out, and you are going to see him on a shelf (unless it's populated with other loud and obnoxious colour schemes, I didn't pull my G2 Stunticons out to test that). But, if you want something more subdue, you go for Combat Megatron. 

As I said before, Combat Megatron is based on the Siege version of Megatron. The version of Megatron found at general retail in both the original Siege toyline from 2019 and the Netflix repaint in 2020 (which, though I'm not reviewing that one here, I will say the paintwork on it is great and a far better battle damage decor than the original). Combat Megatron, though, was originally unreleased. In 1993, Takara released a different Megatron for Japan known as Hero Megatron. This toy would be imported into Europe as Archforce (though it was missing the "Megatron Rules" sticker the Takara version had on the chest. Same basic engineering as G2 Megatron, but with better gimmicks and a retooled Tank gun that dropped the Gravity fed missiles and electronics for an air pump and missiles. Hero Megatron was going to get a western release with arctic camouflage colours instead of the black, purple, blue and orange of Hero Megatron. While I still hope they reuse the Hero Colours on a toy at some point (that or I get my hands on the Takara repaint of Titans Return Megatron), it is a bit of a treat seeing these unreleased colours get a toy. Sporting all the Sci-Fi details of Siege Buckethead, Combat Megatron goes for a white, dark grey (I think that's the colour at least) green and black paint job. I can see why they didn't release this, and I don't think this works as well as the G2 colours do. The camouflage feels unfinished, especially on the arms/ turret, and the black comes off as a bit of an eyesore. Out of the three Siege Megatrons I have, this is probably the weakest of the three in terms of the painting design, but a large part of that comes from the far more simplified designs of Siege and Netflix Megatron. While both Megatrons are novelty pieces (along with Generations Selects as a whole), Combat Megatron feels like the more novelty of the two, something you get because of how deep of a cut the reference is more than anything else.

I had no plans to get Earthrise Megatron initially. Aside from the fact that it was the Siege version with fresh sculpting, there was one thing about it that I hated the look of in promotional material and something that I knew I wasn't going to like on the G2 version even when I put the order in for it. On the Siege version of the mould, the front half of the tank barrel detaches from the Fusion Cannon, and two blade pieces underneath the turret rotate up and peg together over the barrel to form a large and impressive looking sword. Combat Megs gets to have this weapon, and it still looks impressive. The Earthrise mould works similarly to a point but looks infinitely worse. On the Earthrise one, you take off the front barrel and the front wedge (I don't know tanks) of the turret where the sword is already complete. You plug the cover panel from the back of the tank underneath the barrel, you then plug all of that onto the side of the left arm, and this looks completely ridiculous. There is no way to make this assembly look good because of the tank kibble. The part of it that looks like a sword can't be used as a sword, but instead as an awkward arm blade looks tiny. If you rotate it so that the tank barrel is facing forward, while it seems a bit better thanks to the wedge following the direction of the barrel (compared to the wall that it is on the Sword side), the backplate looks awkward no matter what side you have facing forward. Thanks to a change that they didn't need to make over the Siege version, a missed opportunity with this mould was the inability to try and replicate the overkill cannon of the G2 toy. On the original toy, the tank cannon dominated the chest plateau (which made no effort to hide the fact that it was the front half of a tank) by sticking out the front and the back. There are no C.O.M.B.A.T ports near Megatron's shoulder blades, and the two that were on the top of the tank treads backpack on the Siege version no longer exist. As you can probably tell by how long of a rant I went with, I hate this sword weapon. The sword is the number 1 reason I keep this guy in tank mode. 

 

Long-winded discussions about awful melee weapons aside, due to the nature of them being repaints of pre-existing toys, they don't lock down the look of the original toys. They do in deco but not in sculpt. Like it or not, these are repaints of moulds meant for Generation 1 Megatron. However, the Siege version of G1 Megatron looks excellent, and the remoulding done for Earthrise looks just as good, if not better, in cases like the new chest. This mould commands power and authority as any good Megatron toy should. Just because they don't physically look like the G2 Tanks doesn't mean they're bad Megatron's. Far from it (encase the fact that I own three of the Siege version isn't enough of an indicator of that fact). If you've seen my review of the first Siege Megatron (https://mediaholicstoybox.blogspot.com/2019/06/transformers-war-for-cybertron-siege.html) then you know my views on the articulation and possibility of these two. Nothing's changed in the joints department other than better ankle tilts that aren't a struggle to get back into place like one of the ones on that first release. I could point out minor issues I have, like Combat Megatron not having any paint on the tank treads on the back of his legs. I could also bring up the odd moulding choices leading to redundant paint applications like Combat Megatron's crotch being painted white (thank you, minor paint chip on the tab). But that's all they are, negligible. It doesn't drown out how great these robot modes are. I do like that Combat Megatron got a new head sculpt to add more detail to the bucket head while G2's was painted to be an almost perfect replica of the G2 toy, the only difference being the smaller eyes in the sculpting.

For as much praise as I give them, do I recommend them to general consumers? Not really, no. These are niche repaints at the end of the day. I only really recommend them if you like the look of the painted decor or have a strong connection to their original toys (you'd be delusional if you have a strong connection to Combat Megatron as, again, he was initially a cancelled toy). Do I recommend getting the Siege mould? Yes, absolutely! Do I recommend getting the Earthrise mould? If you can look past the melee weapon and desperately need an earth tank Megatron, maybe. But if you're getting it for the robot mode, I would personally get the Siege version; I think it's better overall when compared to the Earthrise release. I don't believe the Earthrise version's positives outweigh the weapon issues, and in terms of engineering, the two moulds are the same anyway. It comes down to style at the end of the day because they tie in every other way. Next week... I shouldn't have said what I said in the Duke review. Curse my curiosity; we're looking at some Marvel Legends stuff.

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).

G.I. Joe Classified 04; Duke: Does this mean I'm a "proper" action figure collector now?

 There is a bit of backstory for this one, so if you're only here for the review, skip to the image that shows Duke in box. The paragraph below that is the actual review.

That question might sound weird, but there is a reason I ask. Growing up, I didn't have many "traditional action figures", a lot of the toys I got were Transformers or Lego (mainly Bionicle). Oh sure, I was a fan of things like Star Wars, still am (though it's many ups and downs), even played with some Star Wars toys that other kids have. But to this day, I've not bought a single Star Wars toy (no, not even Black Series). I'm also a Marvel fan thanks to the MCU, and DC thanks to viewing the DC Animated Universe in recent years. I don't own a single action figure of either brand partly because I knew it would be a deep rabbit hole for all three of those. Even Pokemon, the only Pokemon toys I ever got that could even be considered action figure, were barely moveable (if at all) electronic toys of Pikachu and Blaziken, both of which were a present. I still own the Blaziken, however, I think the batteries may have corroded to oblivion by now. Action figures didn't make up a lot of my childhood.

There is an exception to this, though, Action Man. I had Action Man toys when I was in kindergarten, going into Primary School, none of which I own now. I remember I had a Go-Kart, a snow bike, and a Venus Fly Trap like thing? It was like a Bear Trap (in terms of function), but sculpted and painted to look like a Venus Fly Trap. I also have vague memories of a parachute one that could go up a kite before falling back to earth, along with a scuba themed one? My memories of this time are hazy. It was around 20 years ago, after all. 

So, now that I have an income, why don't I buy collectable Action Figures outside of Transformers? Well, the main reason has always been a thought inside my head regarding value. Due to the nature of Transformers and Bionicle, many Action Figure lines like Marvel Legends, Star Wars Black Series and especially 3 3/4 inch offerings from several places (looking at you Super7 Banzaitron), I just didn't see the value in. A $40 traditional action figure felt like a rip off when I compared them to other products like the $30 Deluxe class Transformers: a humanoid action figure, a vehicle/ animal, and a puzzle. Even back when Lego was making buildable action figures, nothing stopped me from digging into my parts collection and creating something different if I didn't like the official build. So why am I reviewing a G.I. Joe Classified figure? Curiosity finally got the better of me, and it seemed like these were somewhat shelf warming at one of my local Toyworlds. I figured "why not? May as well see what these are about." Hopefully, this interests some people, though I don't know how interesting a review from the perspective of a somewhat recent fan of G.I. Joe. Not to mention someone who hasn't touched a standard Action figure in 20 ish years these being his first actual G.I Joe toys ever would be. Well, time to see what the fuss is about with this whole "6-inch Action Figures".

Starting with the accessories, and we come to the first sign of "this guy probably doesn't know what he's talking about". On all four figures, I had a hard time getting their accessories to behave the first time. Some like the backpacks were easy, but getting anything into their hands felt uncomfortable like I would break something. After that initial struggle, things got more comfortable, but a part of me thinks that I did break something or bent something out of position. Maybe I'm overreacting, fueled by me being so used to the 5mm ports that are Transformers hands, that is entirely possible. The accessories themselves are fine though. Duke keeps things pretty tame compared to some (Snake Eyes), with his main accessories being some binoculars, a small pistol, a rifle, and a backpack, all of which can store on him. From what I've heard, the use of space weapons in the line is frustrating for many G.I. Joe fans. I can understand why, however, I'm perfectly fine with them, I prefer space guns over real guns. That, and the whole "it's *current year*, you can't sell real looking guns to kids" argument is probably the main reason for it. It's at least a minor compromise, and I wouldn't be surprised if people were 3D Printing realistic guns for their figures.
 

The pistol I like the most, though that's more due to minor issues I have with the backpack and the rifle. For how well the pack is sculpted, there are parts that I wish had some more paint to help break up the green, things like the water bottles and some of the straps. From experience, it is accurate though for it to be mostly green, so in that context, it looks great, but I can easily see it being a "what would you rather?" situation, where there is no one right answer to the look. The sculpting on the rifle looks great, along with the paint job. My issue with it though is the barrel, it angles up, fresh out of the box. From reviews I've seen, mine isn't the only one that does this, and due to it being hard plastic, it looks like it was intended to do this. Why? Thankfully, straightening it is easy, and once straight, it looks great. Duke can hold both weapons with ease. However the binoculars (sculpted well, but due to the lack of paint, doesn't really look good) I've not been able to get him to hold. For me, they stay on his belt. The belts themselves are fine and once again sculpted well. I would have prefered the one on his chest, along with the pistol holster to be more firmly attached. Seeing as there's no way to remove any of them without disassembly, it makes me curious as to why they're loose in the first place. The central belt around his waist I get, it's to help with articulation after all. The others though, I just find it an odd choice. 

Looking at Duke on his own, I think he looks great. The face is the only weak thing about it, though I can't figure out why. Just something about it isn't sitting right with me. The way the sculpting hides the articulation is awe-inspiring, with the only noticeable joint being the ab crunch. Moving those joints though seems to be difficult at points. Some take a fair bit of force to get going initially. Nothing feels weak, far from it, but it sits a little too close to the "too strong" side for my tastes (but again, this could be "Transformer/ Bionicle experience" talking, where most of those joints are variations on friction, not ratchets like in Duke. While it might be hard to position the joints, it's effortless to set the figure naturally, simply due to how many joints there are. Below is a (poorly laid out) list of joints comparing Duke to Earthrise/ Kingdom Leader Class Optimus Prime, just to show the differences between the amount of movement both are capable (not including Prime's gimmicks).

It's genuinely impressive how much movement you can get out of this guy. It is a struggle to get him into some positions like being on one knee, but I feel a way to help with that involves the stand ports (for a non included stand) in Duke's heals. These look to be the same ports that you'd find in a Transformers butt, which would probably help a lot when making dynamic action poses.

I see now why people collect these, Marvel Legends, Star Wars Black Series, etc. I'm genuinely impressed by this, and the fact that the other three I got are of a similar quality has given me a "I have seen the light" moment when it comes to traditional action figures. Will this mean I'll start collecting Marvel Legends and Black Series? No, I'm not made of money! Will I go all-in on this line? Doubtful considering what I've seen and heard about their distribution. Are there others I plan to get? Yes. I have Duke's Decepticon alike counterpart, Cobra Commander, on the way. I also have my eyes on other characters released (though I have no idea where I'd put a Baroness if I ever manage to get her, due to her coming with that bike). If there is interest in me reviewing other Classified figures, I'll gladly review more of them. The 80's line is something I'm curious about, but that's in the "when I have more space" category of future plans. Would I review those old Action Man toys? If I somehow got my hands on them again, sure, but I doubt there is any interest in it now.

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.