Solar Requiem (Shattered Glass) set review

Ancillary, non-main-line stuff. Star Wars TF, Speed Stars, Titanium Series, Robot Heroes, that sort of thing. They're kinda neat, but we all know they're not really that important. Admit it, you know it's true.
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Dominic
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Solar Requiem (Shattered Glass) set review

Post by Dominic »

I do not own this set. And, I only read a scan of the comic online. This review is based largely on my fiddling with Lewis' set and my own impressions of the characters. Zab and I might buy and split a set. But, given the $200+ dollar base price, we both want to think it over.

This set was made for customizing, with a number of key character details being sticker-based. Most likley, this is to increase the marketability of the set to two markets. (I am given to understand that Takara has officially sanctioned the idea of repurposing "Timelines" Tracks as Roadrage. So, this set could be seen as an extension of that line of thinking.)

Blaster:
Originally, Blaster's SG colours were origionally intended to reference Twincast. But, Twincast is recognizable enough in Japan that Takara likely felt it would be better to cast this toy in yet another colour scheme. "Solar Requiem" Blaster's colours roughly evoke, (but do not precisely duplicate) the colours used for a pre-TF Takara pressing of the Blaster mould. The resulting toy is mostly grey, with some blue.

Rewind:
SG Rewind's colours are based on G2 Rumble's colours. His personality is actually a pretty clever moral inversion from the G1 character. Rather than being an archivist who collects and stores information, SG Rewind is a hunter who captures prey for hire. This is used to explain how SG Blaster got Ramhorn. (David Willis has gone on record as saying he would have preferred SG Rewind be based on some character from a movie that Willis liked, which is just one more reason to prefer the official take on SG Rewind.)

Ramhorn:
SG Ramhorn is mostly blue, referencing both G1 Frenzy and Bayformers Rumble. (If I end up with this set, I just might swap the faction decals to make a Bayformer Rumble.) His weapons are some kind of variable effect chaos bombs. Willis has stated how much he wants to see this result in a transformer shooting rubber chickens and confetti, which likely spoils some of this upcoming year's "Recordicons" comic. (It is a shame that such a nice looking toy is going to be associated with that crap.)

Solarbot:
This is a translucent yellow recolour of G1 Rewind/Eject. Over-all, it works pretty well in translucent yellow. His back-story is that he is part of a splinter species of TFs that adapted to living in the coronas of stars. When the Classicsverse went kablammo, he managed to cross-over in to the SG dimension. He scans SG Rewind in order to be able to better interact with Cybertronians, initially being unaware of who he is dealing with. (It was kind of a let-down that the comic made no use of the irony of a guy who is effectively the last of his kind scanning a guy who is a hunter.)

Soundwave:
This is a white and blue recolour of the G1 Soundblaster mould (with the extended chest door). This is neither the first SG Soundwave, nor the first use of the G1 character model in these colours. But, it is the first SG Soundwave to include tapes. He is written, as previously established, as being similar to G1 Blaster and/or Jazz.

Ratbat:
SG Ratbat has "classic" Batman colouring. It is yet another of Willis' brilliant ideas cast in toy form. The toy itself does not look bad. But, I cannot get past it association with Willis and his not at all funny sense of whimsy. ("LOLOLOLOLOL Ratbat is Batbot!")

Slugfest:
SG Slugfest is mostly brown. I think that this is supposed to be a riff on G1 Ramhorn's colours, but I am not sure. While I am not a fan of SG in terms of story, I admit that it is a nice touch that one of the sticker details includes the restraint implant that Slugfest had in "Dungeons and Dinobots".


The comic:
Well, for a "Shattered Glass" comic, it is pretty good. Of course, that is still a low bar. Blaster's faux-German accent is obnoxious. It adds nothing and only raises the sorts of questions that never help TF or similar properties. Wittenrich seems to be giving it his all in terms of writing. Aside from Blaster's (previously established) accent, the comic reads smoothly enough. Metalhawk's contingent of survivors from the (now destroyed) Classicsverse are trying to adjust to life amongst the SG Decepticons. This is only addressed for a few panels, but it is handled as well as can be expected. Solarbot sort of just shows up, likely because of the toy. I sincerely doubt that any of Fun Publications' staff has any idea of what they are going to do with Solarbot.
Spoiler
Solarbot ends up joining Soundwave and his heroic Decepticon tapes at the end.
Solarbot is shown to be the second ship that escaped before the destruction of the Classicsverse (the other carrying Grimock and his crew). I have no idea why regular Blaster and SG Blaster (as well as their troops) were being shown inter-cut the way they were.

Over-all: This is probably the best SG content one is likely to find. While the individual panels are not as well illustrated as Figueroa's in the '08 comic, the over-all presentation is smoother. The writing is several steps above Sinclair's and Yee's in the 2012 comic. And, the art in "Solar Requiem" better compliments the writing. That said, I doubt that anybody would be buying the set purely for the comic, especially as scans can be found online.

http://imgur.com/a/TY0QU


Dom
-pretty sure that Willis, Yee and co will make hash of this over the next year.
Last edited by Dominic on Fri Nov 22, 2013 4:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ScottLawson
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Re: Solar Requiem (Shattered Glass) set review

Post by ScottLawson »

Dominic wrote:I do not own this set. And, I only read a scan of the comic online. This review is based largely on my fiddling with Lewis' set and my own impressions of the characters. Zab and I might buy and split a set. But, given the $200+ dollar base price, we both want to think it over.

This set was made for customizing, with a number of key character details being sticker-based. Most likley, this is to increase the marketability of the set to two markets. (I am given to understand that Takara has officially sanctioned the idea of repurposing "Timelines" Tracks as Roadrage. So, this set could be seen as an extension of that line of thinking.)

Blaster:
Originally, Blaster's SG colours were origionally intended to reference Twincast. But, Twincast is recognizable enough in Japan that Takara likely felt it would be better to cast this toy in yet another colour scheme. "Solar Requiem" Blaster's colours roughly evoke, (but do not precisely duplicate) the colours used for a pre-TF Takara pressing of the Blaster mould. The resulting toy is mostly grey, with some blue.

Rewind:
SG Rewind's colours are based on G2 Rumble's colours. His personality is actually a pretty clever moral inversion from the G1 character. Rather than being an archivist who collects and stores information, SG Rewind is a hunter who captures prey for hire. This is used to explain how SG Blaster got Ramhorn. (David Willis has gone on record as saying he would have preferred SG Rewind be based on some character from a movie that Willis liked, which is just one more reason to prefer the official take on SG Rewind.)

Ramhorn:
SG Ramhorn is mostly blue, referencing both G1 Frenzy and Bayformers Rumble. (If I end up with this set, I just might swap the faction decals to make a Bayformer Rumble.) His weapons are some kind of variable effect chaos bombs. Willis has stated how much he wants to see this result in a transformer shooting rubber chickens and confetti, which likely spoils some of this upcoming year's "Recordicons" comic. (It is a shame that such a nice looking toy is going to be associated with that crap.)

Solarbot:
This is a translucent yellow recolour of G1 Rewind/Eject. Over-all, it works pretty well in translucent yellow. His back-story is that he is part of a splinter species of TFs that adapted to living in the coronas of stars. When the Classicsverse went kablammo, he managed to cross-over in to the SG dimension. He scans SG Rewind in order to be able to better interact with Cybertronians, initially being unaware of who he is dealing with. (It was kind of a let-down that the comic made no use of the irony of a guy who is effectively the last of his kind scanning a guy who is a hunter.)

Soundwave:
This is a white and blue recolour of the G1 Soundblaster mould (with the extended chest door). This is neither the first SG Soundwave, nor the first use of the G1 character model in these colours. But, it is the first SG Soundwave to include tapes. He is written, as previously established, as being similar to G1 Blaster and/or Jazz.

Ratbat:
SG Ratbat has "classic" Batman colouring. It is yet another of Willis' brilliant ideas cast in toy form. The toy itself does not look bad. But, I cannot get past it association with Willis and his not at all funny sense of whimsy. ("LOLOLOLOLOL Ratbat is Batbot!")

Slugfest:
SG Slugfest is mostly brown. I think that this is supposed to be a riff on G1 Ramhorn's colours, but I am not sure. While I am not a fan of SG in terms of story, I admit that it is a nice touch that one of the sticker details includes the restraint implant that Slugfest had in "Dungeons and Dinobots".


The comic:
Well, for a "Shattered Glass" comic, it is pretty good. Of course, that is still a low bar. Blaster's faux-German accent is obnoxious. It adds nothing and only raises the sorts of questions that never help TF or similar properties. Wittenrich seems to be giving it his all in terms of writing. Aside from Blaster's (previously established) accent, the comic reads smoothly enough. Metalhawk's contingent of survivors from the (now destroyed) Classicsverse are trying to adjust to life amongst the SG Decepticons. This is only addressed for a few panels, but it is handled as well as can be expected. Solarbot sort of just shows up, likely because of the toy. I sincerely doubt that any of Fun Publications' staff has any idea of what they are going to do with Solarbot.
Spoiler
Solarbot ends up joining Blaster and his heroic Decepticon tapes at the end.
peimar solar is shown to be the second ship that escaped before the destruction of the Classicsverse (the other carrying Grimock and his crew). I have no idea why regular Blaster and SG Blaster (as well as their troops) were being shown inter-cut the way they were.

Over-all: This is probably the best SG content one is likely to find. While the individual panels are not as well illustrated as Figueroa's in the '08 comic, the over-all presentation is smoother. The writing is several steps above Sinclair's and Yee's in the 2012 comic. And, the art in "Solar Requiem" better compliments the writing. That said, I doubt that anybody would be buying the set purely for the comic, especially as scans can be found online.

http://imgur.com/a/TY0QU



Dom
-pretty sure that Willis, Yee and co will make hash of this over the next year.
Just awesome review.. You have mentioned each aspect in detail which is great stuff.. I hope you have more such exciting stuff to share..
Last edited by ScottLawson on Mon Nov 25, 2013 8:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Dominic
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Re: Solar Requiem (Shattered Glass) set review

Post by Dominic »

Thanks.

I try to spend a little more time on and put a little more in to this sort of review because few people are likely to have seen the comics and toys first hand.
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