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Re: Animated Review Thread

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:19 pm
by JediTricks
onslaught86 wrote:I opened Shockwave, and am still figuring him out, slightly baffling transformation due to the many similar modes. A little annoying that it's counter-intuitive, especially when you don't know which part is for which mode, yet they did some very clever things to differentiate each mode, so points there. Shockwave robot is clearly the best. I do dig that the turret doesn't have to come off either, yay for options, seems like it had a gimmick cut from it. Wouldn't mind the purple one too, though I hear it was sucky quality..
My purple one isn't sucky quality, only issue is the neck is loose.

I like this figure, most of the parts seem to make sense to me right away, so I don't find it confusing, but I can see how it would be. This is one of those figures where I think knowing what A, B, C, and D modes look like can carry you a lot further than the instructions (although the head stowage in alt modes is not what I expected from any of that).

What gimmick do you think got cut?
Onslaught Six wrote:One thing that bugs the hell out of me with Shockwave is that Longarm's robot hands (and/or Shockwave's thumbs) are made of a malleable rubbery plastic. I feel like I'm going to tear the ball joints every time I move them. (I have the same issue with Titanium Scourge's rubbery fists.)
The parts on mine are rubbery but don't feel like they're going to break. Do you have the gray one? Maybe it's a different material than the purple version's.

Re: Animated Review Thread

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 7:41 pm
by Onslaught Six
Yeah, the gray one. It's mostly me being paranoid, and I've kind of avoided messing with them a lot beyond when I first fiddled, so.

Re: Animated Review Thread

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:37 am
by onslaught86
My purple one isn't sucky quality, only issue is the neck is loose.

I like this figure, most of the parts seem to make sense to me right away, so I don't find it confusing, but I can see how it would be. This is one of those figures where I think knowing what A, B, C, and D modes look like can carry you a lot further than the instructions (although the head stowage in alt modes is not what I expected from any of that).

What gimmick do you think got cut?
That's good to hear, might be worth me tracking one down loose.

The orientation seemed relatively straightforward, but Shockwave's proportions seem somehow too long, and Longarm's too short. They're easier once you know what the modes look like, as you say. The Shockwave head-raise is very cool.

As for the gun, it just seems big and largely empty, like the panel on top should've flipped up as a target screen, or the fold-out guns should've been spring-loaded. Do like that its removal is optional, though, makes a big difference for me there.

Re: Animated Review Thread

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 12:05 am
by 138 Scourge
I said it a bunch of times, I kinda wanted grey Shockwave more than purple one. And yet, here I am with Purple Shockwave. Dom made me a rather smashing deal, so I had to go for it.

I've noticed the loose neck, too, but tend to not worry about it. If posed right, it can at least stay up, so good enough. Shockwave's really kinda neat, the two robot modes look different enough that it actually does sorta work, you could maybe see someone being thrown off by the "Longarm" disguise. However, it should be said that I do fail at life, because I haven't figured out either vehicle mode yet.

So on that note, maybe I should stick with some toys that are more my speed. Hence, Activator Bumblebee and Cliffjumper dual review!

In Cars!: A pair of neat lookin' lil' sub-compact cars. Bumblebee is, of course, Fanzone's unmarked car, so he's got an excuse for the red police light. Cliffjumper hasn't got an in-story reason for his blue light, or, really, for this whole vehicle mode. You figure it out, like it, and go with it. These things are kinda close to a Ford Focus design, or maybe like a Honda Fit, something along those lines. Bumblebee's got his black stripe up one side, Cliffjumper doesn't have an equivalent, but he's got a silver grille, so yay for him there. Cliffjumper's also got grey sparkly windows as opposed to Bumblebee's blue ones, but my Cliffjumper's got a kinda flaw on the driver's side back window, a lil' white spot that looks like a removed sticker, but isn't. Minor flaw, doesn't distract from the rest of the toy, really, though.

Change!: Pretty easy in each case. Press roof-light, fold feet up, pose arms. But when it comes to gettin' em back into car mode, it's a little more complicated. Not much, but a lil'. Obviously, the transformations are ultra-intuitive, just figure out what the toy wants to do and make it happen, but while Bumblebee will fold back up into car mode pretty easily, Cliffjumper is really tricky to get back into the car form and keep him that way. He keeps wanting to get back into robot mode. He's a 'bot of action, and skulking around as a car is hard for him.

Rrrobot!: Pretty much identical, except for the colorschemes. Oh, and the heads. But let's stick with the colors a minute. Me, I like the yellow and black better, but Cliffjumper makes a good case for the red and silver. Also, Cliffjumper's got some more darkish grey that comes out in this mode. I do like the black stripe on Bumblebee having the red light/button in it, it adds a neat kinda look to the 'Bee that Cliffjumper just doesn't have. Now, let's get back to them heads. Bumblebee's chin situation isn't as severe as Cliffjumpers, but he makes up for it by having a bigger dome and bigger eyes. The eyes in particular are outlined really well in solid black, and give Bumblebee a lot of personality. Cliffjumper, on the other hand, he's got tiny eyes, and smallish upper head, and a huge jaw. Bumblebee's got some chin goin', but Cliffjumper seems to top it. The heads look roughly the same size when looking at both at once, but Cliffjumper can't lower his head, which is no problem for Bumblebee. Both can, however, look straight up for "flying" purposes.
Final Thought!: Well, I like the one I got effectively free more than the one that I paid cost plus shipping for. Whutevs, it's worth having the Cliffjumper repaint, for me, just for the sheer novelty of Bumblebee and Cliffjumber having different headsculpts. The straight repaint might work for those two in "Classics", but the expressiveness and personality in Animated toys means that trying to pass a red Bumblebee as Ciffjumper here just isn't going to work as well. 'Bee, A, Cliffy, high B.

Re: Animated Review Thread

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 11:52 am
by Shockwave
I like having both grey and purple. I leave purple in "Shockwave" mode and like to leave grey one in "Longarm Prime" mode. Oh who am I kidding? They're both in Shockwave mode. But I might change the grey one later. I'm glad he went purple later on in the cartoon because it made the purchase of the purple one more justifyable than just "for teh Geewunnerz!!"

Re: Animated Review Thread

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 11:36 pm
by 138 Scourge
Hey, lookit, this thread's suddenly relevant again!

Today's review shall be Cybertron Mode Ratchet!


Old School Autobot Medic Mode: Because that's what he's packaged in, and that's how he's described on the box. Anyway. For robots that, in theory, wouldn't "age" as such, Transformers sure gets a lot of mileage out of character's ages. So here we have the younger, stronger, and happier version of Ratchet. It's funny because it really looks like the same figure. Sure, some of the details have changed, and he's got different kibble, but the color scheme's just about the same, and all the equivalent parts are more or less in the same places. On one hand, it makes for great visual continity, on the other, it does make the figure seem a lil' redundant. Still, I like how Ratchet's in better shape, sort of. He's still a good-sized looking bot, but the piece that's the "gut" in the older model looks more like a barrel chest in the younger. Ratchet seems a lot happier in these times, with a grin in place of the frown the older version has. And, of course, the broken bit on the crest, but that's well-documented. I can't believe there's a word for that little pointy bit.

Ratchet's got these shock paddles for "weapons". While you could hurt someone with the human equivalent of these, I wouldn't take 'em into battle, so we'll just assume it's tools and call it good. And of course, you can plug in the engine from Lockdown and it works here, too.

Some flaws with the figure, but not many. The facial expression is sculpted on, but the light blue just eats it, and his expression ends up nearly unreadable. The lightpiping on his eyes completely fails, leaving his eyes looking just dark blue. Wouldnt' be that big of flaws, but in a line with as much personality as Animated, features that detract from the toy's personality really stand out.

Transfom!: The transformation is really interesting. I was worried that the four limbs would just become tread things, but it isn't the case. The legs fold up and twist around to be treads, but the arms just fold up into the back of the space-van, and the front treads are hidden under the chest. Fairly simple, but kinda clever. Everything locks together pretty well, which is important for a Cybertron-mode toy, I'd say. How else is one to know just how the hell the crazy space-car's supposed to go?

Space Medical Winnebago: As space-cars go, not bad. It avoids being a vauge "altmode, I guess" kind of thing by having specific details, like the roof-mounted light-bar, that make it stand out as a vehicle, not a contorted robot. The treads are an interesting choice, they act sort of as four legs, with just the tips of each touching the ground. I suppose it could run like this, but I don't know how efficient it'd be. Aside from the crazy wheels, it looks a lot like Rodimus Prime's vehicle mode. there's a strong Winnebago thing happening here. And unlike the previous version of this guy, the weapons here store away on the vehicle mode, clipping to the back to make back panels or something. Right.

The one downside, really, to the vehicle mode, I'd say, is that it looks very empty underneath the front of it. Looking at this thing head-on, you see a big empty space in the bottom of it. Like I said, not horribly distracting, but it does stick out.

Final thought: I dunno, good enough toy. I can see why this was done as a later exclusive thing, it really doesn't have what you'd think of as general-audience appeal: It's a new version of a character that already didn't sell terribly well, it's got a really odd alt. mode, and it's a figure from one scene from nearly three years ago in a canceled cartoon. And yet, here he is. If you're drawn to more off-the-wall character selections, infrastructure characters, or a big Ratchet or Animated fan, then I'd say go get you some of this. But I can't say I'd recommend this guy for everyone. Still, I loved Ratchet on this show, so it makes me happy.

Re: Animated Review Thread

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 7:47 pm
by JediTricks
I finally found Lugnut on clearance at TRU after all this time for $13. I really like this figure, it's a tad small for a Voyager, and quite gimmicky and stylized, but has a lot of personality and is pretty fun. Another winner for the Animated line. After this much time waiting, I didn't think there was a way it could be any good, but clearance always makes it better. ;) I would have liked to have seen tighter joints on the legs, but the automorph is fun and the springs on mine work, I've heard some don't. It's pretty cheap using giant bombs as the forearms, but the designers own this by making them oversized.

Re: Animated Review Thread

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 3:16 pm
by 138 Scourge
You know, I was tempted by Atomic Lugnut for awhile, too. If I'd seen one for a good price on clearance, I'd probably have pulled the trigger on it. The freaky paint job and snarling shark mouth were real draws, even if I already had the mold. I like the bomb-arms, too, it looks good, and it implies what'll happen to those that get punched by him.

Re: Animated Review Thread

Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 11:30 am
by 138 Scourge
So how about that Animated Rodimus?

He's pretty neat, that's how about him.

Car!:The car's about as classic-design Hot Rod as you can get. There's a few differences between Classics Rodimus and Animated Rodimus in vehicle mode, but considering how wildly different the two aesthetics are, they're surprisingly similar. The biggest one is that the exhaust pipes that are always a part of this car go over the top of the car, instead of along the sides. Beyond that, even if you didn't know the first damn thing about Animated, you'd look at this thing and say, "Hey, Rodimus!" So if you generally like that ride, you're set here. The bow weapon doesn't integrate as such into this mode, but you can clip it onto the top for an "attack mode" which...is pretty silly-looking, actually. But it's not like this is without precedent in this line, and it is reminiscent of a lot of the G1 "attack modes", so I let it go. One minor nitpick, dude's got two sets of exhaust pipes. The ones that come up on the top, then a set at the bottom of the car, I'm not sure if it's supposed to look like one thing, but the two don't really line up. Minor quibble, though.

Transforming!: Frustrating at first, a lot of fun after you figure it out. Everything locks together really well on the car, so it's a trick finding a place to pull him open. Once you do, it's just a matter of getting everything lined up right. The way the arms become the back of the car and swing up to be up by the hood reminds me of Animated Blurr, the legs don't change much, they're just there under the car and swing down, and they roof, spoiler, and hood of the car just fold up to be the chest and back. There's a lot of things going on here I really like, the front tires folding down into the chest is a good bit, and I'm always a fan of things like the panel that flips over on the chest, with the Autobot symbol on one side and the car's engine on the other. The arrangement that the roof and spoiler go into when folding up into the back is pretty clever, it all manages to fold up neatly, and not give the guy a huge backpack. Everything locks together tightly in robot mode, too, and there's a bit where the windshield opens up during transformation and then closes to clip onto a couple pegs to lock the head in place that works fantastically, you're not moving that bit again without opening the windshield back up. I'm gassing on and on and probably making it sound complicated, but it isn't, really. Once you get it down, you can flip this guy back and forth fairly easily, and still get two pretty distinct modes without a lot of kibble. God dammit, I miss you Animated. One bit, though, I can't figure. There's a clip right on the front of the car's hood that looks like it's supposed to clip into the robot waist. As far as I can tell, it doesn't. Odd. But the robot, like I said, holds together well anyhow.

Robot!: This thing's great. Again, you'd look at this guy and go "Hey, Rodimus", but there's a few liberties taken what with the different aesthetic of his line. For one thing, dude's chest and arms are huge, his legs are fairly skinny. It's not ridiculously so, but it's enough to give him more cartoony proportions. The crest that Hot Rod's usually got on his head is blown up some, combined with his choice of weapon he reminds me of Hawkeye the Archer. I don't know if that's intentional, but I like it. The main problems I usually have with Animated toys is with the faces, I just feel like they'd be better without lightpiping, and just having their eyes painted and their mouths drawn on instead of sculpted. But with this dude, it's not as bad as with some. His the 'piping in his eyes works well enough to make the blue in 'em stand out, and the mouth's distinct enough to be clearly visible. Another neat detail typical of Animated, his feet look like some kind of running shoes, not overtly so, there's not a shoelace-pattern or anything, but that's the vibe they give off. He's also got Hot Rod's traditional collar, where you see his neck and it looks a bit like he's a guy in an armored suit than a robot, which is something about the movie guys I always kind of liked. Rodimus is kind of bowlegged, his stance is pretty wide, which helps with standing the toy, but can look goofy unless you've posed him right. So then you've got his weapon, instead of the traditional gun he's armed with a double-barreled "energy bow", which is one of the more implausible weapons I've heard of, but it can't be denied, it looks cool. At least, on the cartoon it does, in three-dimensional form, you get a double-barreled bow that launches two missles and doesn't have a string. I gotta give 'em credit, I did like how there was a wide array of weapons for these guys instead of everyone having guns, but this one's a little unwieldy for a lot of poses. The good news, though, is that he can pose in a "drawing the bow" position, even if that takes a little imagination because said bow's got no string. The colors here are, again, pretty standard Hot Rod stuff, dark red, gold, grey "skin", but it's set off by a crazily bright orange. It's almost that day-glo hunter orange, there's no problem finding him in a dark room. I'm okay with that, but again, your mileage may vary.

Bio!: This is more of what I wanted to see from the original Rodimus. Nicknamed "The Chosen One", assumed by most to be on the fast-track to Magnusdom, and all around pretty cool guy for someone so young. It's Rodimus Prime right at the end of the Transformers movie. I am definitely okay with that.

Overall!: A great reinterpretation of Rodimus, a great example of Animated's strengths, and a fun figure with an oddball but kind of cool weapon. If these sound like the kind of things you'd like, you should probably get one of these. He's not perfect, but in my eyes, he's damn close. Highly recommended.

Re: Animated Review Thread

Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 11:31 am
by 138 Scourge
Image

I took this somewhat crappy picture of Rodimus with his movie buddies. It does show off the "drawing the bow" thing I mentioned. Man, if only we'd gotten a Springer and Kup...

EDIT: Updated with a slightly less crappy picture.