Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

The modern comics universe has had such a different take on G1, one that's significantly represented by the Generations toys, so they share a forum. A modern take on a Real Cybertronian Hero. Currently starring Generations toys, IDW "The Transformers" comics, MTMTE, TF vs GI Joe, and Windblade. Oh wait, and now Skybound, wheee!
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JediTricks
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Re: Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

Post by JediTricks »

A fallen comrade doesn't have to mean dead, he could just be incapacitated for duty.

IMO, at this point the comics take precedence over the conflicting bios.
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Re: Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

Post by Dominic »

Official is official.

And, Hasbro has never mandated that things line up, meaning that there is less reason to set specific priority for one source over another. And, considering that Hasbro owns TF (rather than just a license), it is not hard to figure out which source would take priority if one was going to make it a "one or the other" choice.

A fallen comrade doesn't have to mean dead, he could just be incapacitated for duty
"Fallen" normally means "dead".

And, either way, "fallen" does not mean "quit the team because he was sick of losing fights".
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Re: Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

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Dominic wrote:Official is official.

And, Hasbro has never mandated that things line up, meaning that there is less reason to set specific priority for one source over another. And, considering that Hasbro owns TF (rather than just a license), it is not hard to figure out which source would take priority if one was going to make it a "one or the other" choice.
And all 3 sources are "official", so you're being OCD. Hasbro has even show fealty to the comics over their own bios, overwriting G1 bios in favor of comic events when the character is popular.
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Re: Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

Post by JediTricks »

The last of the individual bots has been reviewed, Alpha Bravo:
http://www.tfviews.com/news/toysandcollectibles/2398

This is my favorite of the Aerialbots, and while he does have some of the same issues as the others in the line, I just find him more satisfying overall.
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Re: Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

Post by Dominic »

Hasbro has not been consistent with IDW on "Combiner Wars" though. Either way, official is official.

Alpha is the only wave 1 figure that I am curious about the extended profile on. (Luckily, a friend of mine is likely to be getting a copy.)
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Re: Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

Post by JediTricks »

Here it is, my official review of the Aerialbots and Superion:
http://www.tfviews.com/news/toysandcollectibles/2416

Ultimately, they make for a cohesive team both in both highs and lows, but they also make a quality combiner bot.
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Re: Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

Post by JediTricks »

My review of the Stunticons and Menasor is up:

http://www.tfviews.com/news/toysandcollectibles/2463

Ultimately, I ended up liking the Stunticons more than the Aerialbots as a team, as individual figures, and as vehicles. But Menasor is less satisfying as he has a lot of problems.
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Re: Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

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Ultra Magnus with Minimus Ambus

Vehicle mode (UM): a cybertronian tractor truck pulling a car carrier, permanently affixed. There's no question this is Ultra Magnus in vehicle mode, albeit feeling a bit small since the tractor is smaller than a deluxe. The sculpted details suggest a scale conflict, the windows and wipers of the truck suggest a normal deluxe vehicle scale, but the sculpted ladders and doors suggest a much larger scale, like a human would be a grain of rice next to this thing, it'd be the size of a 4-story apartment building. The trailer is hollow and simple not unlike its G1 counterpart, has enough 5mm points for all the weapons and accessories. The trailer is wide enough to accommodate a CW deluxe, I put Wildrider on there no problem. The trailer rear doors fold down to become ramps, but they don't reach the ground due to kneecaps. The upper portion of the trailer has a similar problem when you lower it, but this can be dealt with by sliding the ramp up 1 stop (which seems to be the sole reason that stop exists). There isn't a place for Minimus Ambus to go in vehicle mode though, aside from just riding loose in the trailer.

Vehicle mode (MA): a teeny tiny hovercar, on mine the front half of the car doesn't quite align with the middle, but otherwise it looks good. Transformation into robot mode is fairly basic, but does use a trick of hinging the back down to line up the shoulders, so it's a real transformation.

Robot mode (MA): Smaller than a minicon, Minimus Ambus has ball-jointed shoulders and hips, as well as hinged knees. He looks pretty good, and has itsy bitsy peg hole fists that I think might be 2mm but haven't measured yet, they look smaller than 3mm standard. Facial hair is painted over the main light green, with white plastic dominating the rest of the deco, and there's also tiny red eyes.

Robot mode (UM): Transformation is interesting in the folds and rotations, and there's no kreoforming going on here, the cab does a nifty rotate-around. Unfortunately, the UM head is stowed inside the cab, so transformation to vehicle mode requires taking Minimus Ambus out of the affair. The in robot mode cab opens up to reveal a control chair with tiny control sticks for MA to hold, slots to lock the feet into, and lots of sculpted monitors and controls; even a monitor display on the inside of the UM head which hinges down over MA's tiny head when he's seated at the controls.

Ultra Magnus' robot mode is the same size as the recent Jetfire figure, so he's not small, but the weight feels even lighter and the plastic slightly more brittle than prior leader-class figures. Sculpting is really good, there's lots going on without feeling out of place, it looks very much like the comics and feels like the designers worked extra hard to do more with less so they could get the best figure possible out of the shrunken budget they had. The one area that is a bit weird is the eyes, they look sculpted as if they were separate lenses.

The deco is ok, it gets away with a lot despite very little paint outside of the chestplate. The eyes are a little weird again, painted metallic blue-silver as if they were sunglasses, it's unusual but not exactly bad. The lack of red at the legs is the one area that my brain simply couldn't get around for a while, it's not that it's inaccurate, it is but that's not the problem; it's that with the balance of color shifted from red to white as the secondary coloring, this seems more like a character taken from a different series, like Animated. It ultimately just becomes part of the toy though and seems acceptable... don't look at what Takara's doing with the UM deco though, it'll only make you wistful.

Articulation is adequate but not outstanding, and has a few areas that don't get away with what they attempt. The head is a 30-degree swivel because of its unusual design having to hinge over MA's head. The shoulders rotate only, but the upper bicep hinges out and the plate that holds the shoulder missiles hinges out of the way of that as well. The lower bicep rotates, and the elbow hinges. The fingers are one hinged chunk on each hand, this joint is the only thing holding the guns in hand so it doesn't work great. The hips are swivel, hinge, and then rotation universal joints. The knees are hinged. The ankles have this awful transformation joint double-hinge that isn't tight enough for some poses and also doesn't have enough range to do much. The figure can take poses, but the feet are sculpted slightly angled and the hips are ratcheted a little funky (though this is nowhere near as bad as CW Optimus' hips), everything basically requires a lot of patience to get a good pose out of, and then the hands will drop the guns if you look at them funny. He looks surprisingly great in a walking pose though, MTMTE has led us to view this character strutting down hallways.

Accessories: Magnus has 4 accessories. Twin shoulder missile banks that attach via 5mm peg and don't fire as the missiles are part of the sculpt. A rifle with a peg on the side for storage. A funky pistol with a peg on the spine for storage. They're all fine, they're all hollow but have enough sculpting to look alright. They also combine to form the magnus hammer, although the hammer can only be held choked up from just above the middle or higher due to it fitting in the hand only from the pistol's barrel, which has guides to slide into a slot in the armor below the hand, helping keeping it upright. The hammer's lower half looks entirely like a giant rifle as well. It's a nice little extra at least, but not great.

Overall: Leader-class Ultra Magnus is a mixed bag. He's kind of small and hollow but he's not actually that small. He's got a very small Minimus Ambus but cannot leave him in place for transformation. He looks straight out of the comics. He has trouble posing and some less-than-deal joints. But looking at him, it's really hard not to like this figure. Grade... tough choice, I'd say a generous "B-", it feels like the designers really did care and tried their best based on a challenging character design and a razor-thin budget.
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Re: Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

Post by Onslaught Six »

JediTricks wrote:My review of the Stunticons and Menasor is up:

http://www.tfviews.com/news/toysandcollectibles/2463

Ultimately, I ended up liking the Stunticons more than the Aerialbots as a team, as individual figures, and as vehicles. But Menasor is less satisfying as he has a lot of problems.
I was actually gonna post a short review until I reread this having them in hand and completed, and you pretty much nailed my thoughts as well. Menasor is less awesome than Superion, his waist and legs being the biggest problem, but the individual figures are stronger and more interesting as a whole--the Aerialbots suffer too much from feeling like they're all the same toy whereas the Stunticons have a lot of cool variation and differences between them.
There's no question this is Ultra Magnus in vehicle mode, albeit feeling a bit small since the tractor is smaller than a deluxe.
Here's the thing though: the cab is actually not all that bigger than Classics Prime or Magnus, who is the most likely candidate people will display this with. Check it:
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7744/1775 ... 6196_z.jpg
The trailer is wide enough to accommodate a CW deluxe, I put Wildrider on there no problem.
It also fits most other earlier Deluxes also. I was able to get Wheeljack in pretty good and Classics Rodimus would have fit if not for his HUGE spoiler.
There isn't a place for Minimus Ambus to go in vehicle mode though, aside from just riding loose in the trailer.
This bothered me more than it should have.
Ultra Magnus' robot mode is the same size as the recent Jetfire figure, so he's not small
He actually is almost the exact same size as a G1 Magnus, which is an incredible piece of scale continuity that makes me really happy.
The one area that is a bit weird is the eyes, they look sculpted as if they were separate lenses.
Believe it or not, this is actually accurate not to the IDW comics, but the UK comics! Magnus was weirdly drawn as if he had "sunglasses" on in those comics, probably a result of someone basing a model sheet off his toy (with its sunken in eyes) and then someone else misreading that model sheet. The funny thing is how this indirectly reminds me of Robert Stack's Secret Service character in the Beavis and Butthead movie. (Actually, given that guy and Magnus's demeanor, probably not indirectly at all.)
http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/e/e ... UK-115.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pNtQgBQMnGk/T ... %2B117.jpg
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/bea ... 1207153313
The lack of red at the legs is the one area that my brain simply couldn't get around for a while, it's not that it's inaccurate, it is but that's not the problem; it's that with the balance of color shifted from red to white as the secondary coloring, this seems more like a character taken from a different series, like Animated. It ultimately just becomes part of the toy though and seems acceptable... don't look at what Takara's doing with the UM deco though, it'll only make you wistful.
This is probably my biggest complaint against the figure. Takara's version isn't even all that more expensive ($70 at BBTS right now; you can probably get it cheaper if you ordered it direct) but the big problem is that you have to choose between Alpha Trion and Minimus Ambus, and I'd rather have the latter as that actually makes sense. So, red thighs, or Minimus Ambus?
and then the hands will drop the guns if you look at them funny.
I have had pretty decent experience with him using the bigger gun (which is the better looking of the two IMO and also resembles Prime's traditional rifle if it were souped up) compared to the other one. I'm also not fond of the lack of pose and holding options for the hammer, I think.

I don't mind the hollowness as much as some--his back isn't very hollow at all, despite appearances, and his legs need to be hollow for his transformation to work, so I'm cool with that also. The rest of him is pretty cool too. At the end of the day, he's basically a more articulated G1 Ultra Magnus, down to the same scale and all--so I can't complain too much. I would bitch about the lack of Cab Robot but honestly, with Minimus Ambus thrown in there instead, I'll get over it.
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People spend so much time worrying about whether a figure is "mint" or not that they never stop to consider other flavours.
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Re: Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

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Onslaught Six wrote:I was actually gonna post a short review until I reread this having them in hand and completed, and you pretty much nailed my thoughts as well. Menasor is less awesome than Superion, his waist and legs being the biggest problem, but the individual figures are stronger and more interesting as a whole--the Aerialbots suffer too much from feeling like they're all the same toy whereas the Stunticons have a lot of cool variation and differences between them.
For me, the shoulders are a bigger problem than the long legs. The waist and the shoulders really hold it back, but like you said, the Aerialbots feel too much like they're the same toy over and over.
There's no question this is Ultra Magnus in vehicle mode, albeit feeling a bit small since the tractor is smaller than a deluxe.
Here's the thing though: the cab is actually not all that bigger than Classics Prime or Magnus, who is the most likely candidate people will display this with. Check it:
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7744/1775 ... 6196_z.jpg
I was thinking displaying him with FOC Optimus who is also tiny, but LC UM tractor is smaller than that even. The comparison there seems a bit misleading due to the angle of the image, but I'm too lazy to do anything about that. :p
There isn't a place for Minimus Ambus to go in vehicle mode though, aside from just riding loose in the trailer.
This bothered me more than it should have.
You and me both. At one point, I left Magnus' head untransformed just so I wouldn't lose Ambus.
He actually is almost the exact same size as a G1 Magnus, which is an incredible piece of scale continuity that makes me really happy.
I traded my G1 Ultra Magnus away 30 years ago, so I couldn't compare it but figured it was somewhat close to similar.
The one area that is a bit weird is the eyes, they look sculpted as if they were separate lenses.
Believe it or not, this is actually accurate not to the IDW comics, but the UK comics! Magnus was weirdly drawn as if he had "sunglasses" on in those comics, probably a result of someone basing a model sheet off his toy (with its sunken in eyes) and then someone else misreading that model sheet. The funny thing is how this indirectly reminds me of Robert Stack's Secret Service character in the Beavis and Butthead movie. (Actually, given that guy and Magnus's demeanor, probably not indirectly at all.)
http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/e/e ... UK-115.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pNtQgBQMnGk/T ... %2B117.jpg
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/bea ... 1207153313
I found that while doing research, but IMO it's an unacceptable throwback because it alters the figure for a very limited audience in a way that's distracting and not even accurate to the comics they're aping in every other aspect of the toy.
This is probably my biggest complaint against the figure. Takara's version isn't even all that more expensive ($70 at BBTS right now; you can probably get it cheaper if you ordered it direct) but the big problem is that you have to choose between Alpha Trion and Minimus Ambus, and I'd rather have the latter as that actually makes sense. So, red thighs, or Minimus Ambus?
That's why they make Testors model paint, I suppose. The tiny Alpha Trion is so very weird, it looks nice actually but is utter nonsense.
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