AOE Figure Review Thread

Money, violence, sex, computer graphics, scatalogical humor, racism, robots designed to be rednecks but given European accents, and maybe another sequel to the saga... what's not to love? TF m1, Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon and now Age of Extinction.
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JediTricks
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AOE Figure Review Thread

Post by JediTricks »

Hasbro sent ActionFigs.com samples of Drift, Voyager Grimlock, and Leader Optimus to review, and I'm the Transformers reporter over there so I just finished up reviewing the last of them with full compliment of photos.

AOE Optimus Prime (Leader-class) review - neural, 5.5/10:
http://www.actionfigs.com/content.php/1 ... ass-Review

AOE Grimlock (Voyager-class) review - neutral, 6/10:
http://www.actionfigs.com/content.php/1 ... ger-Review

AOE Drift (Deluxe-class) review - recommend, 7.5/10:
http://www.actionfigs.com/content.php/1 ... uxe-Review


The AOE line hits mass retail this Saturday, while it's already been available online since Monday.
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Dominic
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Re: AOE Figure Review Thread

Post by Dominic »

Based on these reviews, nothing really grabs me about the toys purely as toys. And, I really doubt that Bayformers 4 is going to inspire me to buy any for character/concept reasons. And, after the shit IDW pulled with movie 3 comics (exclusive content in the single issues that was not in the compilation) and the fact that I am a little irked with Barber at the moment, I am less likely to buy movie 3 comics.


Likely to skip this line entirely.
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Re: AOE Figure Review Thread

Post by JediTricks »

I understand where you're coming from. I reviewed these trying to put as much focus on the items as toys themselves rather than existing characters that we already know or even connections to previous films, but they still struggled on their own as toys, except Drift which held the line but didn't shine.

As characters, they did their best but the tools are limited from the films, which take oddly literal passes at existing ideas so they come off odd, and then they just get bizarre on the designs. This time around it's a knight theme for the big guys, and I really didn't find that attention-grabbing at all.

Barber steered you wrong re TF v GI Joe, or RID, or what?

Wave 1 was at TRu this weekend, nothing was appealing except Voyager Evasion Prime and even that had middling paint and the ugly mouth design so I passed for now.
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Onslaught Six
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Re: AOE Figure Review Thread

Post by Onslaught Six »

How does Drift compare to other recent stuff in terms of height/size? Mostly looking at dudes like Trailtrailer or Skids?
BWprowl wrote:The internet having this many different words to describe nerdy folks is akin to the whole eskimos/ice situation, I would presume.
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: AOE Figure Review Thread

Post by Shockwave »

I didn't see Drift at TRU, or if I did, I didn't pay attention, but Bumblebee is about on par with other movie Bumblebees. So I would assume Drift would be the same size?
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Re: AOE Figure Review Thread

Post by JediTricks »

Onslaught Six wrote:How does Drift compare to other recent stuff in terms of height/size? Mostly looking at dudes like Trailtrailer or Skids?
I have Traileater right here and it's about a head higher, Drift stares at his chin and then has an ornate headdress to almost fill in that dead space. Trailstinker is notably not big, but they actually don't look too bad together, the normal body proportions and details of AOE Drift and not-bizarre weapons kind of work - that head though, it's so weird that it's like he's an MTMTE character with a sick kabuki/samurai fetish.
Shockwave wrote:I didn't see Drift at TRU, or if I did, I didn't pay attention, but Bumblebee is about on par with other movie Bumblebees. So I would assume Drift would be the same size?
If AOE BB is the same size as movie 1 or 2 BB, I'll eat my hat. ... Yeah, I thought so, he's smaller than any other movieverse Bee, even Murderbee: http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... bee/29907/

And the reason you didn't see Drift is because he's apparently in wave 2, not wave 1.
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Re: AOE Figure Review Thread

Post by Shockwave »

Oh ok. I couldn't remember if I had or not they all really look the same to me. :?
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Re: AOE Figure Review Thread

Post by JediTricks »

Shockwave wrote:Oh ok. I couldn't remember if I had or not they all really look the same to me. :?
They really, really do all look very samey. It's odd, there's this huge focus on the character art now, but somehow with all the other iterations of the brand - One Step Changers, Power Punch, and so on - it becomes a sea of sameness.
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Re: AOE Figure Review Thread

Post by Almighty Unicron »

I know oil is most expensive these days, but I was in a TRU today and took a peek at some of the figs. I think my Energon basics were bigger.

*sigh*

I think I'm becoming a grognard, just pining for my heyday of the early 2000s. Fuck, 2000 is pretty much equidistant to now as G1 was to then.
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Re: AOE Figure Review Thread

Post by JediTricks »

Voyager Optimus Evasion Mode.

My mom bought me this figure, of all things. The packaging character art uses the beat up version, which obviously doesn't match the figure itself.

Robot mode is where it starts, and this is mostly a very nice robot mode. There's an excellent amount of sculpted detail everywhere, lots of business where there should be business and plates where there should be plates but they all have shape. The shins are a bit incomplete, and the panels under the forearms aren't the best, and if you look carefully in the back you can see some hollowness, but generally this figure is a looker. The smaller, more-human, less-heroic proportions let the character seem more vulnerable and less a superhero, it goes well with the exposed mouth, it makes Optimus feel older. And despite a rather panel-y, hollow design on the upper body, the figure feels pretty solid.

The upper shoulders are shot in blue without paint, this was a misstep but it's not dooming the figure. The eyes are light-piped clear, they don't stand out great against the silver face but they pick up light well. The shins un-transform easily by rotating backwards, it's not even particularly noticeable, but it's not a plus. And of course, this figure does need more paint in general, there are sculpted elements especially in the legs getting lost.The DOTM shotgun Megs carried in the movie is a little chunkier here for the limp missile launching gimmick, it isn't an attractive fit in the hand and it doesn't seem to have storage in bot mode, but it's adequate on its own and looks great with the DOTM Megs toy.

Articulation is outstanding, Optimus has an Adam's Apple which gets in the way of turning the head, so the neck raises up until it's clear, it works nicely. There's a waist, there's joints on the hip wheels that lets the legs move freely. The elbows are the one oddity, they work fine - enjoying a robust range of motion due to transformation - but they are awkward due to the sculpting needed for vehicle mode. The joints are also all nice and tight.

Transformation is a touch more complicated than I was expecting, given the simpler designs of the other 3 figures I have; this is also made worse by a total lack of robot-to-truck instructions and dodgy, inaccurate truck-to-robot instructions. Robot mode unfolds out everywhere in the upper body, while the lower body is simple splitting the difference between elegant and plain. The transformation is a little complex, but the only thing that hangs me up is the arms which are very specific about when they can move and what parts have to be where to get them through, this affects both to and from; everything else does its thing adequately. It is easy however to think the waist needs to be rotated, it doesn't; and it's easy to miss pushing the front wheels into their tabs.

Vehicle mode is G1 Optimus, complete with rivets and side mirrors and wipers, but a different smokestack and 5th wheel config, and the rear of the cab isn't filled in except with clear window panels and even that's only halfway. The front is really good, very satisfying and the paint holds up better here. I will say that the way the middle of the windshield doesn't line up properly, that's an OCD frustrator, but it's very minor and it looks like the parts weren't quite designed to match. The front windows are clear but mostly blocked off, the side windows are painted gray. The rear of the cab is, as I said, not filled in much. The back area around the 5th wheel is the kibbly area, it's not too bad but a bit of robot thighs and the robot feet take up a little too much attention, and the plain tail is underwhelming considering how much sculpted business is going on. Rolls nicely, has a 5mm peg hole on top and 2 more flanking the 5th wheel. The 5th wheel unfortunately doesn't seem to be able to hold any standard trailer size in the brand, it's a narrow rectangle, but I appreciate the interest in making it look like a semi tractor. The whole truck is a little on the small size for a voyager, but not too bad.

Overall, I think I'd give it a recommend, an 8/10 if you can stand movieverse.
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