Target and Wal*Mart exclusive sets

[Dominic]

With MA handling yesterday's snow-dusting like a bunch of children, I had a few extra hours free after a class was needlessly cancelled. I took a walk, (because it was warm and clear enough to do so), to Target before heading home.

Target in Somerville has the new "Legends" scale two-packs. Here are my thoughts on them.

There are no new moulds in this series, but there are two "new to the line" moulds. Shadow Striker and Smokescreen are actually recolors of toys from TFU. Like most of the current "Revenge of the Fallen" line, the character profiles on the back are as much about scenarios the characters are in, (often involving other characters), as they are about the characters. In this case, as these are two packs, the scenarios mostly focus on the two toys in the package.

Skids and Mudflap: These are slight recolors of the previously released "Legends" scale Skids and Mudflap. The new color schemes are similar to the regularly sized NEST recolors. At the "Legends" scale, the differences are pretty minor. Unless you are like me, and looking for them, the new colors are close enough to the old. Hasbro seems to be playing it safe with the merchandise friendly characters, and looking to keep them consistent in appearance. The profile is about how the twins are hunting a Decepticon in the desert. No name is given for the Decepticon, but it would be easy enough for a kid to use just about any Decepticon figure when playing out the scenario. (I would say the recent Brawl recolor is a good candidate.) Grade: C Movie characters really do not translate well to this scale. And, there are better iterations of both character at other scales. Probably the weakest of the bunch over-all, with weak toys and a middling scenario.


Smokescreen v/s Starscream: The Smokescreen is a recolor of TFU Rodimus. The Starscream is cast from the same F22 Raptor mould that other Starscream figures have been cast from. Between the mould and coloring, Smokescreen looks really out of place in movie packaging. This figure would make a good TFU offering though. Starscream is a black/really dark recolor of....Starscream. The weakness of the toys is partially balanced out by the strongly written profile/scenario on the back of the package. The set-up is that Starscream is trying to evade Smokescreen, relying heavily on the fact that Smokescreen cannot fly. But, Starscream underestimates Smokescreen's creativity. There is no mention of exactly what Smokescreen is going to do. But, that is probably where kid's imagination will take over. Of course, this is not enough to convine me to buy the set. I do not play with the toys, (meaning I will not be playing out the scenario, and the text will be available online. Grade: B/C Weak toys, but the context is strong enough that it might work for a kid.


Buimblebee v/s Shadow Striker: Bumblebee is based on the "Legends" mould released with the second movie, depicting the character in his modern form. In engineering terms, modern Bumblebee fixes many of the problems with retro-Bumblebee. It might be possible to customize a fix for those problems, (namely the arms), using this figure. But, I am unlikely to try it. Bumblebee is an A-list character, and very popular with kids/causal fans. Shadowstriker is a recolor of TFU Wheelie as a female character. For a number of reasons that are specific to the fandom, Shadow Striker is likely to be a fan favorite. In other words, this is likely to be the set that sells through. The scenario described on the back focuses on Bumblebee's dislike for the obnoxious Shadow Striker. Some are creatively misreading this as "Bumblebee is over-reacting to Shadow Striker's sarcasm". More likely, it is intended to be a question of Bumblebee being tasked with hunting Shadow Striker, and her attitude making the prospect of solving her as a problem more appealling. Grade: B The best set over-all toy-wise, with a middling scenario.


Note: I have a copy of this set. I bought it for the Bumblebee figure and have no specific plans for, nor interest in, Shadow Striker. If anybody wants this figure, I would be willing to trade....unless I paint it first.



Dom
-now to cross post this review.

[andersonh1]

I saw these sets the other day. That Wheelie repaint actually looks pretty good, even though I do have the original.

[Dominic]

I found 2 of the Wal*Mart sets over the weekend.

Beachcomber v/s Dead Lift
Beachcomber is a recolor of Dune Runner. Dead Lift is a recolor of Dirtboss. The theme of the set looks to be "reluctant combatants". The normally pacifist Beach Comber is hunting Dead Lift, who was perfectly happy to have a simple job before the war kicked up. (As Scourge pointed out, some of these NEST sets are really grim.) Both of the figures are pretty solid, though the fork-lift definitely has some plastic tolerance issues. There are a few bits that are likely to pop off the fork-lift if it is handled too much. Beachcomber's face looks a bit odd. It is easy to misread the paint applications on the head as resembling the dopey-grin style of most "Robot Heroes" figures. The premise of the file-card is grim, especially given the intended audience, but solid. The figures nicely compliment each other visually. Grade: A/B

Slapdash v/s Trenchmouth: Slapdash is a recolor of Dead End. Trenchmouth is a recolor of Knock-out. The premise here is a basic skirmish pitting the lazy Slapdash against the slovenly though skilled Trenchmouth. My Slapdash figure actually broke when I took it out of the package, and a piece is now buried somewhere in Lewis' car. I am not buying another two-pack for one piece. If the toy was complete, it would be a strange offering. The robot mode clearly looks like part of the movie line. But, the car could easily pass as part of "Animated". Trenchmouth does not have any obvious mold changes from Knock-out or Reverb. But, this figure stays together better than Knock-out. The vehicles are both wildly out of scale, with the motorcycle being a bit larger than the car.


Dom
-has not seen Devastator.