Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

[BWprowl]

Some good points, though I don't mind having the legoformed weapons if they aren't too large in the alt mode.

I don't get this, why too large? Blackout's big rotor grinder deal? Big Convoy's Big Cannon? As far as I'm concerned, if it has to come off as part of the transformation and you can't transform them to alt. mode without it, it's cheating.

Well to be fair to Blackout, you can transform him between modes without ever disconnecting the rotor chunk, and his design is supposed to have it on his back anyway, so.

[JediTricks]

I don't see how Onslaught has a simplistic design. >.>

Then you're not looking with objective eyes. His level of sculpted and painted detail is significantly lower than similarly-sized bots from almost any time since Machine Wars, there are areas where there's no detail and many areas where detail is thick and simplistic. While you appreciate the head sculpt because of who the character is, the reality is that it's among the weakest sculpts they've produced since Armada.

And the leg thing *is* true. G1slaught's legs have an extra wheel portion that folds up against his legs, so the back of each leg has two wheels. ClaSlaught's got an extra wheel that folds up into his legs, and the other two stick out the back of his legs in a similar manner.

Your argument is there is a similar number of wheels (G1 has 2 wheels, Classics has 6) therefore it's the same transformation? Classics Onslaught has 2 wheels at the bottom of each leg and another near the middle, G1's were all above the centerline. G1's leg slides down and then the rear half flop over to create the leg, Classics' leg angles around and down without folding over (unless you are desperate and need to count 1 wheel folding inside, which is still really thin).

I know about the detailing that O6 is talking about. But, I think it was a sticker on the original, and thus not visible on every copy of the toy.

No, he's talking about the removable panel itself. I sort of see what he means, it's vague because the Classics chest is angled but not far enough to really sell what he means (a vertical plate), but I can concede it may be intentional. I'd actually argue the G1 sticker takes away from the similarity to Classics.

I concede that I was wrong about CD Red Alert's "seat", but I still do not like that toy, largely on the basis of my general dislike of the the "Cybertron Defense" sub-line as a whole.

Again, very arbitrary. The toy itself should be the focus of the discussion. I mean, Scrapmetal is kind of a stupid concept but is a very nifty toy.

Because if I dispose of the extra part, then the toy is not complete.

Then put it in a bag and put the bag in a vault. I can't wait for the day when Hasbro re-releases the figure without that rifle, and 99.999999% of the fandom gets pissed off while Dom finally says the figure is pretty cool. And you know what I think of completism. Plus, if stick with the concept, you could never mod a figure without buying 2 duplicates.

Maybe Hasbro could have gone the extra mile, nay acre, and made the
damned thing integrate rather than clipping on as an after-thought.

Or maybe Hasbro could have let it clip on the way it does, which works FINE, and not been slavish to the arbitrary opinions of a very small minority. Your argument is you'd rather have them not make it at all, and I find that incredibly selfish and inflexible.

If he forgets his tools, he is either a bad medic, or a medic with a
badly designed alt-mode that cannot carry the stupid things.

Not every tool is battlefield-ready. The ones the figure comes with are huge, too big to carry around in battle.

How is this toy-hackery? "Toy-hack" stands for the phonetic spelling of
the abbreviation for "The One I Had As A Kid", TOIHAAK. Toy-hacks have
an unnatural attachment to the toys the loved as children. In my case,
it is only toy-hackery if it derives from the phrase "The One I HATED As
A Kid".

I do not like integrated parts because Beast Wars made it standard. I
like them because I recall all those G1 parts I lost as a kid.

You answered your own question. It's not about the toys they are, but about the situations you had as a kid with your old toys. These aren't baby toys, everything doesn't have to be tethered to the figure to ensure baby doesn't lose or swallow it. You are a toy hack here because it's all about the one you had as a kid, the one you had as a kid strongly affects how view the line today (and that's narrowly because of your old experiences).

What if we were talking about Star Wars or GI Joe figures instead of Transformers? Then what? Some figures come with so many accessories they can't possibly hold or wear them all, would you prefer Hasbro not sell us those accessories? That's ludicrous, more accessories = more fun! Yes, not every young child can take care to keep track of every part of their toys, but that doesn't mean we should live only to serve them - we don't live in a kiddie-proofed world (yet), we don't outlaw sharp corners or pointy objects. If we take away the kids' ability to have accessories, they won't learn the responsibility of respecting and taking care of their things - nothing teaches the lesson on "don't lose your toys" like losing your toys.

Would it have killed Hasbro/Takara to at least have molded
compartments on the legs to hold the extra missiles, or maybe even the
robot fists (which had to come off to transform the robot into a jet)?

It would have killed the look of the toy to do that.

Also, it's hilarious that you think you need to tell me the robot fists on the Starscream mold had to come off to transform, like I didn't know that or something.

If nothing else, when playing with the toys, it really disrupted the
flow of the game to have to go looking for missing parts, or to have to
find safe places to store parts so they would not go missing.

Again, nothing teaches the lesson of managing your personal property like having to deal with those situations. Kids who don't learn to respect their toys ultimately have no respect for their possessions, and that is a very important thing to have.

The
Beast era poved that integrated parts could be done, and done well.

And conversely, the kids who were like you who would put a piece down during play without paying attention to where that was could no longer transform some of their figures like Cheetor because accessories that made up integral elements were now missing.

But, now, we are getting toys that do not
integrate. It is s step back to the toys I hated as a kid.

You should realize that this is nothing like that though, there is no chance of lost heads or fists anymore, it's just the occasional accessory.

Well, if you want to meet the pervert who spooged your brand-new toys, I
will not judge you. Me, I want nothing to do with them or the filth
they smeared on those toys.

Since the only place that happens is in your imagination, that makes you the mayor of crazyland, and since you dreamed it up, you're the town perv too. (BTW, not that I want to have a discussion about this, but putting one's junk in those holes would cut their junk, that plastic is fairly sharp.)

Ehh, the blue head panel puts me off. If that was covered, it'd be fine. As-is, it's not what I'd consider totally fine. "If G1 Prime does it better.."

I see what you mean, though it's not like you couldn't chalk that up to a being a skylight; I don't like the rear of the truck formed by the legs, it's a bit kibbly. But better is subjective, does G1 prime have better detailing and articulation? No. Better structural integrity? No. A dynamic body design that doesn't look like a box with limbs and a head? No.

I think I usually turn it face-down too, just accounting for the chance people might not. But I've not transformed the mould in some time (Despite owning three flavours), so.

The only time I can accept people screwing up a transformation as a constant is when it's wrong in the instructions, otherwise it's their own fault for remaining ignorant.

I don't get this, why too large? Blackout's big rotor grinder deal? Big Convoy's Big Cannon? As far as I'm concerned, if it has to come off as part of the transformation and you can't transform them to alt. mode without it, it's cheating.

Look, the reality is that sometimes legoformed weapons can be nifty; just as Dom's argument against integrated accessories is slanted to his personal tastes, so is yours on this, and neither is entirely wrong OR right. The reason I don't like overly large integrated accessories is merely the cheating aspect, they couldn't make all of this figure into the alt mode so they tacked on some huge piece of junk to make up the difference. Ransack's weapon doesn't really negatively impact the bike mode, the seat and fender are still there. Blackout's rotor would feel like a big ripoff if you had to remove it, but you can transform him and leave it there, never remove it and the figure would still be fairly movie-accurate and acceptable - hell, I've seen non-removable backpacks worse than his removable one. But even removable parts can be believable too, I mean, they need weapons on Beast Wars but don't have a big armory or factories making new ones, is it really that hard to believe they scanned a beast that had segments they wouldn't otherwise fit in their alt modes so they dedicated it to a weapon? Granted, Big Convoy's trunk-gun is at the outside edge of acceptable (IMO it's about how extraneous the weapon design is, and how big it is compared to the rest of alt mode - Ramulus' shit doesn't pass muster). Ultimately, Classics Tankorctane's blade weapon is the newest example I own of failure here, and that's where we started, isn't it? I don't own TFA Megs, I'm told his gun is almost to this level but he's a likable figure so it's ok.

What if it's added on but holds on well, like Movie Jazz's speargun?

This I don't care for that much, it's not integrated to alt mode in any way, it's just a very large thing on top of a car, but I accept it because I don't HAVE to put it there, it's like the gun on CD Scattorshot that started this all except uglier and way bigger. I dislike Jazz's accessory more for it's design than where it goes, I'd be more ok with it if it didn't look so lame. "Call me Jazzmael. Captain Ahab and I spear cyber-whales."

A lot of the Classics and Universe stuff is pretty unstable.

Please back that claim up, I can't think of a good example to fit your claim.

There's something to be said for minimalism.

I would not agree that it applies well everywhere. TFA does a good job with minimalism because it's inherent in the concept, but here it is not.

Ideally, I prefer the simplistic designs to retain their pop and purity of form, with lots of smaller details, the chinks in the armour.

Classics Onslaught does not sport smaller details, his sculpting is a little on the chunky side and big elements surrounded by flat expanses. Honestly, I really do think his sculpt looks more like an upscaled small figure.

Not to the extent of Animated, but think Armada Megatron with his oodles of greebles. I'd certainly say ClaSlaught achieves this and then some, although I don't own him yet.

I don't really see the comparison. Armada Megs has a lot of small sculpted detail surrounding the larger elements, there's nowhere you look on him where you see a blank canvas, you see robot details where appropriate - the same cannot be said for Classics Onslaught, he's got a detail here and there, they're kinda chunky, and in between is not much. That'd be fine for a G1 Onslaught reuse, but not for a modern figure - especially a $25 one.

You still as fond of Mirage as you were back then? I still reckon he's pretty blah, despite owning the BotCon flavour too and wanting Crasher.

I still dig Mirage, but I don't have him at the top or anything.

[Dominic]

Objectively, you are right. Losing toys is a valuable lesson in resource management and such. I agree, children do need to learn those lessons.

But, I am not buying toys for kids to enjoy and learn from them. I buy toys to enjoy them myself. (Yes, I am being selfish here. So sue me.) I appreciate parts that integrate into both modes gracefully. (I would agree about Ramulus here, but think other large parts can gracefully integrate.) If me getting a gracefully engineering toy with integrating parts deprives little Jimmy of a valuable life lesson, then I guess little Jimmy needs to get his learnin' done some other way.

I was careful with my toys as a kid, that is why transforming my Ramjet to plane mode was such an ordeal. I had to carefully put the fists some place that I would not lose them. Ditto for parts like Soundwave's guns (or at least missiles) or Bluesteak's weapons. Yeah, Prime's trailer held some of this stuff. But, if I wanted to transform that........

I suppose you are right about childhood influences impacting adult collecting though. For the most part, losing a part of an SW figure or Joe was not as bad as losing a part of a TF. A few character-centric bits, like swords or specific guns, aside, losing a piece of those did not ruin the toy, as losing a piece of a TF would. Nor was there as much an art to integrating those smaller bits into the larger toys.


Dom
-quite glad Onslaught at least integrated well.

[Dominic]

Forgot to post this above.

Since the only place that happens is in your imagination, that makes you the mayor of crazyland, and since you dreamed it up, you're the town perv too. (BTW, not that I want to have a discussion about this, but putting one's junk in those holes would cut their junk, that plastic is fairly sharp.)

I never thought of that. Has this happened to anyone we know?



Dom
-thinks Megatron is just askin' for it.

[Onslaught Six]

Then you're not looking with objective eyes. His level of sculpted and painted detail is significantly lower than similarly-sized bots from almost any time since Machine Wars, there are areas where there's no detail and many areas where detail is thick and simplistic. While you appreciate the head sculpt because of who the character is, the reality is that it's among the weakest sculpts they've produced since Armada.

I've got mine right here. The only really obvious Flat Areas I see are all either vehicle kibble like his shoulders or legs, or his shoulders, which...yeah, are pretty much bare except for the rivet details and the line through the middle. But this is *okay* because 'that's what Onslaught looks like.' He's clearly homaging certain aspects of his design like the shoulders, the back of his legs, the back cannons, and his chestplate sorta which I'll get to in a sec.

Your argument is there is a similar number of wheels (G1 has 2 wheels, Classics has 6) therefore it's the same transformation? Classics Onslaught has 2 wheels at the bottom of each leg and another near the middle, G1's were all above the centerline. G1's leg slides down and then the rear half flop over to create the leg, Classics' leg angles around and down without folding over (unless you are desperate and need to count 1 wheel folding inside, which is still really thin).

My argument is that both Onslaughts have a bunch of wheels and they stick out the back of his legs in both incarnations.

No, he's talking about the removable panel itself. I sort of see what he means, it's vague because the Classics chest is angled but not far enough to really sell what he means (a vertical plate), but I can concede it may be intentional. I'd actually argue the G1 sticker takes away from the similarity to Classics.

You're right, Dom's off. I will note that even though I noticed this awesome similarity, I can't say in good conscience that Hasbro did it 'on purpose.' It's probably a coincidence.

Also, it's hilarious that you think you need to tell me the robot fists on the Starscream mold had to come off to transform, like I didn't know that or something.

Awesome sentence.

I see what you mean, though it's not like you couldn't chalk that up to a being a skylight; I don't like the rear of the truck formed by the legs, it's a bit kibbly. But better is subjective, does G1 prime have better detailing and articulation? No. Better structural integrity? No. A dynamic body design that doesn't look like a box with limbs and a head? No.

The rear of the truck on ClaPrime, or Prime's Design In General?

'Better' detailing is subjective--G1 Prime looks like a very accurate model of a truck while ClaPrime kinda looks like a toy. And the body design bit is nonsense because G1 Prime is one of my favourite toy designs ever. I still draw Prime with bits missing from his forearms.

Classics Onslaught does not sport smaller details, his sculpting is a little on the chunky side and big elements surrounded by flat expanses. Honestly, I really do think his sculpt looks more like an upscaled small figure.

Refuted earlier.

I don't really see the comparison. Armada Megs has a lot of small sculpted detail surrounding the larger elements, there's nowhere you look on him where you see a blank canvas, you see robot details where appropriate - the same cannot be said for Classics Onslaught, he's got a detail here and there, they're kinda chunky, and in between is not much. That'd be fine for a G1 Onslaught reuse, but not for a modern figure - especially a $25 one.

I've yet to see you point out any specific areas where he's undetailed.

[onslaught86]

So I got Galvatron yesterday..

Backstory:

A new mould Galvatron! What fun! We've been crying out for one for some time, or at least one not laced with Suck like EnerMegs. So, does this deliver? Hmmmmlessee.

Vehicle mode:

This time around, Galvatron's a greenish grey tank, a fairly appropriate shift from the treaded cannon mode. It rather unfortunately subscribes to the Universe Realism Syndrome and then slaps a bright orange cannon on the turret. Er.

Detail galore, and it's solid. Hatches, hooks on the front, missiles strapped to the sides, very nice. Not very Galvatronny, though, that's left to the cannon, which is reasonably so. GALV-25 is tampo'd on the sides of the turret. Turret turns, doesn't elevate, does pop off. Does have a neat little missile pod on the back, tho'. There are separate rockets sculpted on the sides towards the rear.
Vehicle mode is exceedingly bland, despite the detail. Could've really done with being a colour that's not greenish grey. Uninteresting silver paint apps do little to help, purple would've been better here. Treads are poorly painted black on the bottoms. It has four wheels strangely painted orange for no apparent reason, and doesn't really roll well on them.

Pressing the red disk, which is all too easy, fires a translucent orange missile. It's moulded as a missile instead of an energy blast or gun barrel. Think I'd have preferred the energy blast a wee bit.

It's a decent tank, I guess, but the lack of colour hurts and it's honestly nothing new or especially interesting. G1 Galvatron's space cannon has more retro charm. If they were going to slap a bright orange barrel onto it anyway, they may as well have gone all-out and made this better.

Toransuform!

This process is as insane as the character. Legs twist and fold intricately, and can come apart in two places also. It's not a process I've seen done before, though probably with good reason. Arms are asymmetrical and transform cleverly, but do not hold in place well. Backpack pegs poorly and looks like nothing, kibble panels are annoying. Head slides up from inside the chest and is a bit floppy. Note that the turrent transformation is a pain, the main gun is prone to popping off, and there's no real clearance once the turret's collapsed to become a shoulder. Some neat details that're only visible during transformation, too.

The back treads rotate for no obvious reason and have little folding feet inside them. I have yet to find a viable-looking third mode. Also take care to slide the right shoulder in just so, else it'll flop around. Can come out when sliding it to his side, it's an innovative transformation, just not very good.

Robot mode:

Well, it's definitely Galvatron. Headsculpt's surprisingly neat, and the first transforming toy to nail the three-spiked helmet just so. Face seems quite Oni-esque, I dig this. Detail is a good level. Left fist is clenched, right is open-palmed, fun deviation from the standard. I'm not fond of giving Deluxe and Basic toys huge pegholes just so they can hold standard peg weapons. It enhances play value, but it makes the toys' fists look like hollow boxes.

The robot parts are primarily a nice purple, though I really find myself wishing they were dark blue, TFTM style, or that he had Toy Galvatron colours. He's quite bland thanks to a lack of paint apps, the legs have lots of Galvatron in their design, but end up looking like piles of kibble due to the grey colour. They also form very oddly, with his shins sticking far out from his knees. Joints are mainly an ugly safety orange, with some being translucent orange - he does have functional lightpiping, a first for the new moulds in Universe.

Cannon's now mounted on his right shoulder, and the turret arm has a habit of popping off. Oddly, the cannon has more clearance when it's pointing out like the shoulder-mounted weapon it is instead of down in traditional Galvy style. The other shoulder has a flip-up hook that does nothing obvious.

Articulation is Decent. Neck, waist - Waist is very very thin for some reason, looks like it would originally have slid up or down - shoulders with the left being a ball joint. Universal hips, too-high knees, odd ball jointed ankles that don't accomplish much. Elbows are double-jointed, only the left has full motion. Both mid-thighs and biceps swivel. If he had less kibble and better legs, he'd be quite neat for the poses.

Stability is an issue here. Hips are a bit too close together and hurt the feel of the leg articulation, and being swivels, they flop about. His left shoulder is also very floppy, as are many small clip-jointed swivels. Chest is flimsy and doesn't peg to anything, making his head sink if you don't position the chestplate just so. The legs use clip joints and like to pop apart also. Really needed a bigger budget to work well.
Backpack is kinda nonsensical. He has missiles strapped to his back, the tread units rotate, and the little feet pop out, but it doesn't hold together well or look like anything.

The top of his head comes up to ClaMegs' chest. SIgh.

Overall:

Lots of small elements of neat combine into a mediocre whole. Vehicle mode is well detailed, but extremely boring and not very Galvatron. Transformation is clever and uses some new ideas, yet does not execute these well at all. Robot mode is gappy, kibbly, and falls apart. Colours are bland. This feels like a great idea for a Mega or an Ultra that just doesn't work at all at Deluxe scale, too much going on at once, not much of that working. It's great to see a new-mould Galvatron, to be sure, but I got this as a sale purchase. Avoid.

[andersonh1]

I get the impression from various reviews of Galvatron that it seems as if he was designed to be a larger size, but was produced as a deluxe. Your review adds to that impression. I'd be interested in hearing Hasbro address that, particularly since the size seems odd for the character as well.

[Dominic]

I was talking about the panel that comes off. (I consider that the robot's chest on the Onslaught mold.)

Dom
-still ain't reviewed Acid Storm.

[Onslaught Six]

Yeah, but your earlier post implied you thought I was talking about ClaSlaught's chest homaging the sticker on the chestplate itself, which it isn't.

[138 Scourge]

Fastfastfast review of Galvatron, since o86 did it already and better:

Phhh. Galvatron? Whutevah.


Nah, I kid. I actually sorta hated him when I first opened him up. I was all like "This? This is the best they could do?" He actually has kinda grown on me over the last couple weeks. The robot mode's chock full of lil' decorative details that start to add up to a kinda cool-looking robot. It just takes awhile, apparently. Maybe he just needs time for the disappointment to wear off, so he can be looked at with a "Well, he's not the ideal Galvatron, but hell, he's not horrible" mindset. Not that I recommend him, either, necessarily.