Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

[Shockwave]

Fall of Cybertron Grimlock: This is the one with epically chromed AoE Prime. I'm glad I didn't get any of the previous versions of this because this would be the one I'd want. He's not as epically chromed as his box mate, but all of gold is chromed. It does make for a good contrast and really brightens the figure from what I've seen before. The transformation is a lot simpler than I would have expected, but everything does have pegs that lock the figure together. Unfortunately, the end result still leaves a T-Rex with a huge gap in the middle of the chest. This is somewhat mitigated by the TRex legs locking into that area, but there's still a pretty big gap. It's also further mitigated by the fact that if you just put it on the desk, you really can't see it unless you specifically flip it over to look at it. The legs turning into the tail seems like it was an experiment to make the transformation different from previous Grimlocks, but it just winds up being a ginormous tail in relation to the rest of the figure. Also, the head and mouth light up which is cool. Robot mode is really the best looking mode. The beast had and neck fill in the gap in bot mode. It almost feels like this was designed bot mode first, T Rex second rather than TRex turns into robot. Colors are about as geewunny as they'll get, again, right down to the chrome. Grimlocks have really been hit and miss over the last few years. MP Grimlock would probably be the best one, looking good in both bot and beast modes, but if you can't afford that, then between Classics Grimlock, Enerlock, or this one? I'd go with this one. He's got the size and design that really looks like a large dinosaur rather than the almost raptor wannabe that is classics Grimlock. If you want FoC Grim and don't have one already, I'd definitely recommend this set.

[138 Scourge]

Man, if I run into that 2-pack, I might be sorely tempted. I've already got the FoC Grimlock, of course, but there's always room for another. It's not on of the best Grimlock molds, but I like it enough that i could maybe be interested in a shinier one.

Anyhoo.

Tailgate with Ground...buster? Pounder? I forget: I was not even sure if I wanted this thing at all. Picked it up a couple times, put it back, picked it up again. Finally I decided to hell with everything and bought it. As JT correctly pointed out, this is not a great figure. The car's roof and windows make a big shell piece on the back of the robot, the amount of white on this thing can eat up the detailing on it, and the bits of car kibble on the thighs combine with the skinny lower legs to give Tailgate some positively Leifeldian porportions. And I could see all of this in the package. And I bought this fucker anyway. Why would I do such a thing? Mainly because of the color scheme. The bright blue on this dude just really appeals to me, especially with the white. If he'd been the darker blue that the package art suggests, I'd have set this sucker down and never looked back.

He's not without his charms. The original toy had a super-simple transformation, and this dude does a whole different thing that is actually...a little tricky to figure out, even after you break down and consult the unhelpful instructions. The vehicle mode has a really cool design, like one of those re-imagined 70's muscle cars that are so popular these days, in a way. Or an 80's idea of what a Firebird of the future would look like.

Groundpounder? He's dumb as hell. Stand him up and swing his arms forward. The low end of G1 is represented with a vengeance. The weapon just looks goofy as hell, big long claw deal? Is it supposed to be some death-gripping melee weapon? It reminds me more of the reacher tools that wheelchair-bound old ladies at my work use for when they drop something on the floor. But, much like with Tailgate himself, I just plain can't hate it. I always like the idea of little robot sidekick dudes that also have vehicle and weapon modes, and even if they could do this better in Armada ten (good grief!) years ago, I'm still just happy that they're doing this.

Overall, man, I don't know what to even say. Tailgate: As far as average to kind of half-assed toys go, he's pretty good. Not a really good toy, but whatever, I like him okay and it was my ten bucks I spent on him. Yeah, this dude was $9.99 in my hood. Kansas is good for something.

Skrapnel with Reflector: Skrapnel (sigh) is pretty solid, if you like the original Insecticons. He's basically that, with bug legs that look more like bug legs than the original. The bug pincers aren't chromed, and the yellow chest plate bit isn't clear plastic. The transformation is more involved than the original, but both modes look pretty much like the original. Pretty cool robot and pretty cool creepy-looking robot stag beetle or whatever. I like this toy well enough, too, but it doesn't bring a lot new to the table as far as representations of this character go. But screw it, I didn't get the TRU Insecticon set a few years ago, so this is a nice second chance to have at least one of those dudes.

Mainly, I bought this set for Reflector. I always kind of liked that guy on the cartoon, and since there hasn't been an official release, this seemed like as good a version as we're likely to get for now. The robot mode's kind of a goof, another stand him up and be a robot thing. I was less impressed with the camera, but when I showed him to my wife and said, "Check out the camera robot. You've kind of gotta stretch your imagination to call it a camera, but that's pretty cool." she took it and pointed out most of the little details on it correspond to real-life camera details. Apparently, dude's a better representation of a camera than I thought, so that's kind of cool. Sadly, Skrapnel can't hold Reflector in camera mode without holding him upside down, but still, it's impressive that they made this thing look like a real-deal sort of camera. The rifle mode works well enough as sci-fi weapon, the packaging suggests leaving Reflector's arm down at his sides for rifle mode, but I prefer to point them the opposite direction and have the rifle have a couple pointy bits extending out from the barrel.

So, Skrapnel and Reflector: If you feel like you need a pretty good rendition of Shrapnel and want a kind of cool version of Reflector, you could do a hell of a lot worse.

Kind of middling reviews of both of these dudes. and I know I sound less impressed than I actually am. I can't objectively say they're great, but subjectively I've been enjoying the hell out of both of 'em.

[138 Scourge]

Construct-Bots Breakdown

Has anyone else bought any of these?

I think Prowl did? I bought the Prime vs Megatron set on super clearance at Target and liked them at first, but had a hard time making the customization aspect work. Like, yeah, you can swap around certain parts, but not all of 'em really work when swapped around. I thought about getting more since a lot of the early ones went on clearance at the same time, but never did. I actually couldn't sell them at the Vintage Stock store, because that manager didn't like to buy building sets, so they're still in the trunk of my car. I might go get the some of the Dinobot Construct-bots sets out now and try to build Dino-Satan from the Dinosaurs Attack card set, though. Or build a Grimlocktimus Prime, I dunno.

[JediTricks]

I usually go for fighting game starting stance. Knees bent, maybe one leg out, fists near the chest, head turned facing opponent. Tailgate takes this pose well enough although, if the feet were wider, he'd actually be able to take some actual fight poses (like kicking). Actually, he take the pose itself, but he can't stay upright on his own in that position.

I was thinking more character-appropriate. However, in terms of fighting poses, this figure seems to crouch well, and everything else at least one of his hands end up hidden behind the panel it sits on and he falls over when I try.

Construct-Bots Breakdown

Has anyone else bought any of these? This one was a gift, so I figured I'd try out the line. I've never been into Bionicle and never was one for Lego past the age of about 8, but you know. I put the review here because it seemed like the best place.

Unlike most TFs, this has an additional piece to it: Assembly! Thankfully, this wasn't very hard at all; I was able to build Breakdown entirely in about 10 minutes. It was pretty intuitive once you do the first few steps and get a feel for how these things go together. I can easily see a determined kid who's into Lego being able to do this on their own. I can also see where the skeletal parts could easily be shared by other models, which could lend a bit of standard "buck" for the line and make it easy for kids to get started on a new build without needing a lot of guidance.
If there's one problem, it's that some of the parts don't want to come out once they're put together! I put the Decepticon logo piece in his chest hole (as told by the instructions) but I didn't like it being a little in the way in vehicle mode, so I wanted to take it out and maybe put it on the vehicle hood, but I couldn't get it out of the hole I put it in, even with a screwdriver and some Excessive Force.

So, alright, how's the robot? Well, it's what these things are--it's kind of Bioncle-y and that's not necessarily a bad thing, if you like that aesthetic and think it works for TF. (Someone could make an argument that movie TFs have looked like Bionicle for a while.) Even despite that, there are still some very specific TF-loking parts like the head, fists and upper legs, which lend well to this feeling like a Transformers toy and not a different toyline altogether. His weapon's kind of lackluster; it's an axe but it has pegs and minor details that let you use it as a kind of gun or crossbow, but it's not that great either way. I would've liked to see him include a dedicated gun or even a missile launcher. The hand pegs appear to be 3mm, though, so it's not that big of a deal--and all the other holes over his body are also 3mm, so there's a plethora of stuff you can outfit him with if you're so inclined.

Transformation is surprisingly simple to learn and execute. The instructions are alright but a little cloudy on what's going on with the arms (I had to compare with box photos to figure out I had to move the hands upwards) but other than that, it was alright. Everything has a place to peg together and I love the touch with the chest opening and the head folding into it--another thing that makes it feel like a "real" TF. If I have one complaint, it's with the "hood"/windshield piece; it doesn't peg onto anything in either mode (besides the waggly black piece it's actually attached to) despite having two big pegs; probably there so you can customize it or use it with a different chassis. I only own one of these so I can't speak to how well that would work. Also, in robot mode, there's a clip at the bottom of the crotch that's right next to the peg that seems like they should interact, but they don't fit together and I can't move it close enough anyway. Also, the feet fold together to become the front bumper, and this works well enough except sometimes while doing it (or unpegging them to go to robot mode) they can come loose from the ball joints. This is less of a problem than in a "regular" TF as these things are designed to be taken apart and put back together, but it's still annoying. Other than that, I can say this is a good enough transformation sequence.

Now the vehicle mode. This is where Breakdown kind of falls short. The front half is good enough, but the back is literally a pair of wheels hanging behind his arms. I realize they couldn't really do too much with this format, but the end result makes Breakdown look like he turns into some kind of truck cab rather than a race car or dune buggy or something. His robot mode chest and crotch are straight up just hanging out on top of the vehicle. Also, this is a minor thing, but his robot mode chest details seem to imply that his vehicle mode grille unfolds to become his chest--implying fake parts even on a thing like this! However, the details are abstract enough that I could be reading into it. Either way, the vehicle mode isn't anything special.

Overall: I can only recommend this toyline if you're wanting to dump a bunch of money into getting a bunch of them. I can't wholly recommend Breakdown if the vehicle mode sucking bothers you, but if other toys in the line do this better, maybe I could recommend them. I might see if I can afford a few more of these on the cheap.

Why would this be the best place for it? Isn't this a Prime character, and in an "Other" line?

Anyway, I had modest fun with a tub of parts that Hasbro supplied last year at Comic-Con, I built an 8-limbed, 3-headed character. I also have the Megatron vs Optimus set, but I forgot about it and still haven't cracked it open yet. There are some areas where more connectors and a wider imagination on how to move parts could really make this line come alive, even with the hollow parts and skeletal system. But they switched to an all-C-clip system dumping the pegs, which I think is a mistake as those C-clips are hard to work with for some details.

As Scourge mentioned, the customization system needs work, this was one area I told Hasbro directly needed to be rethought because I kept running into the wall with the wave 1 parts they brought to the party, where limbs would lock up because a bicep panel from Ironhide would abut a forearm panel from Starscream and moving the arm would cause the part to pop off. There should be some sense of universality to these parts if they're not going to be on more specific skeletal systems, because you can't champion customization and then keep a shin armor from working as an arm panel.

[BWprowl]

Construct-Bots Breakdown

Has anyone else bought any of these?

I think Prowl did?

Yeah, I got quite a few of them. Ironhide, Starscream, Thundercracker, Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Dead End. Kinda wish I'd picked up the Prime/Megatron pack while it was ultra-cheap, but eh. I wanted to love the line, but as JT already detailed, there's a lot holding it back. Making them all based on 'stock', previous TF characters was a mistake, since it kills a lot of desire to pick up the dudes when they're just versions of dudes you likely already have. It also causes problems when trying to use them to make 'new' characters when you just have to put Ironhide's head, or Bumblebee's head on there, or whatever, though I guess you could use it to spam new Seekers. The 'transformation' system was at least liquid enough that you could BS a techy pseudo-vehicle mode for whatever you managed to Frankenstein together, and I appreciate that there's options for pegging and clipping things together solidly in most places. That said, a big roadblock I ran into is that I've simply never been a type that's creative enough to get enough mileage out of these things; I struggled with Lego blocks and I struggle with these. Best I could do was a funky Armored Core-style 4-legged hovercentaur thing, everything else was mostly just swapping around body parts and vehicle kibble, which was...okay.

At least the toys you got were fuckhuge for what you paid for and as Six pointed out, had enough articulation and transformation to still feel like 'real' Transformers, but, I just really feel they could've been more.

At least the new Dino Rider ones coming out for AoE are adorable and fun as fuck, even if the most I can do with them is switch limbs around to get new color schemes.

[JediTricks]

Had a $5 TRU rewards cert burning a hole in my pocket about to expire, so I bought...

Generations Legends Bumblebee with Blazemaster... I chose this set over Starscream, the only other Legend in the line I don't have that was at the store, because I prefer a good alt mode and transformation to be an important factor in a figure, and Starscream sacrifices those things for a good bot mode. Bumblebee's a touch smaller than Tailgate and Swerve, same size as Cosmos, so he fits in with them nicely, making for a true Minibot reunion, although his upper arms and legs are more Cyberverse-esque with their thinner designs and smaller ball joints. Adding in RTS Windcharger and DOTM Powerglide really takes it up a notch too, but then Dlx Warpath steps in and everybody is cheesed off at him for both outsizing them and hollering onomatopoeias.

Blazemaster Pros -
- nice enough chopper mode
- weapon mode looks decent, easily-held
- removable rotors make weapon/shield

Blazemaster Cons -
- very simplistic robot mode
- head doesn't really seem to be part of the bot
- only arms are movable
- arms show in vehicle mode

Bumblebee Pros -
- attractive Cybertronian vehicle mode for the most part
- scales with other minibots in line instead of wasting time oversized with Optimus
- good-looking bot mode for the most part
- very good head likeness to G1
- interesting transformation
- nice deco
- solid in alt mode, and stable in bot mode

Bumblebee Cons -
- vehicle mode has poor ground clearance, especially at the front bumper
- bot mode has pin-head and ape-arms
- knee articulation limited for no obvious reason, elbow ball-joints don't swivel without popping off, and head has no articulation at all
- car rear side windows too high, throws off visual appeal a little
- rear wheels are snap-in style, shoddy
- getting him out of the tray popped out a shoulder joint and a wheel, the arm ball joints are hard to reset because of how close they are to other stuff

Overall, Bumblebee with Blazemaster is an ok set but definitely not a home run. As a Minibot, Bumblebee returns to his roots and yet is modern enough to feel worthy. A slightly larger head or some neck articulation would have gone a longer way to carrying this figure, and there are a few finer touches that could have been caught as well. Blazemaster is a good weapon and copter, but a disappointing bot. So I'd grade this set a C+

Bumblebee/Blazemaster(?): Bumblebee is loosely based off his WFC/FOC character model, that is, the robot mode is. The vehicle seems to be based on Animated. The only compaint I have with this one is the feet in robot mode. They flip up to become the underside of the car in vehicle mode and if loose, can make Bee fall over pretty easily. Other than that, he's pretty decent. Blazemaster is... reminiscent of Armada Hot Shot's minicon (who might have been named Blazemaster as well for all I know). He's about as articulated as Roller and is the only gun bumble bee comes with. I can't help feeling that if Bee came with another smaller gun like Prime did, he'd be more functional as he can't stand while holding Blazemaster because of the feet thing. If there's one of these you need to skip on, this is the one. I'm not sorry I bought it, but I may wind up getting rid of it since I have better versions of Bumblebee already in this scale, I certainly don't need two.

The vehicle mode is a cross between Animated and WFC/FOC, that's a good catch - the rear end is very much WFC, the rake on the windshield and the front end is definitely Animated.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean about the feet in robot mode, mine are super tight at the ankle transformation joint, are these loose on yours? That would definitely have ruined the figure for me, if that was the case with earlier releases I can certainly see why so many folks gave it a weak review.

Mine can stand holding Blazemaster, but another accessory would have been nice.

[Shockwave]

Had a $5 TRU rewards cert burning a hole in my pocket about to expire, so I bought...

Generations Legends Bumblebee with Blazemaster... I chose this set over Starscream, the only other Legend in the line I don't have that was at the store, because I prefer a good alt mode and transformation to be an important factor in a figure, and Starscream sacrifices those things for a good bot mode. Bumblebee's a touch smaller than Tailgate and Swerve, same size as Cosmos, so he fits in with them nicely, making for a true Minibot reunion, although his upper arms and legs are more Cyberverse-esque with their thinner designs and smaller ball joints. Adding in RTS Windcharger and DOTM Powerglide really takes it up a notch too, but then Dlx Warpath steps in and everybody is cheesed off at him for both outsizing them and hollering onomatopoeias.

Blazemaster Pros -
- nice enough chopper mode
- weapon mode looks decent, easily-held
- removable rotors make weapon/shield

Blazemaster Cons -
- very simplistic robot mode
- head doesn't really seem to be part of the bot
- only arms are movable
- arms show in vehicle mode

Bumblebee Pros -
- attractive Cybertronian vehicle mode for the most part
- scales with other minibots in line instead of wasting time oversized with Optimus
- good-looking bot mode for the most part
- very good head likeness to G1
- interesting transformation
- nice deco
- solid in alt mode, and stable in bot mode

Bumblebee Cons -
- vehicle mode has poor ground clearance, especially at the front bumper
- bot mode has pin-head and ape-arms
- knee articulation limited for no obvious reason, elbow ball-joints don't swivel without popping off, and head has no articulation at all
- car rear side windows too high, throws off visual appeal a little
- rear wheels are snap-in style, shoddy
- getting him out of the tray popped out a shoulder joint and a wheel, the arm ball joints are hard to reset because of how close they are to other stuff

Overall, Bumblebee with Blazemaster is an ok set but definitely not a home run. As a Minibot, Bumblebee returns to his roots and yet is modern enough to feel worthy. A slightly larger head or some neck articulation would have gone a longer way to carrying this figure, and there are a few finer touches that could have been caught as well. Blazemaster is a good weapon and copter, but a disappointing bot. So I'd grade this set a C+

Bumblebee/Blazemaster(?): Bumblebee is loosely based off his WFC/FOC character model, that is, the robot mode is. The vehicle seems to be based on Animated. The only compaint I have with this one is the feet in robot mode. They flip up to become the underside of the car in vehicle mode and if loose, can make Bee fall over pretty easily. Other than that, he's pretty decent. Blazemaster is... reminiscent of Armada Hot Shot's minicon (who might have been named Blazemaster as well for all I know). He's about as articulated as Roller and is the only gun bumble bee comes with. I can't help feeling that if Bee came with another smaller gun like Prime did, he'd be more functional as he can't stand while holding Blazemaster because of the feet thing. If there's one of these you need to skip on, this is the one. I'm not sorry I bought it, but I may wind up getting rid of it since I have better versions of Bumblebee already in this scale, I certainly don't need two.

The vehicle mode is a cross between Animated and WFC/FOC, that's a good catch - the rear end is very much WFC, the rake on the windshield and the front end is definitely Animated.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean about the feet in robot mode, mine are super tight at the ankle transformation joint, are these loose on yours? That would definitely have ruined the figure for me, if that was the case with earlier releases I can certainly see why so many folks gave it a weak review.

Mine can stand holding Blazemaster, but another accessory would have been nice.

I got rid of it about a month ago (that put me at two Legends scale bumblebees and the other one was an xmas gift from my parents so this one had to go). I wrote it so I guess I must have had problems with them but I honestly don't remember. I did keep Blazemaster though since it's the only Helicopter TF I have that's in scale with Metroplex so I currently have him on the helipad.

[138 Scourge]

Generations Scoop with Holepunch and Caliburst: So, Scoop. Of all the dudes to get a new toy. But it's kind of cool that he did. I can't imagine how he was selected. Either someone at Hasbro had this dude as a kid, or they threw a dart at one of the old catalogs and it hit Scoop. Whatever the reason, I'm glad they did. It's cool to have a not particularly popular character from a not particularly popular era in franchise represented, and if Hasbro wants to add in some more toys from this era, I wouldn't get upset about a new Squeezeplay or Fangry toy.

Vehicle mode: Nothing to dislike here. Scoop's a pretty decent looking bulldozer. It's kind of a small toy since all the robot parts fold into it neatly. Since I'm not always entirely bright it took me about a week to realize that the robot's feet fold into the back half of the dozer. Once I realized that, everything tabbed in together and held itself in place much better. The shovel bit on the front has a couple points of articulation, so you get some play value added there. And there's an impressive amount of peg holes you can fit the Targetmaster partners into for a variety of different attack modes. Or you can dig out other weapons with the standard-sized peg and make this guy the war bulldozer of the apocalypse. There's some fun value in the vehicle mode, is what I'm trying to get across. Also, I find it entertaining that the robot head winds up inside the cab in vehicle mode, and you can look through the windows of the cab to see Scoop in there driving himself.

Transformation: Scoop's got the kind of transformation I really like. Simple but effective. Unfold the legs, pop the arms loose, flip out the hands and feet, pop the chest into place and fold the shovel back. Once you get it down, it takes about twenty seconds. But what you get from it is a bulldozer that doesn't look much like a robot and a robot that only has a couple bulldozer parts hanging on him, and they aren't even particularly obtrusive. The shovel folds up into the robot's back, it's visible, but not prominent. You do wind up with wheels on his limbs, but that's gonna be hard to avoid. Easy to do and fun, and you get a good-looking result either way.

Robot Mode: Scoop ends up being a fairly short robot, but a solid looking one. He's got a good level of molded detail going on, enough molded detail to look good but not enough to end up looking like a movie dude. Good amount of articulation, and a couple decent weapons you can peg into his fists or forearms or, I guess, his legs if you really want to. His color scheme certainly stands out, though: dude's a shockingly bright orange. Like, you will not have trouble losing this toy in a dark room. He's not one of those stealth bulldozers you hear about. But with the kind of pale yellow bits and blue painted details, this actually winds up as a decent looking color scheme. Or at least I think so, but my tolerance for really bright colors might be a little higher than most.

Targetmaster Dudes: I assume some of the plastic budget that might have made Scoop a bigger robot went into these guys. They actually wind up being okay looking robots, if you can ignore the gun handles stuck between their ankles. Their weapon modes look keen if you can get past both weapons having stocks that look an awful lot like a pair of legs, and the combined rifle mode is good fun, even if it's weight tends to drag Scoop's arm down when you try to pose him holding it. I always enjoy weapons that have combining or converting features, and I like robots that have smaller robot buddies, so I am a hundred percent okay with these two. Right now we get a fair amount of Targetmaster gimmicks, which is cool, but we don't get this double-Targetmaster thing a lot, so it's neat to have a toy that does this. Besides, like I said in the Hauls thread, I feel like these guys add extra value to the main toy. You don't just get one figure when you buy Scoop, you get a gang.

Overall: Scoop's bio describes him as a regular infantry kind of guy, but a regular infantry kind of guy that's really good at it. I feel like this is a good summation of the toy, as well. He's not a super-cool toy like a Sandstorm or Springer, but everything he does he ends up doing really well. If I'm going letter grade, the whole set gets a solid "B".

Oh, this thing came with a comic, too, so you could use this toy to relive Scoop's adventures talking about ancient prophecy to other characters from a jail cell. Or you could just chuck the comic in the trash and enjoy a really cool toy.

[Onslaught Six]

and if Hasbro wants to add in some more toys from this era, I wouldn't get upset about a new Squeezeplay or Fangry toy.

That's the thing that gets me, there are plenty of characters from the same era who would have been great choices, since they were featured in Masterforce and a lot of us got big on that when it finally released in the US.

[BWprowl]

I would not complain if Hasbro wanted to take the Generations pass at the entire cast of Masterforce. Frustratingly, the new Nightbeat's just a redeco of the new Bumblebee mold, so the odds of getting that decently done-up as Minerva would seem rather slim.

Good to hear you like Scoop. He seems to be getting a decent amount of good press, but I just cannot get into him, myself. He just looks so...generic.