Combiner Wars

[Shockwave]

Hey, does anyone else think Hasbro is likely to repaint Legends Blackjack into Roller to combine with CW Prime?

[Onslaught Six]

Depends on if Roller becomes/became Tarn in the comics.

[BWprowl]

Hey, does anyone else think Hasbro is likely to repaint Legends Blackjack into Roller to combine with CW Prime?

I'd say probably not, given that Blackjack...really doesn't look anything like Roller, particularly the Roller of the comics, who's a big guy.

There is the Micromaster-ish Roller that came with Legends Prime last year, which could potentially be wielded by big new CW Prime, either in singular or combined mode.

[Shockwave]

Optimus Prime: A lot was said about this figure based on pics online. The most notable complaint was that it was too bulky and too short for how bulky it is. Seeing it in person, I can't help wondering if the pics weren't distorted somehow. I have him standing on my desk right now and he looks decently enough proportioned to me.

I had also speculated that the reason there's no Leader Class Prime to go with the upcoming Leader class Megatron is that Hasbro may be intending for the merged form of Optimus to be the intended counterpart to Leader Class Megs. This is further confirmed on the packaging. I forget the exact phrasing (I don't have the box with me) but it mentioned Optimus joining with other Autobots to form Ultra Prime. Also, I put Alpha Bravo as a foot for Superion (I had to hold it up since I don't have the other limbs) and the merge form of the combiner is about the same size as a Leader Class figure.

Anyway. Review time. I'll start with bot mode since that's how he's packaged. Bot mode looks pretty standard for your average G1ish Prime. He's got the chest windows, the grill the legs arms, head are all pretty standard for what you'd expect. Articulation is the same as it was on Classics Prime and another similarity they have in common is a panel on the forearms, but it's not nearly as pronounced on this version. One interesting detail to note is that the Autobot logos on his shoulders are actually stickers. They are factory applied, but I thought it was an odd choice given that there is another tampographed sigil elsewhere on the figure. He comes with two guns with can be combined into a massive rifle (presumably to be the Ultra Prime weapon) or held separately. Another interesting detail is the engine details on the guns. Overall I'm pretty happy with this one, but I don't know that I'm going to necessarily get rid of my Classics Prime and use this as it's replacement. The differences between the two are largely stylized, since Classics Prime has a more stylized look to him while CW Prime has a look that's more reminiscent of G1 toy Prime. The head is less exaggerated and the body is less angular (for lack of a better description). It's almost like trying to compare the Cab of Powermaster Prime with G1 Prime.

Truck mode. Transformation is different. The chest windows are faux vehicle parts, the front of the cab is entirely made of the arms which cover the chest. the legs fold up in the back and when the guns are placed in the holes it looks like the engine for the vehicle mode. There is also a hole for a trailer, maybe there will be something later to attach to Prime (in fact, I'm wondering if Ultra Magnus won't turn out to just be Prime's trailer, but designed to be an armor up grade for the Ultra Prime. In fact, that might be why the merged form is called Ultra Prime. Hm. Anyway. the torso mode, for me is the weakest mode, but I don't know if that's just because I had nothing to merge it with or if it really is as bad as I might think. The chest for it is on Prime's back and it opens up to reveal the head for UP. Which is hollow and only held on by a tiny ball joint at the back of the head. It also has two grey plastic pylons on the sides of the head which do not seem to want to stay in one position. I dunno, I think I'll have to review this one once the limbs come in and I have more to work with.

Overall Prime is not a bad figure, but he's not exactly great either. I would only recommend him if you A) Don't already have Classics Prime, B) are a combiner completist, or C) want to have a G1ish Prime to go along with the upcoming Leader Megatron. Otherwise, if you're just looking for a G1ish Prime and that's it, there are probably better options.

Silverbolt: Again, I'll start with bot mode since that's how he's packaged. Bot mode is pretty much what you would expect from a G1 styled Silverbolt. All of the design cues are there, the head in particular looks like it was ripped straight from the cartoon, complete with smiley face. Actually, it's kind of nice to see a TF without resting bitchface. Paint is nice where applied, most of the colors are molded plastic, which means less wear over time, but doesn't take away from the detail. His gun is HUGE but that's largely because it's also Superion's gun. It would have been nice if they had made it separate at a point where it would be smaller and more size appropriate to Silverbolt's individual bot mode. It does separate, but the winged portion is what comes off, leaving a really long gun.

Jet mode is... ok. From the top, it looks fine, but it is a robot kibbly mess underneath, almost to the point where I actually started to wonder how on Earth Silverbolt would even be remotely aerodynamic enough to fly. It's almost like they just used the wings to cover up the bot mode parts as seen from the top as if to say "pay no attention to the robot underneath". Not very disguisey for something that flies and would mostly be seen from below. Otherwise, it's not bad and certainly not any worse than any other version of Silverbolt but if robot kibble under a jet isn't your thing then you might not like this one.

Superion mode: Now this is where the surprises started. First off it doesn't transform the way you would expect, the legs actually make the torso of Superion and the head folds out of SB's chest. The yellow spikes on his head are made of rubber and on mine they were stuck in a bent back position. At first I thought it was lacking a piece to cover the midrif thus exposing the hollow chest, but part of Silverbolt's chest actually flips over to cover that, making it look solid. SB's arms actually become Superion's upper legs so the whole thing basically flips upside down to merge. Actually looks pretty good in Superion mode and I do look forward to finally merging the whole thing once I get the rest of the limbs. Overall, I would definitely recommend Silverbolt and Superion as well. The combiner ports are similar to but different from the originals, the peg on the limbs slides into place on the center bot and locks into place and the design of the limbs does provide for much more posability than their G1 counterparts. And the combination of four deluxes and a voyager makes them feel like they are appropriately large compared to the other figures. It's essentially what we've been asking for all these years.

[Shockwave]

Depends on if Roller becomes/became Tarn in the comics.

Hey, does anyone else think Hasbro is likely to repaint Legends Blackjack into Roller to combine with CW Prime?

I'd say probably not, given that Blackjack...really doesn't look anything like Roller, particularly the Roller of the comics, who's a big guy.

Nah, I was referring to G1 mini vehicle thing Roller, not IDW Roller. Given that Blackjack is essentially serving as Motormaster's version of Roller (G1 Motormaster had a similar car thing in his trailer) as the chest piece for Menasor, I was just theorizing that Roller for Optimus would be the obvious idea for a repaint.

There is the Micromaster-ish Roller that came with Legends Prime last year, which could potentially be wielded by big new CW Prime, either in singular or combined mode.

I have both, I'll try it when I get home.

[BWprowl]

Looking at TFW's gallery of CW Prime, I do have to admit that it looks a lot better than initial pictures made it out to be. It does even look acceptably Ginrai-ish. Fuck, I might actually want to get one now.

[Sparky Prime]

TFW2005 has the first image of Combiner Wars Titan Class Devastator from the Nuremberg Toy Fair.

Got to say, I'm really impressed by the overall look of the figure, even though I kinda get the feeling it might be glued together like the first images we saw of Superion and Menasor. Also wish there was another figure in the shot to get a feel for the scale of this figure, but I'm sure we'll be seeing more of this figure soon enough.

[BWprowl]

Oh neat, a leak. And here I was honestly expecting we'd have to wait for 'Murrica's Toy Fair to see it.

Looks good. Scrapper's there, confirmed. I was startin' to sweat on that one. Like the way the treads integrate with the main body and the rest of the arms get articulation. Finger articulation, which is nice (*almost* looks like he might have individual finger joints). Chestwing looks great.

All in all, a promising first look. Hopefully we get clearer shots of the whole thing, plus the individual toys, in a bit here!

[andersonh1]

Are they selling Devastator as individual figures, or just as a set? Or do we know yet?

[BWprowl]

Are they selling Devastator as individual figures, or just as a set? Or do we know yet?

Gift set, at the Titan (Metroplex) price-point. I like it, since it means they can fudge the sizes of the individual figures to work better overall, rather than being bound by the constraints of specific size-classes. You can already see there that Scavenger and Bonecrusher are going to be somewhat smaller than the others, which lets them work better at forming the chest-sides and arms.

The size might make it harder to find at retail (I know not a lot of places went in for Metroplex, I never saw one on shelves), but I've all but resigned myself to just ordering all of CW from online retailers, so I'll have no problem doing the same with this.