Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

[andersonh1]

When I was a kid, I always wanted the individual Combiner component robots to be bigger than they were. Superion or Menasor were supposed to be these massive, powerful weapons of destruction, but they were only a little bit bigger than bots like Optimus Prime or Soundwave. Menasor in particular seemed fairly small to me. So I appreciate that after all these years we're finally getting deluxe-sized combiner components and bigger combiners.

[Shockwave]

I always thought they should be bigger too. Predaking was about the right size, with each bot being about the size of Optimus and Megatron and the new ones do a pretty good job of this too. My main problem has been their depiction in fiction. They're almost always shown as being larger than they really should be. Especially in both the Dreamwave series and now with Combiner Wars from IDW. The panel with Devastator stepping on Ironhide is a perfect example. Ironhide's chest should not be the same size as the headlight on a cement mixer. And that's the problem. I can accept things being out of scale but only to a point but this is usually so way off that it just completely takes me out of the narrative. About the only way this works is with the Constructicons and even then it only works if their alt modes are specifically the Mega Movers seen on the Discovery channel.

[JediTricks]

Shockwave just nailed my quibble with CW Superion and Menasor, they're not small toys anymore but the fiction portrays them as absolutely towering over everybody else, true titans, and that's just not the case compared to other figures in the Generations line. So when I review them, I try to think of them not as expressions of the fiction, but as toys in their own right.

[Shockwave]

Shockwave just nailed my quibble with CW Superion and Menasor, they're not small toys anymore but the fiction portrays them as absolutely towering over everybody else, true titans, and that's just not the case compared to other figures in the Generations line. So when I review them, I try to think of them not as expressions of the fiction, but as toys in their own right.

Indeed and for citybots, it's in reverse. The fiction gets the size right while the toys are too small. Titan class Metroplex and G1 Fortress Maximus are the only two citybots whose toys actually were big enough to feel like a proper base/city for the Transformers toys. Especially if you display them together.

[JediTricks]

Official review of Drag Strip:

http://www.tfviews.com/news/toysandcollectibles/2250

I honestly liked this figure more than the previews and even individual issues would suggest, it's a little greater than the sum of its parts.

Indeed and for citybots, it's in reverse. The fiction gets the size right while the toys are too small. Titan class Metroplex and G1 Fortress Maximus are the only two citybots whose toys actually were big enough to feel like a proper base/city for the Transformers toys. Especially if you display them together.

Yeah, but of course, that size is unrealistic for a toy line of this type, and Generations Metroplex is dangerously unstable in the legs - here in earthquake country I cannot display him in bot mode not just due to his enormous size but because he collapses down on me far too easily (I didn't even finish the stickers due to how often he'd drop painfully onto my hands and arms). I'm glad they did Metroplex, but I don't think I'd want to see another attempt at something like this, it's almost not fun, and the actual city mode is compromised to attempt to keep him upright.

[Shockwave]

Official review of Drag Strip:

http://www.tfviews.com/news/toysandcollectibles/2250

I honestly liked this figure more than the previews and even individual issues would suggest, it's a little greater than the sum of its parts.

Indeed and for citybots, it's in reverse. The fiction gets the size right while the toys are too small. Titan class Metroplex and G1 Fortress Maximus are the only two citybots whose toys actually were big enough to feel like a proper base/city for the Transformers toys. Especially if you display them together.

Yeah, but of course, that size is unrealistic for a toy line of this type, and Generations Metroplex is dangerously unstable in the legs - here in earthquake country I cannot display him in bot mode not just due to his enormous size but because he collapses down on me far too easily (I didn't even finish the stickers due to how often he'd drop painfully onto my hands and arms). I'm glad they did Metroplex, but I don't think I'd want to see another attempt at something like this, it's almost not fun, and the actual city mode is compromised to attempt to keep him upright.

Well let's face it, ANY building is going to have problems in earthquake country . Joking aside, I don't have any of those problems with mine, maybe you got a bad copy? Like I did with Motormaster? I got all the stickers on mine without incident. More or less. One of the cockpit/main bridge window stickers fell into his chest so I had to take it apart to fish it out, but it's all fine now.

But I get what you are saying about citybots and of course you're right. The real obstacle with that is that a lot of retailers these days don't want to carry items that take up that much shelf space and cost that much. Which makes them a huge risk for Hasbro and Takara. Especially if they want the city mode to be big enough for the regular toys to interact with. Y'know, I kinda can't help thinking maybe a build a figure approach might work better for something like this.

[andersonh1]

Combiner Wars Skydive
I don't know how many of you own or have owned the original Aerialbots. I have one of the old set, and that's it, but the four smaller jets all had the same transformation scheme. The jet nose and tail folded up into a backpack, the legs extended down, and the arms pulled out from the side of the plane. So you were left with a plane that had a robot torso as an underside. It didn't disguise the robot very well, but it was an adequate basic Transformer. Combiner Wars Skydive is a slightly larger and more detailed and involved version of the same basic scheme with some tweaks. It speaks well of the engineering of the older toys that the updated versions have gone with the same basic transformation and combination methods. It's a design that works, so I'm glad they revisited it.

So Skydive's robot mode has some good articulation and looks like the character. Transformation involves some panels and folding up of the legs inside the back of the plane rather than extension, but that should be more durable in the long run. We still get a plane with a robot torso underneath, but that's often a Transformers staple, and it feels old-school and appropriate for an updated figure, so it doesn't bother me. And I'm glad to have a deluxe sized Combiner limb for a larger combined form, when I get around to buying the rest of the set. Now that I have one limb, you know I need to get the rest of them.

[JediTricks]

Official review of CW Firefly:

http://www.tfviews.com/news/toysandcollectibles/2268

He's the low man on the Superion totem pole, I guess. I don't hate him, but I find he's just a little more underwhelming than the rest.

Well let's face it, ANY building is going to have problems in earthquake country . Joking aside, I don't have any of those problems with mine, maybe you got a bad copy? Like I did with Motormaster? I got all the stickers on mine without incident. More or less. One of the cockpit/main bridge window stickers fell into his chest so I had to take it apart to fish it out, but it's all fine now.

Hiyo!

It's possible I got a bad copy, it also had a missing tip to one of the main cannons, but I assumed it was just the way this figure was - heavy upper body is going to carry a lot of weight on those hips. He can stand on his own, but when fiddling with him while standing he often will fold up.

Ugh, your story about that chest window sticker reminds me of why I hate stickers so much.

But I get what you are saying about citybots and of course you're right. The real obstacle with that is that a lot of retailers these days don't want to carry items that take up that much shelf space and cost that much. Which makes them a huge risk for Hasbro and Takara. Especially if they want the city mode to be big enough for the regular toys to interact with. Y'know, I kinda can't help thinking maybe a build a figure approach might work better for something like this.

While I might be curious to see what Hasbro does with Trypticon, I honestly don't think every special figure has to have an opposite. I dunno how they talked any retailers into Metroplex in the first place, but it seems to have worked out and here we are 2 years later looking at a repeat with Devastator.

Combiner Wars Skydive
I don't know how many of you own or have owned the original Aerialbots. I have one of the old set, and that's it, but the four smaller jets all had the same transformation scheme. The jet nose and tail folded up into a backpack, the legs extended down, and the arms pulled out from the side of the plane. So you were left with a plane that had a robot torso as an underside. It didn't disguise the robot very well, but it was an adequate basic Transformer. Combiner Wars Skydive is a slightly larger and more detailed and involved version of the same basic scheme with some tweaks. It speaks well of the engineering of the older toys that the updated versions have gone with the same basic transformation and combination methods. It's a design that works, so I'm glad they revisited it.

So Skydive's robot mode has some good articulation and looks like the character. Transformation involves some panels and folding up of the legs inside the back of the plane rather than extension, but that should be more durable in the long run. We still get a plane with a robot torso underneath, but that's often a Transformers staple, and it feels old-school and appropriate for an updated figure, so it doesn't bother me. And I'm glad to have a deluxe sized Combiner limb for a larger combined form, when I get around to buying the rest of the set. Now that I have one limb, you know I need to get the rest of them.

I had the Aerialbots very briefly as a kid, got in a trade, and a day later traded them away for something else. What I liked about the original Aerialbots over these CW ones are how the arms actually tuck into the body for alt mode and limb modes, and how the heads were the combiner plugs. I can appreciate that they couldn't do the head as a combiner joint thing, but I feel like the arms are a miss considering they look so obvious in alt mode for these guys, and they have to be dumped clunkily onto the back in arm mode. Compared to these CW figures, the G1 jets had less undercarriage robot junk, but what can ya do.

I'm planning on doing Skydive last in my reviews of the individual Aerialbots, not because he's worst or best, but there's a rhythm to how they look in robot mode that kinda spoke to me.

[JediTricks]

Dangit! It took me an hour to review a mold I've already reviewed before?

I mean, The Official Review of Dead End is up, if anybody cares:

http://www.tfviews.com/news/toysandcollectibles/2287

The last figure I got of the whole shebang is one of my favorites. The sculpt and deco go very well together. And surprisingly, even though my sample had several defect issues, they weren't insurmountable to enjoying the figure -- take that, ya Nihilist bot!

[andersonh1]

A few comparison pics:

edit: Reduced the size on those. They were a bit large!

Combiner Wars Powerglide and original:


Combiner Wars Skydive and G1 Air Raid (comparison for size and detail since Air Raid is the only Aerialbot I have):