Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

[Onslaught Six]

Well, yeah, I could buy stuff online if I wanted to be 'a cheater.'

[Dominic]

How is it cheating ot buy toys on-line?

The point is getting the toys, not the looking for the toys.

Dom
-happy to cheat if that is what it takes.

[Onslaught Six]

It's sarcastic, of course--buy whatever you want by whatever means you most prefer--but it's still this oddball core "rule" set up. I guess it's because I actually couldn't until this year, but I just don't like buying stuff online, somehow. It's got an entirely different feel of that thrill-of-the-hunt go-out-and-get-'em feel that I've associated so much with New Toys. Not that Oh Hey, Box wouldn't also provide a similar thrill, but you know how it is.

Plus, there's that whole what-if-I-order-it-and-then-they-show-up-before-it-comes-in situation. Do I pass on the toy in the store? Do I buy it, then return the one I bought in the mail with this receipt? Or do I just stop looking for toys when I know I have them coming? It's a conundrum, man!

[Dominic]

I got with the "stop looking for it" option. I am not looking for new TFU figures. If I find them before they arrive in the mail, and I think I may need multiples, (for conversions or such), then I snag them. But, I stop looking for certain toys when I order them.

Still, finding something in the store that I know is coming is kind of fun as well. (I did not have to carry that last non-"Premium" wave of movie Voyagers home because the Post Office was doin' it for me. Hah!)


Dom

[andersonh1]

Finally getting around to reviewing this guy.

Universe Ironhide

Vehicle Mode: A red SUV with silver trim. My first impression of this from online pictures a few months ago was "that looks bad". And yes, it does indeed look bad. I've never seen a Transformer with so many obvious gaps and seams in alt mode. They are there thanks to a pretty clever transformation, which I'll get to in a moment, but there's no denying that they hurt the look of the vehicle quite a bit.

The paint is also poor or lacking. The rear bumper and the brushguard on the front are raw, unpainted grey plastic. The tires are just plain black plastic, no paint on the rims at all. The section that comprises the windshield and the center of the hood, along with the grille on the front of the SUV are red paint on clear plastic that is clearly matte, which contrasts with the more shiny plastic that the rest of the vehicle is made from. But the worst offender is the bright robin's egg blue that covers the sunroof and half of the side windows. Not only is the color poorly chosen, but it has the unfortunate side effect of accentuating all the gaps in the plastic of the windows. It looks awful.

The vehicle mode is almost a write-off. I hate to say that. I really want to like all aspects of the figure, but I can't. I'm adding some paint to see if I can improve it somewhat.

I could rationalize it by saying the gaps are a homage to the gaps in the vehicle mode of the original G1 figure... or maybe not.

Transformation: Here's where Ironhide starts to improve. This is a nice, complicated bit of engineering that I found to be pretty impressive. The good news is that it gives us an excellent rendition of Ironhide. The bad news is that it ruined the SUV.

Roughly speaking, the hood, brushguard and windshield end up as a backpack, the two remaining halves of the hood and fenders unfold into the legs, the windows along the side of the SUV become the arms, and the rear window of the car becomes the robot chest, which is a creative stop that I can't recall having seen before. There are a few other steps that involve folding various bits of the car here and there. Folding up the rear bumper pushes up a panel that fills the chest window, revealing "circuitry" patterns and an Autobot symbol.

Robot Mode: This mode looks great. The bot looks thick and solid, and though it has a number of differences from the animation model, that's clearly the look the designers were going for. The head is a good match for the animated one, though the light blue face is an odd choice. There is light piping in the eyes as far as I can tell, but the panel behind the head prevents it from working very well. The hands are open fingered, rather than fists.

Articulation is fairly good, though the arms have all sorts of odd joints and swivels at odd angles, leading to some difficulty in posing the arms. The head and waist turn.

The weapon fits over the hand or clips loosely on the wrist with the hand folded back. There's a short blade on one side and a six-barrelled gun on the other. Nice reference to Ironhide's retractable hand.

Overall: Disappointing, primarily due to the way the diagonal panel lines ruin the SUV. The transformation is clever and gives us an excellent version of Ironhide, but at the cost of a good-looking alt mode. Would I recommend this figure? If you're a fan of the character, sure. If you're a fan of complex transformations and engineering, you'll be impressed. If you look for a solid vehicle mode, you're going to want to skip Ironhide. I hate that I can't give this new version of one of my favorite G1 characters an enthusiastic review, but I honestly can't. This may be a case where a little less creativity would have resulted in a better figure.

[onslaught86]

Thankfully, I'm much more into the engineering side of things than the vehicle mode, so I do enjoy Ironhide. I prefer to leave the wheels on his hips, though, the backpack just doesn't seem right. Parts lever against each other in ways they should not.

[Dominic]

I was planning to review comics today. But, between the fact I am in a good mood, (and would rather not ruin it), but am rather pressed for time, (and want to double my writing mileage by cross-posting here, at CA, and TFV), I will be posting about the new wave of "Transformers Universe" (TFU) toys. (I read some hilariously bad comics over the break, and there were also some good ones. Not going to review all of them, but "Dawn of the Dreadforce" had me laughing out loud, and "Final Crisis: Secret Files" had me whincing. If not for "All Hail Megatron" #6 and a raondom issue of Marvel's "What If?" series, I would call the break a wash.)

It is a sign of how much I like TFU that I can recall what wave is shipping, partly because the toys are that distinctive, and partly because I am consistently checking shipping lists and schedules. Wave 4 is the "thickest" of the line, consisting of 4 toys, (one recolor and 3 newly tooled figures). Wave 4 breaks with the patterns of the line in two ways. This is the first wave where the best figure in the wave is the hardest to get, and the first where my favorite (when there are two factions) has been a Decepticon. (For whatever reason, TFU Decepticons have been lackluster.)


TFU Wave 4:
Cheetor (cheetah)
Starscream (F15)
Hound (Jeep) w/ Ravage (tape/panther)
Cyclonus (retro-futuristic plane) w/Nightstick (gun)

Starscream:
This is the runt of the litter, if only because it is the 3rd mass-release of the mold in the US, (on top of a store exclusive and the infamous BotCon 2007 Thundercracker figure), and the 2nd US iteration of the character in this mold. (Never mind all those Japanese toys.) I like this mold. I really do. And, the TFU Starscream is probably the best use of it. But, it is difficult to get excited about a same character recolor. I am will not go so far as to say this is the best Starscream ever, (there are a couple of Japanese figures that can lay claim to that), but there is a definite case for this being the best Starscream released in the US.

Based on what I have seen, (I do not have one yet, but have examined one in the package), this iteration of the mold has the problems that the Japanese Starscream has, namely the mono-chrome nose-cone on the jet. Besides being bland, it is inconsistent with the character's traditional look. (As the Japanese Thundercracker and Skywarp have a similar problem, I assume this is due to how the molding trays are designed. I have not examined my Acid-Storm or Ramjet figures closely enough to be certain of this though.) I do not know if the mold rot evident on Thundercracker is a problem here, and if so, how consistently. (As I plan to use these for customizing, it is a good bet I will have a good idea of how well the mold has held up.) Note: I am not planning to write a full review of the Japanese Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp figures unless somebody specifically wants to know about them.
Grade: B Worth getting, even on the after-market, especially if you do not have any other iterations of the mold. The character bio on the back, like many for the line, is exceptionally well written, showing real insight into a


Cheetor:
Despite being a new mold sharing a wave with a recolor, this one is the dud of the wave. I walked away from this once while on a toy hunt with a buddy of mine, and again from a scalper. I skipped pre-ordering this from digitial-toys, and have no regrets. The most irksome thing about Cheetor is that the toy is not a net improvement over the original. On some points, such as the beast-mode proportions, it is an improvement. But, the old toy set the bar pretty low on this front. In broad terms, the robot mode has the same problems as the old toy, though in different places.

Like most of the early "Beast"-era toys, the origional Cheetor toy's biggest flaw was that it was not cartoon accurate, a problem made more apparent by the fact that the later "Beast Wars", if not "Beast Machines", toys were consistent with the animation models. While I am not opposed to changing character models over time, as evidenced by the fact I went gaga for TFU Sunstreaker, it would have been nice to get a cartoon accurate toy of Cheetor. The fact that the robot has some of the same proportion and kibble issues as the original, (as well as some wholly inaccurate weapons), puts Cheetor in the "wait for a sale", or even the "skip", category.

Cheetor does, at least so far, have the disctinction of being the first TFU toy that I want to skip, but is still common. Wave 1's Octane/Tankor figure is manifestly bad. I fiddled with a friend's, and that is fine. But, none of the possible results of that fiddling are really worth it. It was something of a game while toy-hunting to play "Count the Tankors". Oddly, the toy was the hardest one to find, while toys like Prowl and Sunstreaker seemed to hang around. Wave 2's lackluster Galvatron was similarly scarce, and that was similarly fine with me. Wave 3's Ironhide, despite being the only new-mold toy was, again, both scarce and easy to skip, despite sharing a case with (the excellent) Sideswipe. Cheetor, while easy to skip, will be hard to ignore.
Grade: D I cannot even see prospects for customizing with this thing. .


Hound and Ravage: While Starscream fails to wow me by virtue of being yet another toy from an arguably over-used mold, Hound fails to wow through no real flaw in the toy. This is not a bad toy by any stretch. There is even some customizing potential for both Hound and the included Ravage figure. But, while Hound lacks the obvious flaws of Tankor/Octane or Ironhide, it lacks the brilliance of design that Sunstreaker enjoys. It is a more even toy than Prowl, having fewer flaws and a less ambitious design. There are some nice touches, such as the articulated feet, and no real flaws. But, there is nothing about Hound that is especially brilliant or ambitious. The shift from robot to jeep flows nicely, and the results of either shift are pleasing, but there is no step that just begs to be repeated.

One of the things about this toy that stirred up much buzz when early pictures surfaced is the inclusion of a Ravage figure. While it has been common enough for "Transformers" figures, especially at this price-point, to include smaller figures, it is rare for those smaller figures to not have some direct tie to the larger one. While their is precedent in the old cartoon and comics for Hound to be packaged with Ravage, and the character profile outlines a scenario pitting the scout/cartographer (Hound) against the sneaky spy guy (Ravage), there is no inherent need for Ravage to be packaged with Hound. (The character profile does an admirable job of setting up the rivalry without playing it up as "teh battel of teh senturee".) I really cannot give points for Ravage's cassette form fitting into the old Soundwave figure.

Despite the thought put into justifying the inclusion of the Ravage figure, the toy itself is lacking. Truth be told, the original figure, (based on a mold that is older than I am), has more articulation than this one. In practical terms, Ravage can.....just stand there. He can look up. He can look down. And, unless you want him to be presenting, that is about it. For the amount of moving parts this toy has, it is incredibly boring to fiddle with. On the other hand, it is a small part of the set.
Grade: B It will not wow you, but it will not repel you.


Cyclonus and Nightstick:
Generally speaking, TFU Decepticons have been lacking. (It is telling that my favorite Decepticon in this line, up until now, was a recolor of a toy from a few years previous.) Besides being the best toy of Wave 4, Cyclonus is a strong offering for the line. While massively out of scale, Cyclonus is a fine toy. Aside from the legs, (turning into the aft section of the plane), which could have been engineered much better, this toy does what the original should have done 20 years ago. Most transformers have a few nice touches. Legs aside, Cyclonus is a bundle of them. There is little that is truly innovative about the design, but the toy uses conventional mechanics well.

All told, my biggest complaint about Cyclonus is that there is no recolor potential, (hardly anything to really complain about). There are a few obscure color schemes, from convention comics or old cartoons, but nothing that is especially worth doing. There are also a few "parody" color schemes, but again, the question of "why bother" comes up. It is enough to finally have a Cyclonus that looks good in both plane and 'bot forms.

Much like Cyclonus, Nightstick is a solid updating of an old toy that succeeds largely on the basis of doing what the original could, and should, have done 20+ years ago. Neither Nightstick nor Cyclonus incorporates much, if anything, that was not possible in the 80s. But, the designers of the current toys clearly put in more effort than the designers of yesteryear.
Grade: A Worth buying on the after-market.



Dom
-catching up and cutting back.

[andersonh1]

I agree with you about Cheetor. If I do buy it at some point, it will be one to leave unopened and enjoyed just for the novelty of having a Beast Wars update. I haven't found Cyclonus yet, though the wave is just starting to show up in my area, so it's only a matter of time. Hound is a nice, solid update of the original with a more accurate face than the Alternators version had, and Ravage is a nice bonus figure. Who ever thought we'd get another cassette-former?

Starscream's white nosecone is meant to emulate the cartoon color scheme. If I remember correctly, there was no blue nose on the animation model, and that seems to be what the designers were aiming for. Starscream may be a same-character recolor, but for someone like me who grew up watching the G1 series, the Universe version captures the essence of the character better than the Classics version did.

[Dominic]

I just read over DvD's reviews of these guys.

Cheetor is fast sinking into the "so bad I have to fiddle" category. (Mind you, I tend to not buy stuff in this category, as toys are expensive and take up space. And, lambasting a toy does not deliver the same thrill that lambasting a comic does.)

I tend to refer to the comics, which of course tended to be a bit closer to the old toys, so Starscream's nose irks me. And, according to DvD's review, SS has some mold-rot issues. I might wind up stocking up on Acid Storms after all.


My issues with Hound may well owe much to the fact that Sunstreaker and Prowl set the bar so high. The more I fiddle with that mold, the more it grows on me.


Dom
-might use that SS from Digital-toys to make SG Thundercracker.

[donosaur]

I probably will pick up Starscream if I see him, seeing as the only version I have of that mold is actually the Ramjet remold. I, for one, am really happy about the chance to pick this guy up.