ROTF Review Thread

[onslaught86]

It's here, and it's time to get a-reviewin'! Aaaand go.

[onslaught86]

Preliminary thoughts on Prime and Starscream:

- Leader Prime: Two steps forward, one step back. I admire the work that went into making this resemble the movie model so closely, yet it's honestly not as good a 'toy' as the first Super Prime. There is kibble everywhere, and the arms really get in the way of each other - forget stowing the swords if you want to pose him. He'll also tell you he's Optimus Prime (Niftily, with Cullen's voice) several hundred times when you transform him. I love the headsculpt and the sculpted detail, though the paintapps leave a lot to be desired, and the transformation is more annoying than intuitive. A nice display piece, but that damned arm kibble really irks me. Still, recommended.

- Starscream: Some definite improvements over the previous model, I love the torso transformation, and the Mech Alive gears are very cleverly executed. Headsculpt is, again, great. Don't like the 'tribal tattoos', they go against the jet's detailing and ruin what's otherwise a very realistic jet mode. That is, until you come to the hands sticking out the back. I could forgive that - if the prototype used for stock images and instructions didn't have further hand articulation AND extending guns. Grrrr, I HATE neutered gimmicks. Also, his legs are awful. Again, the previous version is the better 'toy', but I like Starscream a bit more than Prime. Grew on me a lot during the day.

[Onslaught Six]

You smarmy bastard, you already have them.

I suspect I'll like Prime a good deal more than you do, because the Movie Prime design has had a good two years to grow on me, and it certainly has.

[Dominic]

i wish I could post proper reviews of these. But, lack of time and energy are hobblimg me.

Ransack- Fun, fiddly. Good, and unique, alternate mode. A bit floppy for kids, and a terrible profile. Still, well wirth getting.

Knockout- Annoying transform made worse by unhelpful directions and parts popping off. Skip, unless you have a non-toy motivation.

[onslaught86]

You smarmy bastard, you already have them.

I suspect I'll like Prime a good deal more than you do, because the Movie Prime design has had a good two years to grow on me, and it certainly has.

Yeah, and I came on especially to tell you as I was opening them, and you weren't there. You fool!

As for Prime, I 'love' the Movie Prime design. My disappointment with this figure has 'nothing' to do with the movie design, the figure is fairly unstable and has awful, awful arm kibble. Several parts have already stressed due to bad clearance issues, I fear he'll break. It's a nice display piece and you can look at him and go "Hey, it's Movie Prime", but he is simply not as good a 'toy' as the first version. Vastly less durable and less fun to transform. Still, growing on me steadily, I just fear breaking him..

[Onslaught Six]

Hmm. Mind, I don't seem to be annoyed by certain issues as much as other people are these days--perhaps it's because I'm far more apathetic--but here's hoping. I suppose the balance between Good Toy and Accurate Movie Model is a bit of a sliding scale--because the movie models don't have to adhere to any kind of real physical limitations (as much as the designers try to claim otherwise), and even if they did, they wouldn't be the same physical limitations of toy plastic.

Yeah, and I came on especially to tell you as I was opening them, and you weren't there. You fool!

My laptop cable was broken! And then I was asleep! If you checked my Twitter, you'd have known that.

[onslaught86]

Picked up The Fallen yesterday.

After how average Starscream and Prime were (Like I say, they're not 'bad', they're just..average toys), I was hoping he'd not be a disappointment. Thankfully, he's seven flavours of nifty! Well-articulated, really fun xenomorph-esque aesthetic. Looks rather like Giger does Transformers. I dubbed him Robot Satan and spent a good part of the evening giggling about it.

Transformation's neat too, more involved than it looks like it'd be. The instructions are useless and omit steps, the box image is pretty bad as well, so you have to fiddle for a bit to work out where everything goes. Downside of alien vehicles is their not being as intuitive to transform, they don't have to look like anything specific.

I had two fears about Fallen - one, that his wrists wouldn't swivel. Thankfully, they do, so that's fine. The second was that he'd have the same sucky spring-loaded feet as Frosty the Megatron did in the first movie line, and those he annoyingly does have. Ah well, I can deal.

If anyone's wondering what the weird pegs and holes that seem to serve no purpose are for, his arms connect to his sides in robot mode to better emulate the movie model, but can come off to pose and such. Very cool, I do recommend.

[JediTricks]

Sideswipe (dlx). First impressions. Alt mode. Great looking car, shiny silver is cool, but tons of seam lines on this one. Needs a lot of panel massaging after transforming back to alt mode. What's with the loose tailpipes? Seems like an abandoned gimmick. Overall, pretty good, some issues.

Transformation. Instructions are complex in a bad way, thoughtless at places. Step 6 is drawn from the least usable angle, totally incomprehensible. Hides the fact that it's a lot of panel moving to and then fro and then to again. Once you've done it and remember it, it feels more organic and goes quicker, really not that complicated after just moving all the movable panels. Tailpipes can fold in but no mention of this anywhere, again seems like an abandoned gimmick.

Bot mode. Seems a little shrimpy out of context, but haven't measured him. Significant back kibble kind of dwarfs him, as does large shoulder armor/collar area vs small face, makes him seem smaller than he is. Can stand a little taller due to creative jointing. Great color integrity, but sculpted details on the face get lost in single color plastic. Lots of sculpted details overall, but not in a noisy way, obvious choices to make more panels in key areas so he looks more TF. Love the multiple connective rods on the hips and how they are articulated, very clever. Wheel feet suck, cannot stand without a lot of work, if they had separately articulated the heel it'd be perfect, but they didn't go that route. Kibble that becomes scissor swords is kinda neat. Chest can de-peg pretty easily, but doesn't seem to be a big frustration when handling, only transforming.

Articulation. Ok, not great. Head turns, shoulders are ball-jointed with interior hinge, elbows double-hinged, limited ball wrists, limited ball hips with interior hinge, limited hinge knees, slightly rotational ankles.

Mech Alive. Pointless, when you move the knees panels slide out slightly. It seems to limit the range of motion and is visually boring. Not claimed as mech alive, scissor swords, they're geared so move one blade, the corresponding blade moves too. That's cool, if simple.

Overall. Likable, some frustration but more good than bad. Seems like a little more budget would have carried this to supremacy.

- Leader Prime: Two steps forward, one step back. I admire the work that went into making this resemble the movie model so closely, yet it's honestly not as good a 'toy' as the first Super Prime. There is kibble everywhere, and the arms really get in the way of each other - forget stowing the swords if you want to pose him. He'll also tell you he's Optimus Prime (Niftily, with Cullen's voice) several hundred times when you transform him. I love the headsculpt and the sculpted detail, though the paintapps leave a lot to be desired, and the transformation is more annoying than intuitive. A nice display piece, but that damned arm kibble really irks me. Still, recommended.

What do you think about the clear windows? IMO, the gearing looks wonky, I think they'd be better smoked but somewhat see-through still. But I don't own it, I've only spent 2 days photographing it to make up my impression, and I played with the try-me version at Target on the way home today. I do get what you mean by better looking but not as good a toy. I'll probably buy it when it goes on sale, maybe I'll wait for a redesign on the swords but I doubt it.

I dubbed him Robot Satan and spent a good part of the evening giggling about it.

They revealed and put out in the display cabinet at the same time a Target-exclusive red version of Voyager The Fallen.

[onslaught86]

I messed with the girlfriend's Sideswipe yesterday. He seems okay, but not one I'll go out of my way to get. Rather wait for the larger Human Alliance rendition. Shame they retooled the head for the red Swerve repaint, as the original head's much cooler.

Absolutely love that they went to the trouble of making the fake-out hip joints rubber and the jointing behind translucent, even if translucent joints traditionally suck.

Tailpipes can fold in but no mention of this anywhere, again seems like an abandoned gimmick.

The more I look at the line, the more cost-cutting I see, nearly every toy has an abandoned 'something'. Demolishor's treads are hinged plastic panels on the stock image proto, cheaper rubber on the final thing, bah. Prime had articulated fingers, rubber wheels, different sword mechanism, an extra hinged panel on the sides of his legs, and the fists look to have retracted as well. That's a lot of budget cuts for a flagship toy in a hugely successful toyline. Hmm.

I assume Sideswipe's pipes just sorta pop up on his back as a missile rack or some such, looked kinda neat.

Funnily enough, I'd forgotten about Movie Deluxe Car syndrome, where they look far too small in package, and explode out into much larger robots. Really do want Sideways, but he looks puny on card.

What do you think about the clear windows? IMO, the gearing looks wonky, I think they'd be better smoked but somewhat see-through still.

I agree on the smoking. However, the main problem with the windows is the crappy, crappy paint apps on them. They ruin what's otherwise a near-perfect plastic rendition of the Movie Prime chest by making the doors look like nothing but big glass windows. New Prime has crappy paint apps all-round, Hasbro are using a nasty silver paint of late.

Also, New Prime's blue isn't metallic flaked, the original has more visual pop.

But I don't own it, I've only spent 2 days photographing it to make up my impression, and I played with the try-me version at Target on the way home today. I do get what you mean by better looking but not as good a toy. I'll probably buy it when it goes on sale, maybe I'll wait for a redesign on the swords but I doubt it.

I immediately thought of your review of Old Prime, and how much you praised the figure for drawing a nice parallel between the movie aesthetic and being a good toy. This one veers too far to the movie aesthetic side, and loses a lot of the original's charm. Don't like having to rearrange a million parts when I pick a robot up, he's not very solid thanks to all the panels.

They revealed and put out in the display cabinet at the same time a Target-exclusive red version of Voyager The Fallen.

Had a look at that. It's okay, do like the black and the orange crest, not so sure on the spray ops. Seems to swallow detail, would've preferred the wash like the regular version has. Was worried I'd kick myself for having pounced on the original, yet I find myself happy with it. Wish he had some kind of Egyptian staff weapon, mind, he's left a little bare without anything to hold.

[JediTricks]

Rampage (dlx). First Impressions. Alt Mode. Very nice looking bulldozer, lots of detail, a tad small. Treads don't move, bottom is fixed plastic. Wheels keep treads about a quarter inch from the ground. Dozer blade seems way too big compared to the scale of this vehicle. Blade doesn't move up, only down, parts were hinged but looks like piston gimmick was dropped. Disappointing. Yellow plastics basically work, not as nice as painted prototype but ok; 2 different yellows, one warmer than the other. Part behind blade mistransformed in package, flops about when it actually goes in under the head and stays perfectly still. Various parts move too freely, but overall stable.

Transformation (to jackhammer mode). Are you fucking kidding me? The instructions are nigh-incomprehensible, 18 steps for this mode alone, they actually had to cram words back into the instructions to explain concepts here and there, and then they do a cutaway to a section without making it clear that you're focusing in on that particular section. Parts don't always end up where they claim (blade is a big one, there are tabs which simply won't line quite up in the position of parts given). Arms and whips are left flopping about halfway through to get in the way of everything for no reason. Soft-sells a vital step clipping pistons into jackhammer, and moves the legs into that position before the piston section despite spring-loaded hips not allowing that without piston part. Smooth. All for... this??? Doesn't even mention WHY this is important to the design (I'll get to that in a moment).

Jackhammer mode. WTF? Giant backpack of kibble, arms flopping about, all so the legs can pogo on spring-loaded hips? There is as much backpack as robot it seems, it sticks WAAAAY out. Is this in the movie, giant hopping around unilegged "jackhammer" guy? I sure hope not, that'd be ridiculous AND stupid looking, based on this toy. Some sculpted detailing, but feels like token work. Needs more color here too, bland.

Tranformation (to robot mode). I read someone claim this was missing steps. Sadly, it's not, it just uses poor angles and inaccurate angles on legs which the toy can't replicate. But package picture is basically this, sad as that is.

Robot mode. Ugh, I want my money back, this sucks so bad. The torso comes apart too easily, it's gappy from the sides, there's still the big backpack but now it has halfassed legs coming out of it sticking out even farther, and the head always seems to end up looking skywards. But its true failure is the spring-loaded hips, which are LINKED so you can't move just one leg, they are stuck together forever, and they always head towards bias of straight upright which doesn't fit the design they were going for. Light-piped eyes don't work at all. Knees are weak and want to collapse all the time, the rubbery points pretending to be feet seem to agree and help toss him on his face (point feet look like an abandoned actual foot was designed there, then molded as one piece instead). The whole thing's a waste, it might have looked kinda cool if it didn't have that giant crappy backpack, wasn't so spindly from the side, and wasn't just all around mediocre. It's like someone took a half-baked Scout-class figure and tried to fudge it up to Deluxe with a silly gimmick and a big dozer blade. Lost ideas abound here.

Articulation. Mediocre. Legs are essentially unposable, doesn't matter that they have hinge-n-rotation hips and knees (although the rotation on the knees is a disaster), nor that the ridiculous rear legs have a few hinges and sideways pivoting. Arms have oddly off-center rotation shoulders with sideways hinges. Ugly screw makes it look like elbow hinge, but no. Claws hinged on either side. Head kinda rotates on Z-axis (aka puppydog "huh?") and pivots upwards even more, but can't look straight ahead, thanks. Waist turns freely and OFTEN... OH MOTHER OF GOD, I JUST GOT IT!
... Ok, so let me take back the thing about the legs not being of any use. It's just that the packaging photo is wrong, the instructions are wrong, and the figure still sucks. If you want to use the hip articulation (remember, hips are permanently linked) you just rotate the waist around and then rotate the lower legs around, the hip spring doesn't work past 90 degrees and there's friction here, so it works when the bottom is backwards; the hips also have sideways hinging. The knees are movable from straight to about 30 degrees, any farther and their springs push them back.

Transformation (back to bulldozer mode). Not all that bad, tons of stuff moving around but you get to decide most of the when, which keeps it more stable. 1 transformation and several parts are already showing stress marks.

Overall. Crummy, terrible, avoid at all costs. Interesting ideas not fully developed lead to a frustrating experience and an underwhelming robot (and laughable jackhammer). Just too ambitious for final results. Oversized dozer blade dooms this guy in many ways. Deco is boring and lacks finesse. Instructions complex in an unfun, frustrating way. Disappointment at every turn.

The more I look at the line, the more cost-cutting I see, nearly every toy has an abandoned 'something'. Demolishor's treads are hinged plastic panels on the stock image proto, cheaper rubber on the final thing, bah. Prime had articulated fingers, rubber wheels, different sword mechanism, an extra hinged panel on the sides of his legs, and the fists look to have retracted as well. That's a lot of budget cuts for a flagship toy in a hugely successful toyline. Hmm.

Yeah, this line so far reeks of cost-cutting devices cutting itself off at the knees, Hasbro has some apologizing to do, economy woes or no. As for Demolishor's hinged treads, only pics I've seen from Hasbro had rubber and it looked like dookie.

I assume Sideswipe's pipes just sorta pop up on his back as a missile rack or some such, looked kinda neat.

There's no more than 3mm of travel, that's an expense to tool separately that I don't think they'd drop in for "looked kinda neat if you used your imagination".

Funnily enough, I'd forgotten about Movie Deluxe Car syndrome, where they look far too small in package, and explode out into much larger robots. Really do want Sideways, but he looks puny on card.

In this case, it's the opposite, the car looks and is plenty big, it's the robot mode that's smaller.

I agree on the smoking. However, the main problem with the windows is the crappy, crappy paint apps on them. They ruin what's otherwise a near-perfect plastic rendition of the Movie Prime chest by making the doors look like nothing but big glass windows. New Prime has crappy paint apps all-round, Hasbro are using a nasty silver paint of late.

You just voiced a concern I had been feeling but couldn't lock down about the big window doors.

Also, New Prime's blue isn't metallic flaked, the original has more visual pop.

Yeah, the paint looks super flat to me, very plasticky and boring.

Oh man, Rampage ruined the last few hours of my night, I am so exhausted writing that first impressions while messing with him. SUCH a disappointment.