TF Views

Well...yeah. My collection is scattered around three houses right now. I forget that I own things that I don't see every day.

Generations Fall of Cybertron Shockwave

I'm so glad Hasbro got the "Shockwave" trademark back. I'm still miffed that the Alternator is "Shockblast". I've always been a sucker for a good new version of Shockwave, so after debating for some months on whether or not I wanted to spend $16 on FOC Shockwave, I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy it. It's not exactly the same continuity, but it's a decent idea of what pre-gun mode G1 Shockwave could have looked like.

Robot mode: Yeah, he comes with two hands and is packaged in bot mode since the vehicle mode isn't exactly realistic or recognizable. He looks tiny in the package, but the figure is thin with a small head, so that accounts for some of it. He looks a lot like G1 Shockwave with a few extra wings and bits, much more than the Animated or Energon versions did. The gun that comes with him is a nice touch, and it reminds me a bit of the detachable silver barrel piece on the original Shockwave in the way that it integrates into the barrel of the vehicle mode. Articulation and posability is good.

Transformation: completely non-intuitive, since the vehicle is unrecognizable. I pulled out the instructions and followed them to make sure I got it right. It's not all that complicated, and there are some tabs to make sure certain parts lock into place where they're supposed to.

Vehicle mode: I don't have the packaging in front of me, but I believe it's labeled as a Cybertronian Gun Emplacement, or something like that. It's essentially a gunship, as if G1 Shockwave's pistol was converted into a ship with wings and a few other changes. The chest window ends up on top, perhaps looking like a cockpit for a pilot. The feet end up as the front of the gun barrel, locking on to the detachable handgun, and the hands are the very back of the gunship. It's not a sleek, aerodynamic design, but it looks pretty good.

Overall: An nice little version of Shockwave. Overpriced, as deluxe Transformers tend to be these days, and I'm not sure a figure like this has wide appeal to the current kids who want recognizable real-world vehicle modes, but for someone like me who enjoys a nice new version of an old Transformers character, it's a great figure. And the packaging even includes a callback to the old tech-spec design and red grid of G1 packaging. Very nice.

Surprised you find the transformation unintuitive. Since everything's fairly limited to where it can go, I feel like just "move everything and it'll come together" is what that transformation is about, but it could be that I am familiar with what it's supposed to be. I did transform it the first time without instructions though. His altmode is listed as "Cybertronian Mobile Artillery", according to DvD.


A buddy found me Ramhorn & Eject data disk minions.

Eject is nearly all new parts, only the frame for the shoulders and hips remains the same from the Frumble mode. Eject's head is nicer and his limbs and torso have more sculpted detail, so he looks better overall. He also has decent paint. There is a single nitpick, the waist is a millimeter gappier than Frumble. Otherwise, decent but still flawed.

Ramhorn is the worst actual data disk, from the top he's a disk but from the sides he's got gaps all around, it's really not a huge deal but it's there. Transformation is awesome, he does the most of any figure in the series, his head springs forward causing his horn to extend, his tail pops out, and his legs flip out front and back. His gaps in alt mode also let him transform as he's pushed out of Blaster's chest, so he's already a rhino by the time he hits the table. Rhino mode is pretty good, it's wide and has weapons at the hips, no real articulation but he looks good. Best one by far, that's for sure.


So Blaster gets the absolute best and worst minion disks, how fair. (Ramhorn & Steeljaw, respectively.)

JediTricks wrote:Surprised you find the transformation unintuitive. Since everything's fairly limited to where it can go, I feel like just "move everything and it'll come together" is what that transformation is about, but it could be that I am familiar with what it's supposed to be. I did transform it the first time without instructions though. His altmode is listed as "Cybertronian Mobile Artillery", according to DvD.

It's entirely due to the fact that since I wasn't sure what the end result was supposed to be, I wasn't sure what to put where. The arms, for example, get twisted in a certain way to form the back of the artillery ship. It's not immediately apparent that the arms go there, or how they should be configured. The same is true of the legs, and the panels on the side that rotate. The non-familiar vehicle mode was the issue, whereas with a car or plane it's easier to guess where things go, at least for me.

I actually had some trouble with his arms, too, when I was putting mine away to give to Scourge.

andersonh1 wrote:It's entirely due to the fact that since I wasn't sure what the end result was supposed to be, I wasn't sure what to put where. The arms, for example, get twisted in a certain way to form the back of the artillery ship. It's not immediately apparent that the arms go there, or how they should be configured. The same is true of the legs, and the panels on the side that rotate. The non-familiar vehicle mode was the issue, whereas with a car or plane it's easier to guess where things go, at least for me.

I'm surprised to hear that. The arms have long tabs that lock together, the shoulders have tabs that lock together in only one way, and the back of the arms have smaller tabs which correspond to holes on the back of the torso, and the wrist folds in to show a specific symmetrical shape that corresponds to other wrist, it seems like with enough moving those parts around they should speak to where they go. The dark colors may hinder that though. The legs don't really do anything, that's probably the trickiest bit, but those panels move for some reason.

You're obviously not alone though.

Yeah, the arms all have these tabs that lock together that should make it pretty clear what's going on. Still, sometimes you can miss one or just get confused somehow. Or at least I can, anyway. What I've managed to do more than once is to try to peg the smaller things on the other side of the forearms, that look like tabs but aren't into the holes where the proper tabs are supposed to go. And like, it sounds preposterous, but it almost works. At least that's what was going on last time I transformed this toy.

Of course, now that I go fetch the figure to try that again, I can't recreate the way I was doing this wrong the other day.

138 Scourge wrote:Yeah, the arms all have these tabs that lock together that should make it pretty clear what's going on. Still, sometimes you can miss one or just get confused somehow. Or at least I can, anyway. What I've managed to do more than once is to try to peg the smaller things on the other side of the forearms, that look like tabs but aren't into the holes where the proper tabs are supposed to go. And like, it sounds preposterous, but it almost works. At least that's what was going on last time I transformed this toy.

Of course, now that I go fetch the figure to try that again, I can't recreate the way I was doing this wrong the other day.

I hear ya. I think the dark plastic definitely work to hide the obvious on Shockwave, that's for sure.

Huh, the ends of the wrists that are also the nozzle ring for the vehicle thruster? I wouldn't have thought of that, but I see what you mean I suppose. I notice I forget a lot to flip the panels on the legs around.

"Fall of Cybertron" Starscream:

I am not going to sugar coat this or engage in any fancy word play. FoC Starscream is a waste of money.

I have been trying not to let my initial impression of the figure, and the sticker shock that comes with Hasbro's new prices, colour my review of this figure. But, even if I did not pay extra for shipping (from California), I would be feeling ripped off.

Part of the problem is common to pretty much every new mould TF toys for the last 2 years or so. Hasbro has been cheaping out on the design stage while boosting the prices. Not unlike most other deluxes, Starscream feels under-sized and/or much simplified. Design elements that would acceptable on a Scout class figure are signs of lazy craftsmanship on a deluxe. Starscream is not appreciably smaller than "Generations" Thundercracker. But, the Thundercracker figure (despite being based on moulding that is nearly 7 years old) manages to compare more favourably than the more modern Starscream.

Starscream's guns have an obvious "hollow" side when they are not combined. (The combination form is cumbersome, and does not lend itself to the character at all.) Starscream's robot head is visible in vehicle mode. Starscream's robot fists are blocky, even when compared to the older Thundercracker mould's hands. The vehicle mode over-all has the vague appearance of an exceptionally well painted McDonald's toy.

To make matters worse, Starscream is one of the better figures in the "Fall of Cybertron" line. Starscream outshines Jazz (a toy so bad that I skipped it despte Jazz being one of my all time favourite characters and me actively wanting to like that toy). There is no comparison between Starscream and the Combaticons.

But, given the prices of modern deluxes, they need to deliver *more* than this toy manages to be. Starscream is going for nearly as much at retail (just shy of $20 locally) as Windcharger went for on eBay a few years back. (And, Windcharger is a better toy over-all.) If Starscream were an import or some other kind of exclusive, the price would almost be justified for this figure.

But, Starscream is a mass retail figure that feels like it should be sold at the next lowest price point, but is coming out right after a price bump.

Grade: D

The grade actually pretty steadily since I opened the box late last week. I was initially thinking an even "C", and was veering towards a C/D over the weekend. But, after some more fiddling, I just cannot go higher than a "D". For those who are not familiar with my grading system, a "D" basically works out to "buy only if you are a fan of the property specifically, even then think twice".


Dom
-just about done with TF toys.....

You’re free to dislike the figure any way you want, but I would like to press you on a few points

Dominic wrote: Part of the problem is common to pretty much every new mould TF toys for the last 2 years or so. Hasbro has been cheaping out on the design stage while boosting the prices. Not unlike most other deluxes, Starscream feels under-sized and/or much simplified. Design elements that would acceptable on a Scout class figure are signs of lazy craftsmanship on a deluxe.

Word on the street is that Hasbro has purposefully been keeping things simpler after complaining from parents/kids/others about how things were ‘too complex’ around ROTF/Universe 2.0. We might appreciate toys like that, but we are not the target audience here, kids are, and making sure they can actually transform the toys is a priority.

(The combination form is cumbersome, and does not lend itself to the character at all.)

Actually, given that the combined form is based on a weapon for the accompanying game, which Stasrcream or other characters can use, it works perfectly as a pack-in for the line.

Starscream's robot fists are blocky, even when compared to the older Thundercracker mould's hands.

Don’t know where you’re getting this from, the hands have differently-size fingers molded and an overall more dynamic shape to it than the old Classics’s Seeker’s hands. It’s worth noting here that I greatly prefer molded fists over the ‘half-open’ palms Hasbro’s been doing lately, since it looks more natural in more poses, especially combat-oriented ones. The open hands look terrible holding weapons.

The vehicle mode over-all has the vague appearance of an exceptionally well painted McDonald's toy.

Could you quantify this for me? How exactly does it have the appearance of such a toy?

Dom
-just about done with TF toys.....

Given texts we’ve exchanged on the subject, I honestly think you’re just burnt out on toys in general and are looking for an excuse to get out. And that’s fine, but I honestly don’t think toys in general are any appreciably worse than they have been over the past few years, at least the ones I’m buying aren’t.