TF Views

I'm gonna stick with the last Generations Springer, I like that mold quite a bit despite being 6 years old, and I don't like the tiny cockpit on the new one.

TFW has pictures of Impactor and Mirage.

https://news.tfw2005.com/2019/07/06/sie ... ges-390821

https://news.tfw2005.com/2019/07/26/war ... ges-392936


It looks like Hasbro was originally going to sell Impactor as a Decepticon. (Because, it makes perfect sense to make a toy of an obscure character that people want for specific reasons, and then add details to that deviate significantly from what fans of that obscure character actually wanted.)

Hasbro has reportedly backed off from that (exceptionally stupid) idea.

Ironically, TakaraTomy has reportedly doubled down. The Japanese release of Impactor will have a retooled head, making the figure look even more like the IDW variant of the character. But, TakaraTomy is keeping the Decepticon sigil for the sake of some fanfic-grade lore they came up with.


It is good to know that I will not want the Japanese release.

The retooled head and Decepticon sigil are from a 3-pack we're getting here.

Why? Because Hasbro's nuts.

Is that a store exclusive? (I could have sworn it was Japanese.)

Either way, the retooled head is wasted.

Dominic wrote:Is that a store exclusive? (I could have sworn it was Japanese.)

Eitherbway, the retooled head is wasted.

US and Canada it's an Amazon exclusive https://smile.amazon.com/Transformers-G ... B07PZY481L

Unfortunately, it's a set I have no interest in whatsoever for the other 2 pieces, and can't imagine there's any strong interest for those pieces.

I would be more likely to buy that set for Mirage and the Powerdasher than I would for a badly done Impactor. (Impactor is one of those character that I only want a good figure of.)

Siege Impactor

Amazon delivered Impactor unexpectedly yesterday. This is an interesting figure, it's not perfect but it's not bad. The big thing that turned me around on preordering this was the rotating turret, which works in the same way a lot of Transformers tanks do: too far back for a tank, using the waist articulation. That's fine by me in this case as this figure is doing a lot. Mine has a stuck wheel on the front tread, but none of the wheels work particularly well so I'm not going to sweat it.

The thing I liked the least in photos was how out of scale the thing was, a tiny tank to a massive turret. That's still true, even the main gun is dwarfed by the turret itself, but taking the harpoon weapon off the top cannon helped it a bit as that was just too many things stacked on top of each other. You can plug it into the back of the turret like a smokestack, but attaching to the side of the tank body helps add a little much-needed width. The tank doesn't have enough impact, if you'll pardon the usage, to justify this character's intensity, it's a little too slight, the main cannon a bit too slim, the tank a touch too narrow.

Transformation is novel but has a few uncomfortable elements, leg parts that go floppy until they're fully transformed, the chest plate feels like it's gonna snap off, and the fist stop is more of a suggestion.

Robot mode is a pretty decent Impactor, gets the ideas across. Aside from the hollow lower legs and waist, it's a pretty big, bulky figure with some decent articulation. I'm not really sure how wise it was to have all the weight distributed down into the outside panel of each leg, pinned from a great distance across the knee; that leg panel holding the foot not even by a clip or a small peg already feels a bit springy, and with effort can be forced to bend away - hopefully the light weight of this figure keeps that from ever happening.

Articulation is good, standard for Siege (ball-as-swivel neck, lift-hinge and rotation shoulder, rotate and hinge elbows, rotate and hinge hips, hinge knees, tilt ankles) and adds an upper-waist rotation and an ab crunch hinge from transformation. I was a little surprised the shoulder cannon has no articulation and isn't intended to be removed, its only feature is it transforms by folding sideways upside down to hang over the shoulder, and then can get out of the way of more extreme arm poses by just flopping up on its hinge.

Impactor has 5mm peg holes on the shoulder cannon top, sides of each bicep and forearm, side of each lower leg, and on his back, all of which are usable in alt mode as well. Impactor also has a 5mm peg at the top of each wrist to hold the cannon in alt mode. 3mm fire blast pegs are found on the front of each shoulder and each shin, the tip of the harpoon hand and the gun, 3 on the back of the shoulder cannon (why?) and one fire blast peg on the chest that's annoyingly directly under the cannon, making it difficult to use the medium-width fire blast effects and impossible to use the larger ones. The shoulder cannon opening is around 4mm, too small to officially plug a fire blast's 5mm exterior peg wall into but they're rubbery so you can wedge them in there.

Overall: B
This is a decent figure, and like a lot of my Siege purchases, it comes in at the "good, not great, not middling" level.

The thing I liked the least in photos was how out of scale the thing was, a tiny tank to a massive turret.

Based on the photos, the size and placement of the turret at consistent with the character's look in the comics, meaning that this design is correct.

Transformation is novel but has a few uncomfortable elements, leg parts that go floppy until they're fully transformed, the chest plate feels like it's gonna snap off, and the fist stop is more of a suggestion.

....

Trust Hasbro to bungle a figure that I am tempted to buy no matter what. (I *really* hope that Hasbro does not screw up the distribution on this thing. I am not likely to have time to really search for toys until the weather is colder and stores are crowded enough that I will be less willing to spend time shopping.)

I suspect you'll find Impactor satisfactory enough, the plate thing is consistent enough and nobody's reported breakage; the leg thing is basically just about positioning, once locked in place it does fine.

Found me Barricade after a lonnnnng search (7 hours, 14 stores), I'll have a more thorough review soon but this is a decent figure and I think a far superior paint scheme for the mold than the others. I'm still not 100% on this mold, but this figure seems as good a use as any so far.

The Prowl/Barricade mold is one of those molds that I am okay with, in part because I like the characters pressed from it.

Barricade and Mirage are on my passive-search list. Impactor is a priority-search.