TF Views

Also, that rifle can fit onto the side of the tank pretty easily. I forget where, I'll have to get dude out and peg it on there. And find his damn rifle...oh, lord, how I hate moving.

But yeah, those missle battery/cannon things were pretty entertaining, I thought. Part of the appeal of the Cybertron Defense guys was their complete weaponry overkill. Guns having more guns pop out is just nifty.

I love that mold as Scattorshot, anyhow. I don't think I'll be getting the repaint, though. He does look kinda cool in those colors.

JediTricks wrote:What? Scattorshot's an awesome mold, one of my favorites! And that gun fits in alt mode under the rocket battery, between the fists - it's unofficial so it's a little loose, but it stays there and looks good. Man, I don't get your criteria for reviews at all - a fantastic, fun, cool, and badass TF is brought down because his weapon doesn't have an official spot on the alt mode that you agree with, fun action gimmicks, and an underwhelming bio note? None of that is paramount to the toy (except the action gimmicks, which are fun, and I don't get your Garth Ennis reference) - I honestly don't see how you're reviewing the toy itself at all, just least-important the trappings.

The gun does not have any official place it can be stowed. It can also fit on the side of the tank. But, that is not something I am willing to credit the designers with.

I am not taking off as many points for the bio note as you seem to think I am. It is just that after well-written bios on Prowl, Inferno, Blades and Heavy Load, this is kind of a let-down.

The guns popping out of guns thing annoys me as it is so over the top and fan-boyish, getting into the kind of self-parody that is the only thing writers like Garth Ennis can handle.

Dom

I'm not a fan of CD Scattorshot either. It's odd, since it's exactly the kind of thing that'd appeal to me on principle, and I do like the basic design in each mode. But the transformation is simplistic and not remotely satisfying, the gimmicks are, as Dom said, too much - the fake-out missile panels look lame with the extras extended. Boxes on the arms get in the way, the articulation's ehhn, it's just lots of little parts that make the toy really boring when it should be extremely fun to fiddle with. If it were a Deluxe, it'd work perfectly, I feel CD Hot Shot and CD Scattorshot are victims of the Cybertron Sizing Syndrome, where a design should've been in a larger or smaller price point. Of the three in the Cybertron Defense team, Red Alert is the only one I really like. Hope that gets a repaint. As Doubledealer!

onslaught86 wrote: Hope that gets a repaint. As Doubledealer!

YES.

Dominic wrote:The gun does not have any official place it can be stowed. It can also fit on the side of the tank. But, that is not something I am willing to credit the designers with.

Fine, I'll ask you again, what if the figure never came with that rifle then? He certainly doesn't NEED it, he's well-armed as it is. How does the extra accessory HURT the figure?

The guns popping out of guns thing annoys me as it is so over the top and fan-boyish, getting into the kind of self-parody that is the only thing writers like Garth Ennis can handle.

Ok, but you have to admit, they're different kinds of guns.

Fine, I'll ask you again, what if the figure never came with that rifle then? He certainly doesn't NEED it, he's well-armed as it is. How does the extra accessory HURT the figure?

That's where my opinion and Dom's divide on this issue. I am fine with accessories that have no dedicated storage in the other mode. Sure, they smack of lazy design and being tacked-on, but they can easily be put in an accessory box and forgotten. I do this with many G1 figures. What I do take issue with is accessories that form a significant part of the other mode, so they 'have' to be removed for transformation, and wreck the figure if lost. Now that, that's far worse than just tacking on a bonus gun.

For the record, I dig CD Scattorshot's rifle, it's the lame transformation and generally unsatisfying feel that hurt it. The PLX peg 'is' suitable storage in both modes, so I'm unsure why Dom would pick this as a big minus against the toy.

Indeed. All I ask is that it's at least got somewhere to peg onto. Take EnerDownshift/Movie Big Daddy, for example. His launchers can attach to the sides of his vehicle mode--they look kinda stupid when they do, but they 'can' if you need to have them there.

Better yet, they can stay there during transformation if you're careful. That's the mark of a truly well-integrated accessory. It can come off and be held in robot mode, but it doesn't 'have' to, and can stay on during transformation. If ClaPrime's hatgun didn't form such an important part of the vehicle mode, it'd be a good example of this.

If they did things slightly different, they could've even made it so ClaPrime's hatgun was inconsequential and you could even take it off entirely for his vehicle mode.

Onslaught Six wrote:If they did things slightly different, they could've even made it so ClaPrime's hatgun was inconsequential and you could even take it off entirely for his vehicle mode.

They sorta-kinda did, you just have to turn the head face-down. It's not terribly intrusive, but it does prevent me from citing that as too prime an example.

Prime an example. Ho ho ho.