Universe2.0/Generations Review Thread

[JediTricks]

Posted this in July Hauls but seems as good a place as any to restate...

Spotted a single Streetwise at Target, the head looks nicer than I expected and much more in line with a combiner than the upcoming Prowl's head. It also uses more color which looks nice on this mold, and I like the design of the POLICE text on the front and sides. He comes with RID #33.

Overall, Streetwise is satisfying and a good deal dissimilar to the mold he comes from, Dead End. Streetwise is a bit more technological than I expected in vehicle mode, with vents all over, even cutaway ones at the nose and roof. Vehicle mode is also a bit more bulk than I expected. Paint up to the midpoint of the car is good, then after that it's non-existent save for a narrow back window.

Streetwise's bot mode is good if you don't mind not having much in the way of toes a la Dead End. He's got a nice amount of sculpted detail and color for a CW figure. The only shared parts are the hips and thighs, maybe some connectors but nothing significant. He has a great look, but it's so odd that they used off-white plastic (and on mine, some parts are slightly more off-white than others) when the rest of the team as bald white. I like the sculpt they put on the head, it looks appropriately blocky but since he was never a connector-head in G1, it has more going on. His tri-barrel shotgun is also terrific, although the scope on top suggests this isn't a shotgun.

Naturally with him in hand, I had to get Hot Spot from online since I haven't seen hide nor hair in person, and he'll be here Saturday to complete my Protectobots (sorry Blades, I still think Alpha Bravo looks better).

Overall: Streetwise is worthy more than I expected, I'd give him a solid B which is a good grade in my book for a CW deluxe.

[JediTricks]

Hot Spot is wildly overhyped in my opinion. His vehicle mode is terrible. It's very long and narrow, and it seems to combine half of one vehicle with half of a flatbed - it would make a lot more sense as Onslaught in that respect. Wheels are unpainted which doesn't look great. The midsection is very gappy and hollow, and intended transformation has Hot Spot looking right at you from it. The ladder isn't as bad as I expected though, the bucket hinges and has a spot for a firefighter to stand in - although the back side of this (the top of the combiner's head) doesn't lock down in any particular position.

Hot Spot as a robot is ok, lightweight but looks decent. The knees are not transformed right in package so at first I thought he was totally awful, turns out he has transformation joints next to the knee joint which confuses things, but the knees lock into place well. The big problem, aside from the blue instead of black head, is the ladder backpack is pretty big, but it's adjustable enough to work with. His side-ratcheting hips are too spaced apart so he can't take a good pose.

Hot Spot as the central combiner core is not as good as I was expecting. The face is a little doofy, the panels next to the head just kinda lay diagonally across the top without really doing anything. The chest plate is ridiculously huge and has these needlessly-high posts sticking way up top that block Streetwise as an arm from moving at the shoulder. The chest plate is the only thing keeping Hot Spot's shoulders from rotating instead of Defensor's, and it doesn't always work. Hot Spot's hips have too much play in the forward-back joints so Defensor is a bit wobbly and sometimes leans forward; the sideways-ratcheting joints don't have enough strength or proper ratcheting distance so they are nigh-useless. He's slightly shorter than the other cores. And Hot Spot's guns combine to make the ugliest little thin nothing of a rifle, though separate they're perfectly sized as Defensor's pistols.

Despite some negative thoughts, Hot Spot isn't terrible as a core, the ladder transformation is cool enough on its own but the bulkier shapes make for a more "whole" look. Defensor's not too bad if you don't mind him locked into limited poses. He's still high-waisted, but it's not Menasor-bad. The wider thighs integrate well with the leg-bots. Groove as a chest plate is a little strange but breaks up the black void. Hot Spot's fists are hidden away. I'm using Alpha Bravo in place of Blades so it's a lot of white limbs, but that kinda works as a theme anyway.

So I'd say Hot Spot is a "C"-graded figure, the least-impressive of the Combiner Wars individual pieces so far (thankfully the Constructicons weren't sold individually ).


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Cyclonus is pretty good. In vehicle mode, the new parts justify the existing robot block better since as a space plane he can be whatever he wants, and they're fairly svelte. The fold-down nose wheel looks good too. Silverbolt's gun/shield combo can be plugged under the nose on Cyclonus, but the forward peg-hole is too shallow so the gun sits lower than the bottom of the vehicle. The back end is a bit too blocky, that's my biggest issue. Transformation varies a bit from Silverbolt.

Cyclonus as a robot is very different from what was expected, and I'm not sure what this look is taking its cues from, but it looks striking if a bit confused. The confusion isn't so much that he's not Cyclonus, it's that he's got Silverbolt's blockiness, forearms and stomach specifically. I can get past the legs because the side kibble looks different and the colors are strikingly different, but I don't get why they painted the stomach silver, at least the top half should have remained purple. And this is clearly not MTMTE Cyclonus or G1 cartoon Cyclonus, yet it has some of that personality in the face and small sculpt and paint cues. Also he's mega-purple, he's the most purple thing ever, even the darker plastic is purple, it's almost too much for the character, especially with the horns not painted another color. The little canards as hand-held blades is neat though, and they plug into his forearms, it's slick. The whole bot mode works way better than it deserves, although if they had changed the weapon to a sword it would have been way better just as a single package. That said, the head is on a ball-joint but is too close to the collar so it hangs as it rotates (it must rotate for transformation lest the plane have a face sticking out the middle and Galvatronus have a face at his crotch), mine has already scraped the collar paint a little from this.

Cyclonus' combiner core mode is Galvatronus, and this is a very interesting figure which will be of great controversy to some. Galvatron's head, chest, and stomach are all used for Galvatronus which can be confusing given Galvatron is a different guy, but it looks nice overall and justifies the over-the-top purple. There are no real flaws, but it is weird to see a rather lithe physique for this particular character. I have Viper and Wildrider/Brake-Neck as his permanent teammates, probably will give him borrow Mirage, Prowl, Hound and Wheeljack once I get them (they'll likely be my Sky Reign team but I dunno how often they'll combine either).

Cyclonus is not a home run, but is pretty likable overall. "B"

[Onslaught Six]

REALLY fast and loose Protectobots reviews:

First Aid: Loved him in the comics, love him here. Of course, I also liked the Offroad mould to begin with. I don't like his axe but I don't like any of the Stunticon weapons, and it really doesn't fit First Aid's character or his design philosophy--too "Mad Max" for such a straighter-laced medic character. That is my only complaint.

Streetwise: I get why this is Prowl. I like his shotgun, but I like shotguns. I'm not fond of the way several of these guys have their feet moulded so they're always standing at an angle though. His head is the least appealing of the entire group, and I'm not happy with how he's off-white while the rest of the group is a bright white--it just makes it look like he yellowed in the packaging. I have this same gripe with Silverbolt. And yet...

Rook: My favourite thing about Rook is how he eschews the red-and-white for blue-black-and-white. Rook is super fun, probably the best individual Protectobot, and I can't wait to get this as Swindle (and maybe even Hound). I love that you can give him Hulk Hands (best feature by far) and I like his weapon. Rook is clearly the military-oriented guy, I see him as someone who is a reluctant Protectobot who is more concerned with killing Decepticons than saving lives.

Alpha Bra--err, Blades: Uh, whatever. We already have this toy, except this one's red. If Hasbro were to release the Takara Groove in the US, I would literally replace Blades instead of Rook. This is probably the worst limb mould in all of Combiner Wars, the robot kinda sucks, the way the copter front splits apart is ugly, it's difficult to hold weapons in limb mode due to the wonky way the waist rotates, it's just overall not that great.

Hot Spot: I halfway agree with a few of JT's points (I'll go into that later) but I definitely like him. He may be the overall most rounded of the torso bots because he makes a great robot, great torso and servicable vehicle. His robot head is GREAT and goes a long way in giving him personality and badassery. I want him repainted as Pyro for next year's FSS.

Defensor: I love me some big beefy robots, and this one takes the big beefy cake. He looks like he could eat Menasor. The way the ladder flips around is so clever and confused the shit out of me at first (but not enough that I got frustrated), which is exactly what I want out of a TF. Still VERY disappointed that they somehow can't figure out that all you need to do is put a few holes in the weapons to make them combine though, and I'm not holding out hope that they figure it out by the time we get to Bruticus. (Thankfully I have an Onslaught rifle or too laying around--need to get me a Motormaster one for Menasor too, since his sword got taken by Leader Megatron.)

Overall: Defensor is probably the most well-rounded combiner in the line. While Superion is a pretty great robot that has boring or crappy individuals, Menasor is the opposite with pretty good individual robots but a shit-ass gestalt hampered by his awful upper legs. (And head, depending on how much that bothers you--me, not so much.) Defensor only has one true dud in his midst (Blades), using arguably the two best Stunticon moulds and a new chunky bastard to make a solid team of individual robots, while the combined form is awesome and huge. I would definitely recommend this one over either of the other two if you only had room or money for one (and if you only had room for two, I would get Defensor and wait for Bruticus) and he's much easier to find a full case of than the Aerialbots or Stunticons were.

It's very long and narrow, and it seems to combine half of one vehicle with half of a flatbed - it would make a lot more sense as Onslaught in that respect. Wheels are unpainted which doesn't look great.

I very much suspect Hot Spot was designed as Onslaught first, or they were entirely concurrent. The unpainted wheels don't bother me so much--many CW figures have them--but the brown wheels on Onslaught is going to suck ass.

The big problem, aside from the blue instead of black head

I literally did not even notice that the original toy had a black head. And looking into it, his head was blue in the cartoon, so I think they're going for that instead.

His side-ratcheting hips are too spaced apart so he can't take a good pose.

This is an ongoing problem with some of these toys. Magnus has it too.

So I'd say Hot Spot is a "C"-graded figure, the least-impressive of the Combiner Wars individual pieces so far

I wholeheartedly disagree. He's definitely better than some of the limbs, and if we're only talking torsos he definitely beats out Prime/Motormaster with his weird legs.

[JediTricks]

Well, we also don't agree on the Alpha Bravo mold, I like it, so I guess it's no surprise on Hot Spot.

I didn't consider the cartoon being a blue head, it's too much blue for my tastes but I guess that justifies it.

[JediTricks]

Combiner Wars G1 first landing figures...

Mirage feels like they phoned in the deco, they could have really stepped up and delivered, but got lazy and/or cheap. That makes this figure desperate for Reprolabels to save it. The vehicle rolls really crunchy, my guess is flashing in the wheel snaps; but at least they painted the cockpit black. The figure itself is ok, the head is tiny and a bit less friendly than it should be. The lack of light piping on the eyes seems weird, but I'll live. Were it not for the wheels, this figure would have a perfectly cromulent G1-like alternate transformation with the vehicle front end becoming the chest, all that would be needed is swapping the fists, but they're pinned in place so that's not happening (because of the forearm cowl design, you'd have to use the solder trick to get the fist pin out and that would be nightmarish). Hasbro should have just remolded the front end to receive the peg slightly higher and swapped the fists.

But enough about what Mirage isn't. Mirage as-is is fine, unexciting yet adequate, but does have those ugly screws showing in the chest still. I liked Drag Strip despite some flaws, this is essentially unchanged aside from paint and head, no improvements and no losses.


Prowl gets away with murder (literally, ha!), the slight changes in paint and the new head on Streetwise aren't better separately, but come together to make a nice Prowl figure. Prowl looks more cohesive in robot mode thanks to a stronger deco and that face, in bot mode the black lower half makes a more heavy-duty look but Streetwise does have "POLICE" on the hood while Prowl for some reason doesn't have his hood badge at all. Prowl's vehicle mode has light blue-silver metallic paint for the windows, the back window is painted on the legs but on the top half at the body (same as Streetwise, lazy Hasbro) and the tail lights aren't painted, nor is the black lower trim on the rear of the car. Irritatingly, the middle of the door is all black instead of half white, Hasbro not wanting to paint PVC. The wheels are entirely unpainted, which leaves them black on the black paint, intimidating. Another thing that could use paint: the toes, they are so lost down there on every iteration of this mold, it's obvious there could be taillight-like paint since there are shapes sculpted in.

The facial sculpt is cold, robotic, and slightly sinister which is pretty much on the money for the character in the comics. The head sculpt is surprisingly nice and the deco took to it well, the silver face extends below the helmet and there's no slop paint on mine. The blue painted eyes are a nice touch, they're small and dispassionate. Overall, I like this Prowl, he doesn't have his shoulder rockets or hood chest or door wings or some deco touches, but he feels "right" in a way the previous Generations figure didn't.

[Shockwave]

It's funny you mention the alternate transformation on Mirage because I actually did exactly that. Sure the hands are backwards, but it still looks WAY better in bot mode. I guess if you really want the hands to be right you could just swap out the arm entirely since they're ball jointed at the shoulder, but I was kinda too lazy to do that as I was just fiddling to see if it would look right conceptually. Or you can also swap them from the bicep joint which should just snap on and off.

[JediTricks]

CW Voy Optimus Prime -

Pros:
- fun Optimus that isn't a deluxe
- nice colors
- weapons are nifty, the ion cannon looks alright
- transformation feels good without a lot of cheats
- weapons mount to vehicle rear deck as if they were engine elements

Cons:
- knees are pretty loose
- still the bad-position hip ratchets
- back shell colors aren't matched, one side's red is darker than the rest of the toy
- robot head is stumpy, rounded, and short in a way that makes it seem like a young Optimus
- combiner head has odd proportions and ugly gray antennae
- vehicle from the front seems not Optimus-like, kinda Euro-truck instead of US
- pre-applied shoulder faction logo stickers aren't quite centered
- same combiner high waist problem as Menasor

Somehow, I like this figure more than it deserves. It's not the best Optimus ever, but it holds up better than expected.

[Onslaught Six]

- still the bad-position hip ratchets

They recently fixed this on the newer issues, and recent reissues of Motormaster. But y'know.

[JediTricks]

So on Optimus, I was annoyed enough with the knees that I decided to bolster the joint with paper (I don't remember having difficulty here with Motormaster); I had thought it was due to mold-release oil but alas no. I had read about that technique often but never done it myself. Optimus' whole lower leg has to come apart to get at the join, but it's really easy, just 3 screws -- these are VERY small screws though, I ended up using my #0 screwdriver bit for them. The legs halves slide apart smoothly, leaving the upper half of the knee (turned out the right knee on mine had been assembled backwards, functionality was fine but there's a slight aesthetic change). All that was needed then was to measure and cut a slip of paper to insert, at first I chose 5/6ths of a complete circle and closed that joint up, but that was way too tight, so I removed it and went with 1/4 the circle which did the trick nicely. While I was in there, I noticed that the joint appears to have been designed to be ratcheted, and my guess is either they cheaped the parts out of the budget, or they were going to use a friction ratchet which didn't reach (it looks like that may be the case inside the joint).

- still the bad-position hip ratchets

They recently fixed this on the newer issues, and recent reissues of Motormaster. But y'know.

Yeah. Good luck getting one. Especially on a clearance sale.

[Onslaught Six]

Are we putting Combiner Wars reviews here or was there another thread? I legitimately cannot remember.

Got my Bruticus limbs. Let's take it from the top:

Vortex: It's an Alpha Bravo repaint. If you have him, or Blades, then there's nothing new here. I would have appreciated a new rotor or retooled arms to give him proper chainguns like the classic Vortex, or a new set of feet attachments designed to evoke his classic helicopter nose (or even something more modern like a Pave Low); just anything different from the commercial-grade looking helicopter nose and more "military" instead. Mine didn't have any problems though. Paint is good, joints were solid.
As far as representing Vortex goes, vehicle complaints aside, this does pretty well. I'm sure this mould was designed from the start with Vortex and Blades in mind, and Alpha Bravo is a side-effect of that, the way Hot Spot and Onslaught are clearly built together, or Universe 2.0 Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. So in the end, he looks like he should!

Blastoff: The controversial entry. I almost wish we had instead gotten a new character here, even if the name was applied to the exact same toy, if Takara is going to go forward with their rumoured spaceship retool. But as it is, I'm not going to complain that he's a jet instead of a spaceship because it doesn't bother me very much. Quick reading shows he's a repaint of Quickslinger or whatever his name was (I suck at Aerialbots), which, he could have easily used the Fireflight head and been more toy accurate, but them's the breaks, I guess.
Really, Blastoff suffers the most from the transition; many core design elements of Blastoff are absent in this figure, from the pointy nosecone hands to the winged Seeker-like legs. It's a bit of a shame, but I can deal with every team having a dud in terms of accuracy if he's at least functional, which he sure is.

Swindle: The most charismatic of Combaticons. Swindle is a Rook retool, or more likely, Rook is a Swindle retool, but there are a lot of significant differences--they only really share torsos and engineering. Rook even has an extra pair of wheels. As far as functionality goes, he makes a good solid leg, like Rook, and his transformation is more involved than most Combiner Wars. He's got swell rocker ankles (always a plus) and he can hold his weapons good. His weapon is probably the best, it's a chaingun with a 5mm peghole in the side, so you can combine other weapons into it, which is a nice callback to the classic Swindle rifle (or the Valdigus/Ruination retool; not sure when his combined weapon functionality was added to be honest). Being 5mm, you can even put the classic Swindle rifle in there! Unfortunately the way his arms transform, he's not really a very "open" Jeep and has a fair bit of kibble in his cabin, which is a shame.
Swindle is probably the best transitioning toy here; he manages to somehow look like both the original toy and the cartoon model a bit, his colours are good, and he's a fun bugger. Unfortunately I think his expression is a little dour or serious for Swindle; he's not nearly enough "smarmy used car salesman" ala Animated for my tastes, but these things happen, right?
I like this mould enough that I may buy it again as Hound, despite not being very interested in it. Universe Hound's cartoon stylings are a little out of place on my shelves. I'll have to see Hound in person to judge though. Swindle is overall the best of the group.

Brawl: The only new mould of the quartet. Brawl was rumoured that he didn't "click together" at the waist; this is only half true, he does have a little peg and slot but it relies on friction entirely and isn't as solid as one would hope. There are also rumours that there will be a "second run" of him in a more green tinted colour scheme; as it is, he's closer to brown. Actually, he's almost the exact same olive green shade G1 Onslaught is! Brawl is the only one of the group whose hand-foot-weapon thing actually makes tons of sense, because the G1 toy also had a honkin' piece of cannon machinery slapped on top, and he's the only one who actually has a peg specifically designed to integrate with it; it even folds away! Brawl is a sign they're truly starting to get used to the newer limitations and cram some cool shit in there; it's a shame that he's probably the last new Combiner Wars mould that's going to happen. His tank turret doesn't move, which sucks ass, and his gun is crap because it's just the barrel of the tank cannon--so you can't use it in any kind of cobbled together monstrosity weapons without making his turret look dumb. Haven't tried to use him as an arm, but he makes a fine solid leg, and his turret moves up to look more like the G1 model. He looks stupid turned around (Ruination style) which makes me laugh at everybody who's ever said Brawl is "backwards" in G1. His hollow forearms are one of the few times this has bothered me, only because they would look much cooler beefier. Mine has a loose right shoulder joint, which is going to be difficult to fix with nail polish or something because it's on a hinge instead of a removable ball joint, and there's a pin and everything.
As far as an update goes, Brawl is up there with Swindle. He looks exactly like his toy and animation model too (Brawl was one of the closest to his toys) and he's got a great head. He looks like he's ready to fuck someone up.

I put them on Hot Spot to try and gauge how cool Bruticus will be; as far as limbs go they're great and he's going to be great. I can't wait to get Onslaught now. Bruticus is probably going to be the best combiner (except maybe Sky Reign if you're into the concept, or that cool Grand Galvatron thing!) and you should definitely go out of your way to pick him up.