partial review of final "Legends" wave

[Dominic]

As has become standard for my reviews lately, the grading here assumes that you can find the toys easily or just happen to blunder across them. Like pretty much everything for the last 6 months, distribution of the last wave of yellow card Legend class figures has been, to put it as nicely as possible, shitty. By the time most fans realized that the most reliable way to get these was from online retailers, it was too late. (Low production runs have not helped.)

There have been reports, that I can confirm, of these figures showing up at Marshall's and similar retailer. But, shipping quantities at that type of store is inconsistent. I found a partial wave, along with several duplicates. I currently have an extra Prowl and might be able to go back for an extra "Trailcutter" if anybody needs those figures.

For the most part, this wave consists of characters that have gotten larger (and better) toys in recent years. But, Megatron and Trailcutter are exceptions to this.

Bumblebee: Recolour of the figure released in '09, replacing the yellow with gold. I have not seen a copy of this. But, it is probably only worth searching for if you are a completist or have a specific desire for this color scheme.

Starscream: Saw one, packaged, in a friend's collection. Need more information for a review.


Trailcutter:
I had to conciously think about typing "Trailcutter", instread of "Trailbreaker". Apparently, "Trailbreaker" is another name that Hasbro managed to lose and has been unable to recover. Of course, they eventually managed to recolver "Bluestreak", so it is not completely unrealistic to hope that they may do the same with "Trailbreaker". Either way, I am having a much more difficult time accepting "Trailcutter" as the name.

Trailcutter stands out for being the only toy in the wave to be a character with no other modern toy representation. Generally, if not completely, faithful to the original toy, Trailbreaker (not even gonna fight it) is a boxy robot that turns into a boxy truck. The toy looks hollow when looked at from the wrong angle, but the black coloring does much to offset this. The holds might be to make the toys compatible with the "Cyberverse" line.
Grade: B


Prowl:
This figure is based largely on the character model designed and favoured by IDW. It also has some G1 elements, likely as a result of the imitations that the designers had to work with for this toy scale. The paint and faction sticker on both copies I have are exceptionally sloppy. There is no reason to actively search for this toy other than being a completist. There was a better Prowl figure released in '08. That one is more worth the time and expense it would take to hunt down and purchase.
Grade: C


Megatron:
While this is not the only way to get the character, it is the first time tha a G1 style Megatron has been released at retail. The gun mode is terrible. The robot mode is about avaerage. All in all, this is a pretty weak effort. The barrel of the much undersized gun mode has an orange tip, not unlike a toy gun. This arguably implies that Megatron's alternate mode is a not a gun, but a toy gun. Do not bother with this toy, even if you see it, unless you happen to like the character. And, even then, there are better options.
Grade: D


Optimus Prime: Easily the best of the wave, and well worth buying if readily available. This figure incorporates elements from the original and 20th anniversary figures. It uses the now common, though not universal, cheat of having parts from the truck's front not directly, (if at all), turning inot corresponding pieces of the robot. Probably the best of the wave.
Grade: A/B


Dom
-wiped out the local supplly.

[Shockwave]

I can certainly see some of the complaints when comparing them to their larger counterparts, but I'm not really sure it's a fair comparison. Legends Megatron isn't meant to stand next Voyager Prime nor is Trailbreaker meant to stand next to Deluxe size Sunstreaker. As such, I think comparing the two is like comparing green apples to Washington apples. There both apples sure, but they're two totally different apples.

Shockwave
-How do ya like them apples?

[Dominic]

It is not a question of comparing the two toys. AS you point out, that would not be fair or sensible.

But, unless one is a completist, the only reason to get a Legend figure is if somebody wants a particular character. As the above described figures are difficult to find, it would make more sense to invest time and energy into buying over-all better figures. For example, if you cannot find Legends Prowl easily, it makes more sense to put time and effort into finding a TFU 2008 Prowl instead of wasting time, money and effort to finding and acquiring a Legend Prowl.


Dom
-remembers going crazy to get "Cybertron" Legends figures.

[Mirage]

I actually really like Megatron, and think his gun mode's pretty cool. I DO plan to repaint the barrel someday, but that's really my only complaint. If nothing else, points for FINALLY making the gun barrel turn into his arm cannon, rather than having the scope do that. Makes more sense!

Prime's actually the one I have problems with. I know there's only so many paint apps they can do for the legends, but the differences this causes on a color scheme as iconic as Prime's stand out as *wrong*. Like the red pelvis, that really bugs me. Paintable, I guess, but irksome. I also hate the front truck fenders and wheels dangling from his hands. And the worst is the damn tabs they put on his hip ball joints, which completely (by design) limit his articulation. I understand that they're there to stabilize his truck mode, but they're unnecessary-- the legs of a legends fig aren't that heavy!

I probably agree with you on Prowl and Trailcutter/breaker/master/blaster. (Wow, I'm tired and silly) Decent middle of the road efforts, but not really exciting. Trail...ie(?) in particular is underwhelming, probably just because we've waited so long for a modern representation of him, and... well, here he is. Everything he needs to be, nothing he doesn't, and... meh. I look over at my shelf at him, and just don't feel a whole lot one way or the other. He certainly is... THERE, isn't he?

Gold Bumblebee is completely dependent on your nostalgia for Goldbug. He's nothing special otherwise. Not even the same color, he's a little orangy-brownish.

Starscream is notable mostly for the fact that he completely changes the Seeker transformation. Not really for the better or worse, but man is it *different*. Worth checking out for that, I suppose.

[Shockwave]

I think it's more a matter of what you collect. By and large I don't really collect legends class figures unless it's enormously geewunny. I had Jazz and Hound and both were great. I think it would be more accurate to say that if you like legends class figures you'll like these. But if you're gonna look for larger versions you're probably not on the hunt for these to begin with. So, mentioning the larger classes is really a moot point. Like, I would never say "Get Energon Prowl because TFU Prowl is going to cost more". Sure they're the same character in theory but it's not really a viable comparison owing to the different aesthetics. I would even extend this to G1 Prowl and the WST versions.

[Tigermegatron]

I think it's more a matter of what you collect. By and large I don't really collect legends class figures unless it's enormously geewunny. I had Jazz and Hound and both were great. I think it would be more accurate to say that if you like legends class figures you'll like these. But if you're gonna look for larger versions you're probably not on the hunt for these to begin with. So, mentioning the larger classes is really a moot point. Like, I would never say "Get Energon Prowl because TFU Prowl is going to cost more". Sure they're the same character in theory but it's not really a viable comparison owing to the different aesthetics. I would even extend this to G1 Prowl and the WST versions.

I'm also not a legends class TF toy buyer.

The only legends TF toys I bought was the Legends class Rotf Devestator combiner. because I love combiners & view the combined mode as mega sized.

[Dominic]

And, ya know, being much better designed and cheaper than the full sized toy probably helped.

Joking aside, I tend to buy Legends of characters that I like and/or that are only available in that scale. Cosmos hits both of those notes. Prowl and Jazz hit the former.


Dom
=needs to customize some Legends....

[Shockwave]

Dom
=needs to customize some Legends....

DIACLONE BLUESTREAK!!! C'mon you know you wanna.

Shockwave
-Is already planning the molds...

[Autobus Prime]

Folks:

I looooooooove Legends, so I'm completely thrilled with these. Except that I can't find Prowl. That's not so thrilling...

I assume the "D" on Megs stands for Delightful, because the toy is absolutely that.

[138 Scourge]

I assume the "D" on Megs stands for Delightful, because the toy is absolutely that.

I'm with you on this one. I like the Megatron quite a bit. The alt. mode really only looks good from the one side, and is still gappy as hell, but it's got it's charm. And the robot mode does a hell of a job looking like a redone G1 Megatron. I like it better than the Voyager Megatron, anyway.

Trailbreaker's pretty neat, too. Looks just like you'd want a new Trailbreaker to, only smaller. Cool as hell, though.

Goldbug's probably my favorite of the gang, though. I always liked the idea of Goldbug, even if the toy was bullshit. Kind of cool that there's finally a new version of him, and it's an entertaining enough mold.