by Evil Eye » Sat Apr 18, 2020 6:59 pm
- Motto: "Don't be a goddamn coward."
- Weapon: Acid Spray Gun
Oh boy, oh BOY, CW. Now that was an oddball of a line.
I was a bit soured on the line by how damn cheap some of the figures felt. My Fireflight's leg extender armature is actually pinned in slightly crooked, there was the whole fiasco with my UW Defensor's HFG ports cracking, and in general the materials didn't feel very nice. Combined with the rampant mold reuse, unimaginative "Regular dudes as limbs" redecos and the fact that the stock HFGs were worthless as feet, and I have to be honest, I'm a bit disappointed overall with the line.
Credit where credit is due though, there were some solid figures. UW Computron (with SteamShield's 3D printed "slippers") is fantastic, Rook is a solid standalone mold and Megatronia is a lot of fun too. And the basic combiner port system was just fine, no complaints there.
Regarding each combiner (somewhat biased as I don't own most of these):
>Superion is blessed with the best torso design, cursed with really boring limbs. I actually found Alpha Bravo a breath of fresh air compared to just how boring the jets were, not helped by the fact their jet modes SUCK. UW was largely a sidegrade and honestly not worth it unless you REALLY want Slingshot.
>Menasor is the other way around- pretty solid limbs, dreadful torso. In his defence, Motormaster looks alright as a standalone figure, but his torso mode is an abomination against Primus. UW didn't help matters with cheeseman Dragstrip and self-destructing MM.
>Defensor's overally pretty decent, though both decos are ultimately lacking IMO. First Aid's Takara version is definitely better, Streetwise suffers from off-white via Hasbro and GREY from Takara, neither of which are good. Blades is kinda alright regardless of version, when his combiner port isn't cracking. Rook is IMO the superior limb to Deluxe Groove, who IMO is just not a very good mold. Hot Spot's blue is nicer on the Takara version and also looks better with the added blue in torso mode...but skimps on the "techno-grille" paint and looks a bit bland as a result. The combined mode is pretty nice in both cases to be fair.
>Bruticus...hooooooo boy. I actually wish Blastoff had gotten the boot and been given an OC replacement, really. If they weren't going to give us shuttle/space plane Blastoff (understandable as it was always a bit silly) then they could at least have given us a decent new Decepticon jet, or at the very least given Blastoff some retooling of any kind. I definitely prefer the UW deco...except for the shuttle chest on Bruticus (which always seemed silly to me) and Blastoff's interesting but bizarre orange. However, Vortex having four rotors is a bonus.
>Ruination: Notable for basically being Bruticus but better. More weapons, proper extremities, more coherent deco, and the best combiner name ever. Honestly if I ever get him he'll probably nullify my desire to ever bother getting an actual Bruticus.
>Betatron: Yeah, let's forget this ever existed shall we?
>Optimus Maximus/Ultra Prime: Notable for being a pretty terrible Optimus Prime, an awful combiner and also, regrettably, the closest thing to an official Nova Prime that isn't a too-small exclusive...and it wasn't even marketed as Nova.
>Galvatronus: CW was cool, honestly decent as Cyclonus figs go. However the UW version wipes the floor with him courtesy of the lovely paint scheme and the team.
>Sky Reign: I maintain Sky Lynx is an awesome torso even if he's a bit of a sh!t Sky Lynx. UW ditches Smokescreen (the absolute worst CW redeco by far) in favour of Ratchet. However...
>Liokaiser: Yes it's a terrible representation of Liokaiser, who I am reliably informed is an awesome character. However, as a Decepticon combiner, he sure does look cool. I still kinda want him, honestly- to me, "Deszaras" is just Leozack in a more bestial body.
>Computron: UW is a clear winner, and a really fun set of toys. The CW version isn't terrible though, and IMO still has its appeal (notably, I vastly prefer Hasbro Afterburner's orange and his green canopy).
>Victorion: Unified colour schemes are cool for combiners. Gum disease red and toothpaste teal, however, isn't cool for anything. Not terrible as a set of figures though, even if I wish they had gotten their own molds rather than being retools of male figures. However...
>Megatronia: Lack of bike bra aside, she's IMO much better than Victorion- the colours are still loud but much more pleasant, and Megaempress alone makes the set worth it.
>G2 Superion: I never much cared for this deco, but having a G2 Slingshot that won't disintegrate is nice.
>G2 Menasor: I actually love these colours, shame about Motormaster being awful.
>G2 Bruticus: Swindle is cool, gives me 2007 Swindle vibes. Vortex works, kinda 90s but the colours go well. Blastoff is awesome and I kinda want him on his own. Brawl, yeah, I never cared for the Daily Dose colours (you are a lucky son-of-a-gun if you don't know the reference) even on Megatron. Onslaught is just straight up a Velveeta Golem. And the combined colour scheme, I'm sad to say, is not very good.
>G2 Defensor: Mercifully does not exist. Which is for the best, as even the eye of God Primus is agonizingly blinded by those colours.
>Wreckage: Toxitron getting an actual toy is cool. It being CW Motormaster is not.
>Grand Scourge: See above.
>Predacus: Hot take- the colours, WRONG though they are, are kinda cool. However, Tripredacus it ain't, and it also involves owning FunPub Ravage, whose head is possibly one of the worst headsculpts in the history of the franchise.
>Magnaboss: Kind of a cool idea, at least until you realize Tigatron shares that "chewed caramel" headsculpt with Ravage, and thus is the Transformers equivalent of that botched Jesus painting restoration.
Then there were the other non-combining figures, who ranged from decent (Magnus, even if he was usurped by Siege) to mediocre (Megatron, whose cool tank mode and nice headsculpt couldn't save him from that robot mode) to pants (the Leader Seekers, who irritate me for reasons I can't quite explain).
Oh, and then there was Devastator. I gotta be honest, I've never liked that mold, even with the Takara improvements. Too big, too hollow and flimsy, oddly proportioned, kinda shonky alt modes, Mixmaster just being crap (to the point my friend came up with the hilarious headcanon that he's actually an impostor/fraudster named Spindoctor) and overall just being a bit "eh". If he'd been kept the same pricepoint but "compacted" such that he had a higher partscount and denser plastic but was only a bit larger than a CW combiner, he'd have been decent, but as is? Meh.
Except (UW) Scrapper. He was cool.
All in all, I don't hate CW, but it could have been a lot better. I'm glad it got made, but I would rather like to see revisions to some of the combiners done with the advances in engineering we've seen lately.
Ha ha Transformers go brrrrr