The new wave of new toys is in for us again. We have Allspark Landmine, Camshaft and a couple others. I only bought Landmine but I wanted to say a couple things about Camshaft.
After I saw the Jungle Crusher repaint, I decided no way in hell would I continue being fleeced of my money. I might have bought Cliffjumper maybe. But Bonecrusher which is one of my favourite toys, no way on that godawful colour. I didn't even deign to think about Camshaft since the original Swindle mould I didn't like in the first place... uh uh.
That is, until I saw it. It's hard to put it all down, but let's just say the colours on this guy look beautiful. That, plus maybe because I still love MISB, the complementary all spark artwork just goes so well with his colours... it just looks nice to display. I forgot to take a picture of the back showing the transformed figure, but it's nice. Lots of coppery red on his limbs. I'm thinking of going back to get him.
The new Boxed sets are in too:
But I want to get straight on to the Landmine review.
Alt Mode: Dune Buggy
I have never been so excited about a new movie figure since Dropkick, enough to get me off my lazy arse to write a review. But this guy has me hooked and turned on! There are just so many things to like, but in one word it's DETAILING.
First let's look at the weapon.
No one piece mould here. This grenade launcher comes in four parts. The handle triggers, the grenade magazine, and the articulated arm. This arm's pretty cool because it allows you to reposition the weapon almost anyway you want, it looks a lot better than the usual run-of-the-mill monocolour, single piece weapon.
The vehicle itself is very detailed throughout. Love those exhausts... and those gas cylinders look really nice. I was surprised when I found out what they became after Landmine's transformed into Bot mode. The writing says Unit G2G-534. If anyone knows the significance of that, if any, please let me know.
A little blur here, but highlights are the rivets, plus if you look inside you see what look like seats! No useless see-through-window-to-robot-junk here!
This one is a real kicker: SUSPENSION. Not just the front, or the rear, but on all four tires! And if it was just for show I could've been happy. But they actually do work; just try pressing gently down on any of the wheels! The rough terrain tire treads together help bear out the realism of the role of this vehicle. There's just really nothing more I can add without making this review just about the vehicle mode.
Robot Mode
Automorph
No automorph advertised on package. I guess the first step, where you slip the arms out and the front tires close in on the other (because of a separate set of springs, not the suspensions) could qualify. But I don't really miss the automorph so much. Not considering all the good stuff this figure has going.
Detailing
I've always been a fan of detailing. Pipes, cables and gears… anything that will elevate a TF I display in alt mode to one of a detailed model that might even fool the lay person into thinking that's what it is, a very nice model. Then whammo surprise when I transform the sucka.
Here's an example of the level of detail you can expect from Landmine. Remember those gas canisters? I didn't imagine they'd end up as the front of his foot. But there they are... together with all the pipes, shafts and whatnot.
Now check out this head. He's got pipes and canisters anywhere… they've continued that theme with the head too! It looks like one of those protective masks I've seen in hockey or American football. He has no visible head syndrome, by the way, but even if the face was visible from the undercarriage you couldn't tell because of all the piping relief. I didn't even realize what I was looking at initially.
But, let's get to the money... those HANDS were the first thing that captured most of our imaginations when the first images came out, right? At least it was for me. This picture doesn't quite do them justice.
Most toys of this class do not have hands that work, just a fist and a peg hole. If you're lucky a wrist that just lets you pronate or supinate. Well, check this out! First, you've got a ball and socket wrist joint. So you've got pronation, supination, flexion, extension, the works. Then, this guy has an MCP joint, AND also one phalangeal joint… you're looking at two separate joints in the thumb, and the fingers!
His hand also holds his grenade launcher well too! More on that below.
Articulation
Head: ball joint. However head rotation is sadly very limited due to his 'collar’
Shoulder: unusual, you have not one but two ball joints. Proximal to distal, you have a hinge joint that allows only abduction, then another that is a ball joint. This is a bizarre arrangement, but does allow more freedom of movement. It is also a very clever device because if it was just one joint, movement would be limited because of his ‘back carapace’ and door panelling. Done this way you can enjoy quite a bit of movement.
Elbow: ball and socket. Only complaint is that his forearm is really short.
Wrist joint: ball and socket
Finger joint: at MCP and has one IP joint, both hinges. Fingers move as whole, not individually… but let's not be greedy here.
Waist movement: none. Unfortunate, but you can get so many other poses that it's easy to overlook.
[Edit: I goofed. He does have waist articulation! Thanks to Firebird and Starscream's Girl for pointing this out to me
Hip joint: ball joint
Thigh: single plane joint, allows rotation
Knee joint: hinge
Ankle joint: hinge
A while ago in my Dropkick review I mentioned that it seems obvious to me that they put different effort and possibly, designers, onto each different figure. Whoever designed this figure, I wish he woulda done it for other figures too. This is a great example of how good a toy can get, and a new one to boot. That's what – speaking as a Transformer fan – I'm looking for. Something novel that will delight me with new detail and an interesting transformation, and to see that some effort actually went into making both modes great. Not just repaint after repaint because Hasbro was too lazy to come up with new toys.
Not only can Landmine hold his weapon without it shaking loose, if you extend the grenade launcher grip he can even hold onto that extension with his other hand.
Here's another option: just keep the grenade launcher in the same place it was in alt mode, and swing it up and over. You've got a far cleaner, tighter and cooler looking shoulder/ back mounted weapon than those lousy loose pieces of swinging tubes on BB77.
Don't let my hand fool you; just trying to catch better lighting. He can hold this pose with no help from me whatsoever. This is a very well balanced toy indeed!
Who will rule the universe? Iiiiiiiiiiii………..
To sum up, nothing was left out in making this a highly detailed piece of work. Also a very well articulated figure, except for the head, no waist articulation and short forearms. If not for these faults it would have been a perfect 10 for me.
Solid 9/10
He does have waist articulation, so my revised rating: 9.5!
And he's simply amazing! 
Can this guy get any more awesome? Just longer forearms... ugh being greedy again... 9.5 for him! Now hopefully someone points out to me that his forearms 