by Diem » Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:29 am
Well Inferno's a little better than I expected. His robot mode is a little cluttered and blocky, but he looks solid and well-armoured. His vehicle mode is steady and nicely proportioned. His big water cannon and various robot mode panels are chromed, and look great.
As for Alternity Convoy, I am very impressed. His presentation is nice, having a box that's entirely plastic (in the classiest possible way). The inner bubble that holds the toy can pop together to keep the toy on display if you so wish. "Alternity TRANSFORMERS" is tampographed onto the bubble. The instruction sheet has a poster/datafile on the back, which features his bio, tech-specs, and and some information about (I believe) the Alternity fiction, the real life toy development and the Nissan GT-R, although these are all in Japanese. It also has Action Master inspired "Power Plans" in English, with such charming technobabble as "Timestorm Detector Array" and "Alternium Hyper-frame". Very nostalgic.
As for the figure itself, as you might expect it has a reassuring weight. It feels nice, simply. Its car mode looks a little cleaner and displays less transformation lines than photos have suggested. The doors open to show the interior (which is impressively detailed for a figure this size) while opening the bonnet reveals a not-so-impressive engine block.
His transformation is complex but smooth, closer in simplicity to Henkei Ironhide than to the Binaltech toys (I still wouldn't recommend him for younger fans of course). He has a rather impressive set of automorphs when transforming from vehicle mode though sadly several of them need to be manulually reset for transforming back. His articulation is fairly extensive with all the expected joints on the legs, feet and arms, though his waist can't rotate due to his transformation. His head can also fully rotate, though he doesn't seem to be able to look up or down (I don't want to force the joint). I can't see a ball joint on him; he seems to have been made entirely with more expensive ratchet joints to compensate for the weight of the toy.
As for his looks: well, he looks real good. He is very detailed without looking too messy or organic. The best way I could describe it is that Takara took everything they learned from making the movie toys and used it in G1 style. There's lots of nice little features; he has Nissan logos on both his grille and above his rear license plate (which is blank, incidentally). His sole Autobot symbol takes the place of a belt buckle. As for his weapons, they look dangerous without being overstated. Sadly he lacks 5mm fist holes, so fans of big guns won't have too much fun. Also, from the rear in robot mode he looks fairly bland. Aside from the price, those are the only complaints I have with this figure.
I would recommend this figure highly for the serious collector, or for fans of super-realistic car modes. If you're decided against the figure or on the fence then the expense might be too much to justify owning this piece.
Sorry, I didn't mean to write such a long review; should I put it in its own thread?
ADDENDUM: His bloody wing mirrors are chromed. I LOVE this figure.
To respond to your comment - yeah it's quite possible that some places get their inventory on Friday or the day before. TRU and many big retailers usually get their shipment on Thursday.
