RAcast wrote:If I had to pick a favorite, I'd say Whirl. It's just a shame he doesn't have a monoeye.
His head turns around to become a searchlight in gyrocopter mode. It can be used for a more G1 Whirl-esque head.
Icepick looks smooth and not very movie-like on first glance, but his lower legs and arms have some detailing that fit the aesthetic pretty well.
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I have seven out of the eight HA Basic molds. I still can't find Reverb, though he looks pretty great.
Sandstorm / Half-Track:
- Excellent dynamic style, proportions and poseability
- Cool, pretty realistic dune buggy
- Artillery mode fine as a stand-alone, looks bulky hand-held.
- Partner Private Dedcliff is a nice generic military man, Major Altitude makes for a great Neil Armstrong/ Buzz Aldrin except for his NEST belt.
Icepick:
- Sleek robot with hockey mask face, but weird weapons
- Nifty though overscaled snowmobile which looks great with his human partner
- 'Hoverbike' is not really a third mode, more like the alt mode with his tread deployed as a saw weapon.
- Human partner SERGEANT CHAOS very much like a Cobra Snow Serpent from GI Joe, great name and mold. Multipack Icepick has Chaos as a Tungsten repaint.
Thunderhead / Crosshairs:
- Robot very stylized with tread limbs and lower-back kibble, unusual look for a TF
- Very sci-fi spider tank, can be made more normal by posing the treads flat to the ground
- Exo-suit battle mech, can't be wielded by a bigger bot, but looks really cool!
- Human partner Major Tungsten (w/ Thunderhead) is a boring retool of Lennox, Sergeant Cahnay (w/ Crosshairs) is a less-good looking repaint of Sergeant Chaos.
Backfire
- Clunky robot with gimpy alt-mode chunks for hands and massive lower legs, cool face and chest though
- unusual tricycle alt-mode as seen in Shanghai in RotF, looks powerful
- Cannon mode one of the most convincing weapon modes among the HA basics, along with Whirl
- Cool human partner which reminds me of the NEST Mech Soldier concept art, Multipack Backfire has a repainted Sam as a partner.
Whirl
- Robot somewhat hampered by huge ski-feet, pot belly and four copter blades on back.
- Alt mode a very toy-esque mini copter which looks a bit comical.
- Rail Gun mode looks awesome provided you ignore the instructions and tf it with the shoulder-bars acting as a handle to carry him like a mini-gun
- Partner Major Sparkplug is well sculpted and painted compared to most HA humans and looks great
Tailpie & Pinpointer
- Great duo of a scout-sized Spliter Cell-esque cycleformer and a batlike Mini-Con thingy.
- A very bulky oversized cruising cycle with a huge turret on the back. Looks better without the puny human.
- Like Icepick, hoverbike is too similar to alt mode and best served as a variation instead of full third mode.
- Human partner Sergeant Noble looks terrified but his outfit makes him look appropriately themed with the robot duo.
Drag Strip
- Robot mode nicely styled but hampered by the purple back-kibble, nice blades and head though
- Indy racing car looks very sleek and better than PCC Leadfoot, but the blades only fit on front like some odd wings, but just don't quite fit underneath (their shield-mode location) where they'd be better hidden.
- Shield mode is an absolute joke and looks like an Indy car with side-mounted wings held vertically by a bot. Just ignore it.
- Human partner MASTER DISASTER also awesome name and one of the best HA partners. Cyberglyphics and translucency make him a proper holographic image.
TL; DR: Go for Sandstorm and Icepick, maybe Tailpipe. Still, all have something awesome about them and they're a great deal for the money.