The Energon Pub

Apologies in advance, I still have not figured out how to embed pictures in my posts. If anyone can help pls PM me.

I mentioned in a few posts that we got Long Arm, Payload and Dreadwing almost 6 weeks ago in the stores, possibly by mistake. When I went back after posting that here, they were gone.

Well I visited a store and found Long Arm, Payload and Final Battle Jazz. Thought I'd share my impressions:

1. Final Battle Jazz
He looks really good. They've used the same mold it seems for the original Jazz, but his battle damage are 3D, not just stickered/ painted on.

I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't use this chance to remodel him a bit. He still looks chunky, as his thigh panels still don't fold away.

And no, he doesn't break in half. Not from what I can see, and not from the back package which you'd expect say something like "Breaks in two for movie recreation!" if he did.

2. Payload

Didn't think much of him. The parts that form his thighs in truck mode have obvious seams that make him look cheap. Although it might just be the packagers being slack. He's also small for the truck that he's supposed to be. Don't think his robot mode looks cool too, since it's that cheap lens head thing like you see on Swindle. I like his colour scheme though: dark and light blue with some white. From the backside of the package, he looks pretty ugly. there is this huge protruding thing from his chest that makes him look real top heavy. This isn't so obvious looking at the picures on the net.


3. Long Arm

Although I have everything on pre-order, I decided I just had to buy one after week after week of going in and seeing nothing but Bonecrusherrs and Swindles. I chose what I thought was the best looking of the lot.

Vehicle Mode
Salvage vehicle. In this mode I don't like the colour scheme of the hood. Something about that scalloped design just doesn't do it for me. It's still pretty plasticky like all others in the line. I would've preferred a bit more weight, considering he's supposed to be able to tow other vehicles. The tow hook could use more articulation; it goes up and down in a very limited arc.

The cheapest looking part are the wheels. They look downright flimsy, but they roll pretty well. I like the industrial floorboarding detail. That criss-cross metal floorboard looks good where it is both in truck mode as well as robot mode.

Robot Mode
I like the look of this guy. He reminds me of G1 toys, less organic look about the face, more a straightforward representation of a robot the way G1 toys were. The scalloped hood which I disliked in the vehicle mode form his feet, and split up like that they don't look so bad.

I love the ball joints. Longarm's got ball-jointed shoulders, hips, wrists and head. I guess I could call his waist that too, except kibble interferes somewhat with what could be done here, he can flex, extend, lateral flex and rotate his torso, which is something I wasn't expecting. The wrist joints were another surprise. There are few parts as expressive as hands, especially when it comes to posing.

The only complaint I have is that shoulder kibble prevents him from achieving all the range his shoulder joints would've otherwise allowed. The window panels prevent him from achieving full ranfe of shoulder flexion. Abduction can be achieved but only if you first rearrange the panelling on his back.

The other improvement I would've liked to see relates to his weapon. There are corresponding holes in both palms, as well as a corresponding peg on either side of the rifle handle. Yet the default of weapon in right seems fixed by a screw. i may mess about with it just to see if I can unscrew the weapon and remove it. Seems a bummer if you can't remove a robot's weapon; very limiting to scenario planning.

Final Thoughts: The Automorph

I like the automorph feature. The very first movie toy I bought was Ironhide, and if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have bought the rest of them as well. But as I play with toys like Longarm I find that not having the automorph to worry about make the figure about more solid, since they can put less moving parts in it. I can also transform the guy more confidently without worrying about pushing too hard on something or other.

I also like the more traditional feel that I had playing with G1 toys. More solid, and you can really play with them as opposed to just pose. I remember as a kid getting a G1 toy, and after mastering the transformation, trying to do it at speed. I wouldn't ever dare do that with some of these toys now. The automorph, in my opinion, just makes them feel more fragile.

Shoot! Wrong forum. Apologies guys. Mods pls help me shift this to the toy forum