by Seibertron » Sat Aug 15, 2015 11:46 pm
- Motto: "'Til All Are One!"
- Weapon: Twin Shock-Concussion Missiles
Here are my thoughts ... I normally just like to take pictures and prefer to read what all of you have to say, but I'll make an exception this time around because I'm personally so divided on these figures and it seems the generally fan community is as well.
CW Prowl > Universe Prowl
CW Sunstreaker < Universe Sunstreaker
CW Ironhide > Universe Ironhide
CW Mirage < Classics Mirage
CW Mirage (with fan mod) > Classics Mirage
CW Prowl is a great fun toy. Lots of character. I was never a fan of the Nissan mold used for Universe Prowl, Bluestreak and Smokescreen. Quite frankly, Universe Prowl is a really crappy toy. Maybe if we didn't get to the amazing toy that is Universe Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, it wouldn't have been so bad, but between the wings/doors that don't stay on ball joints when transforming the figure, the really screwed up neck, and the jacked up legs/feet, it's just not a great toy. Fantasize all you want about it, but it's not a good Transformers toy. Oddly though, the mold works much better to me for a 3rd tier character like Rapido, but not as a prominent (and dominant) character like Prowl.
CW Sunstreaker is a great toy. Unfortunately, Universe Sunstreaker will probably be the ultimate mainline non-Masterpiece Sunstreaker for at least a decade if not longer. Unless we get some main product line comparable to Masterpiece that is along the lines of Mattel's Masters of the Universe Classics line, Universe Sunstreaker won't be beat. As for the CW Sunstreaker, I really like it. Just wish his chest was different. The Breakdown mold, despite there not being a lot of choices for regular car mode Transformers in Combiner Wars, was a great choice for Sunstreaker.
CW Ironhide isn't really a great choice for Ironhide. The head sculpt is the weakest of these 4 figures and I feel like the First Aid mold sans emergency lights would have been a better choice vehicle mode wise for Ironhide. The colors are much better than the horrible Universe Ironhide toy which I can't wait to put into storage and never see again. It's an abysmal toy which makes the CW Ironhide toy better only because it's competition sucks so bad. Just sayin'.
CW Mirage is OK. I really like the slim Classics Mirage for some reason. I'm not sure why that look works so well for Mirage to me, but it did. I keep hoping one day we'll get a new Mirage figure that is more along the lines of Universe Sunstreaker with a stocky build like the Combiner Wars version. CW Mirage with the fan mod is a much better figure to me. I wish this had a little more ingenuity to it along lines of Universe Sunstreaker/Sideswipe that had been thought out from the get-go so that we could get Dragstrip and Mirage out of the same car, same toy but different robot mode setup. Regardless, the fan mod is a huge improvement of the toy to me.
As far as them combining, it's just this year's gimmick. Don't like it? Don't combine them! Take them for what they are. Don't like them? Then skip them altogether ... there are other alternatives from the past 10 years that should give you what you want. If these had been the first modern updates to these characters, I'd be really disappointed. But as alternative takes on characters that I've already got, I'm AOK with it.
As for Combiner Wars as a whole, the extremely fast pace of repaints and repaints is getting old pretty quick. I get why Hasbro has to do this, I disagree with the fast and furious pace. I'd prefer to see some more diversity in the molds before getting a 4th repaint/remold in a line that has only been out for 9 monnths or less.