D-Maximus_Primal wrote:Excellent review Cobro. I really look forward to all the fun of this wave. And the picture of the 3 headmasters doing their totem pole stance was my favorite, in case you didn't realize
D-Maximus_Primal wrote:After His initial review of Chromedome and Mindwipe, Seibertron Moderator Cobotron has stepped up the plate once more, ready to pitch to us his new pictorial reviews of the other deluxes in Wave 2, that of Wolfwire and Highbrow! Check out Cobotron's review below, click on the above link to check out his previous review, and tell us what you think of the review, the awesome fun you can have with the figures, oh and the figures themselves, in the comments section below!Cobotron wrote:I scooped up the the other two Deluxes from Titans Return Wave 2.
Come play with me!
Highbrow and Wolfwire
Wolfwire has been my most anticipated deluxe of this wave, and maybe the whole line. While he is not the shining example of toy robo perfection, he does not disappoint. I am very happy with this guy.
The beast mode is great. Takes me back to that old funny G1 pup, but is one hell hound of an update in style. He even scratches my flea bitten Beast Wars itch a little.
Am I the only one who refuses to actually call him Wolfwire. Weirdwolf! All day. All night.
I have only two minor gripes with beast mode. The articulation in his front paws is limited, making it hard to get some poses looking natural. The other is the dry brush look of the paint on his claws. It ends up looking more like a mistake than a technique.
Other than those two little things, he is exactly what I was looking for. The articulation in his back legs is pretty amazing though, and honestly a welcome surprise. The overall color layout, use of colored plastics, and paint apps look really good too.
RELEASE THE DOGS OF WAR!
Monxo! What up DAWG!
A boy and his dog.
Down boy!
Someone had to do this.
Robot time!
I absolutely love the design of this guy. Big mean boxy build, with bone crushingly bulky arms. The sculpted detailing is right there on par with the entire line. I thought the all red face would be weak, but it works well and looks nice and evil.
His transformation is pretty new to me. The way his torso compacts into itself is interesting and different. The way that yellow piece on the back legs changes position from beast to bot has been done before, but never executed this well. I also really like the sculpt on that yellow leg piece.
The tail sword is even cooler than I imagined, and that gun is...well... HUGE!
The only kerflapple that's bugging me in bot mode, and it's a common problem, is that those shoulder stacks limit the articulation of the arms. It's not bad, and by no means ruins the figure. It just seems that they would have figured a work around for this problem. I mean who doesn't like big shoulder stacks on their transformers though?
Blaster ride.
Beastie Boys
Now Highbrow
MAN! This guy. Such a great modern take on the original. He definitely exceeded my expectations. Like Chromedome, he is the perfect update. Great in both modes. Nice color distribution, great sculpting, and appropriate articulation leave me with little to complain about. Xort, in head mode, rides a little high in the saddle making his neck look a little long, but it just adds a little more height to his brow.
The original quartet is complete!
Ion chair
You certainly can't tell by looking, but yes these two were definitely developed side by side. Other than sharing transformation, they share a total of 7 parts, and minor ones at that. His heel spurs are Scourge's feet. They share hands, hip/thigh/knees, that inner sliding post for transformation, and the post and ball pieces of shoulder articulation. I think this is a nice method of pretooling.
This is one thing I can't figure out.
Why this opens. The G1 toy had an opening panel there that revealed the stat-o-meter, but he doesn't have stats. My best guess is this was just a way to get that grey colored panel in the middle of all that blue instead of painting it.
GET TO DA CHOPPER!
Love this update on that space heli.
It's Xort of cool how well you can see the pilot in there.
We're gonna need more guns!
This line is shaping up really well in my eyes. It's so much fun to have these great updates to these original Headmasters, and I like all the curve balls they've thrown too. My "Classically" trained collection is happy to add these guys , and aesthetically they slide right in the mix with the Classics and Generation toys.
Enjoy your toys! I do.
JeLz, I don't think I would really understand what a pre-tool is without your dissertation research on the subject.
I've never even seen that show. I just live that pic every time Sabrblade posts it. Had to recreate it.SillySpringer wrote:D-Maximus_Primal wrote:Excellent review Cobro. I really look forward to all the fun of this wave. And the picture of the 3 headmasters doing their totem pole stance was my favorite, in case you didn't realize
Yeah that was awesome.
Burn wrote:Agamemnon wrote:Let's get back to talking about Burn's mammoth snout flopping...
Well I am Australian. It's kinda what we're known for.
Cobotron wrote:I've never even seen that show. I just live that pic every time Sabrblade posts it. Had to recreate it.SillySpringer wrote:D-Maximus_Primal wrote:Excellent review Cobro. I really look forward to all the fun of this wave. And the picture of the 3 headmasters doing their totem pole stance was my favorite, in case you didn't realize
Yeah that was awesome.
The only bad thing about writting that, was I missed Braingate.
Now to catch up on the mystery!
#Braingate
I think it only really matters to me if such name changes have a direct effect on what the characters are called in the fiction. Most of the time, the fiction can keep on using the characters' original names regardless of what the toys call them, but there are times where the fiction does reflect the changed toy names. Some examples include when Energon's Ravage-based and Shockwave-based characters had to be called "Battle Ravage" and "Shockblast", respectively, the FOC game using "Sharpshot" and "Hardshell" in place of "Shrapnel" and "Bombshell", the Prime cartoon likewise using "Hardshell" instead of "Bombshell", IDW making Trailbreaker change his name to "Trailcutter", BotCon 2005's obvious Moonracer character having to be "Chromia" instead, and a few other cases. Granted, some of these examples don't bother me at all, but some of them are, at most, a little irksome.Kurona wrote:So like, am I the only one who doesn't really care and doesn't get why other people care when a character's name is changed for copyright?
Shadowman wrote:This is Sabrblade we're talking about. His ability to store trivial information about TV shows is downright superhuman.
Caelus wrote:My wife pointed out something interesting about the prehistoric Predacons. I said that everyone was complaining because transforming for them mostly consisted of them just standing up-right. She essentially said, 'So? That's what our ancestors did.'
Sabrblade wrote:I think it only really matters to me if such name changes have a direct effect on what the characters are called in the fiction. Most of the time, the fiction can keep on using the characters' original names regardless of what the toys call them, but there are times where the fiction does reflect the changed toy names. Some examples include when Energon's Ravage-based and Shockwave-based characters had to be called "Battle Ravage" and "Shockblast", respectively, the FOC game using "Sharpshot" and "Hardshell" in place of "Shrapnel" and "Bombshell", the Prime cartoon likewise using "Hardshell" instead of "Bombshell", IDW making Trailbreaker change his name to "Trailcutter", BotCon 2005's obvious Moonracer character having to be "Chromia" instead, and a few other cases. Granted, some of these examples don't bother me at all, but some of them are, at most, a little irksome.Kurona wrote:So like, am I the only one who doesn't really care and doesn't get why other people care when a character's name is changed for copyright?
Emerje wrote:Right, Scourge to Highbrow. The last I would guess is Air Raid into Strafe.
Emerje
william-james88 wrote:Emerje wrote:Right, Scourge to Highbrow. The last I would guess is Air Raid into Strafe.
Emerje
I thought it was silvrerbolt into either of his retools.
And if he's including highbrow and scourge, might as well include off-road and the aerial bots who all share the same transformation.
SillySpringer wrote:Cobotron wrote:I've never even seen that show. I just live that pic every time Sabrblade posts it. Had to recreate it.SillySpringer wrote:D-Maximus_Primal wrote:Excellent review Cobro. I really look forward to all the fun of this wave. And the picture of the 3 headmasters doing their totem pole stance was my favorite, in case you didn't realize
Yeah that was awesome.
The only bad thing about writting that, was I missed Braingate.
Now to catch up on the mystery!
#Braingate
Oh for Pete's sake.
I think I may know how this happened.
See, it appears that Brainstorm wasn't always intended as a Walgreens exclusive.
Check the numbers above his UPC barcode. That's his own unique product number, followed by the assortment number for the general retail Titans Return Deluxes (B7762). How do I know that? The same number also appears on the packaging for all the other general retail Deluxes, such as Hardhead (wave 1), Chromedome and Highbrow (both wave 2). See the following comparison:
Now some of you may ask, what about the Combiner Wars "May Mayhem" exclusives? How did they handle it?
Here's last year's Quickslinger and Brake-Neck, both of which only had a product code number but no assortment number. The general retail Deluxes all had the same assortment number (B0974), such as Rook (wave 3), Sunstreaker (wave 4) and Trailbreaker (wave 6).
And because those all came in English-only packaging with comic books, here's a comparison for the multilingual packaging format as well, featuring this year's "May Mayhem" exclusive Groove (no assortment number) compared to general retail wave 1's Alpha Bravo and Dragstrip (both also sporting the assortment number B0974):
So yes, it is unusual that an exclusive sports a general retail assortment number, which reeks of a change in plans very late in the process.
The last time this happened was Age of Extinction One-Step Changer Stinger, sporting the general retail One-Step Changer assortment number (A6151), as did wave 1's Optimus Prime, wave 2's Crosshairs and the final wave's Prowl.
Stinger was officially supposed to be a Walmart exclusive, like all other AOE Stinger figures, but he was actually found at multiple Target stores, complete with the "Only at Walmart" sticker.
So long story short: Making an intended general retail release an exclusive at the last moment is very likely to screw up logistics.
Shadowman wrote:This is Sabrblade we're talking about. His ability to store trivial information about TV shows is downright superhuman.
Caelus wrote:My wife pointed out something interesting about the prehistoric Predacons. I said that everyone was complaining because transforming for them mostly consisted of them just standing up-right. She essentially said, 'So? That's what our ancestors did.'
Mr Skram wrote:Just got Chromedome, Mindwipe, and Wolfy today. They're all awesome! MW and WW look incredible with Skullcruncher in the mix. The mech beasts are my favorite thing to come out of this line!
I also stuck Constructbot wheels in Chromedome's shoulders and I think I'm sticking with that look. I'll just set them aside when in alt mode. Meh partsforming, but it looks so good in bot mode!
Only one little hiccup with all this... Vorath didn't come with legs! On the plus side he still looks good as a head. I've sent a message to Hasbro so hopefully they can send me some new walking sticks for the lil guy.
#Wipeout
Mr Skram wrote:I also stuck Constructbot wheels in Chromedome's shoulders and I think I'm sticking with that look. I'll just set them aside when in alt mode. Meh partsforming, but it looks so good in bot mode!
RodimusConvoy13 wrote:Mr Skram wrote:Just got Chromedome, Mindwipe, and Wolfy today. They're all awesome! MW and WW look incredible with Skullcruncher in the mix. The mech beasts are my favorite thing to come out of this line!
I also stuck Constructbot wheels in Chromedome's shoulders and I think I'm sticking with that look. I'll just set them aside when in alt mode. Meh partsforming, but it looks so good in bot mode!
Only one little hiccup with all this... Vorath didn't come with legs! On the plus side he still looks good as a head. I've sent a message to Hasbro so hopefully they can send me some new walking sticks for the lil guy.
#Wipeout
You'd be better off taking the figure back to the store, tell them it's missing pieces, and getting another one. You'll end up with an AOE bumblebee or something from Hasbro.
Kurona wrote:Mr Skram wrote:I also stuck Constructbot wheels in Chromedome's shoulders and I think I'm sticking with that look. I'll just set them aside when in alt mode. Meh partsforming, but it looks so good in bot mode!
Mind sharing pics? I'm very curious to see how it works out myself.
RodimusConvoy13 wrote:Mr Skram wrote:Just got Chromedome, Mindwipe, and Wolfy today. They're all awesome! MW and WW look incredible with Skullcruncher in the mix. The mech beasts are my favorite thing to come out of this line!
I also stuck Constructbot wheels in Chromedome's shoulders and I think I'm sticking with that look. I'll just set them aside when in alt mode. Meh partsforming, but it looks so good in bot mode!
Only one little hiccup with all this... Vorath didn't come with legs! On the plus side he still looks good as a head. I've sent a message to Hasbro so hopefully they can send me some new walking sticks for the lil guy.
#Wipeout
You'd be better off taking the figure back to the store, tell them it's missing pieces, and getting another one. You'll end up with an AOE bumblebee or something from Hasbro.
nycPrime wrote:RodimusConvoy13 wrote:Mr Skram wrote:Just got Chromedome, Mindwipe, and Wolfy today. They're all awesome! MW and WW look incredible with Skullcruncher in the mix. The mech beasts are my favorite thing to come out of this line!
I also stuck Constructbot wheels in Chromedome's shoulders and I think I'm sticking with that look. I'll just set them aside when in alt mode. Meh partsforming, but it looks so good in bot mode!
Only one little hiccup with all this... Vorath didn't come with legs! On the plus side he still looks good as a head. I've sent a message to Hasbro so hopefully they can send me some new walking sticks for the lil guy.
#Wipeout
You'd be better off taking the figure back to the store, tell them it's missing pieces, and getting another one. You'll end up with an AOE bumblebee or something from Hasbro.
Aint that the truth. I've reach out to Hasbro 2x with issues. Each time they have sent me a replacement figure that was different from the one I had. Though it kind of worked out the last time as they sent me a Sky Lynx lol.
Kurona wrote:Who was Sky Lynx replacing?
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