The Energon Pub

Visitors to the Toy Review Forum may have seen yesterday my posting about a review of the Asian Exclusive Bruticus set. (If you wish, you can read that review here.) But now I come to the Third Party forum with a follow up to that review...

Please click here to read part one of my text & photo review of the recent re-release of Fansproject's Explorer and Munitioner set! This part covers the two new figures, Explorer (a.k.a. Blast Off) and Munitioner (a.k.a. Swindle), and also looks at all of the accessories and their interactivity with the three retained figures from the Takara set.

Back soon with part two of this review, which will cover the gestalt mode, and the bonus "Quake" figure.

For now, please enjoy part one!

Dude i have been waiting for your review. Color's look great with the sets combined

That was a good review Yotsuya, thanks for sharing with us.

I'd also like to add that Vortex/Explorer's tail-fin opens up to become a sword, but I liked your take on the axe.

Yeah nice job fella. I think that text reviews beat the pants off of video reviews and I don't understand why there aren't more either! Anyway, regarding the figures I'm not convinced by the repaints but the moulds are solid as ever.

That said, I do wish that a third party would step in and create new heads for the 3 Energon moulds we are stuck with. Actually Vortex's isn't bad at all, but the other 2? I think this is a bi-product of FansProject making 2 really nice figures, and then having to display them with fairly rank Energon repaints. They don't really gel together too well.

necr0blivion wrote:That was a good review Yotsuya, thanks for sharing with us.

I'd also like to add that Vortex/Explorer's tail-fin opens up to become a sword, but I liked your take on the axe.

Well, I figured that for Vortex it is an axe... and then you open it up for Bruticus. (Although there it is a bit small for a sword, and thus is just a knife. Still... Big f'ing robot, a knife is more then enough for me to not want to mess with him.)

Anyway, I do want to get the second part (covering the gestalt mode and Shockwave / Quake) up soon... Busy over the weekend, alas, but hopefully Monday or Tuesday.

And thanks, folks, for the kind words! Nice to know that my reviews are not me doing the text-based equivalent of just talking to hear myself speak!

Yotsuyasan wrote:

necr0blivion wrote:That was a good review Yotsuya, thanks for sharing with us.

I'd also like to add that Vortex/Explorer's tail-fin opens up to become a sword, but I liked your take on the axe.

Well, I figured that for Vortex it is an axe... and then you open it up for Bruticus. (Although there it is a bit small for a sword, and thus is just a knife. Still... Big f'ing robot, a knife is more then enough for me to not want to mess with him.)

Anyway, I do want to get the second part (covering the gestalt mode and Shockwave / Quake) up soon... Busy over the weekend, alas, but hopefully Monday or Tuesday.

And thanks, folks, for the kind words! Nice to know that my reviews are not me doing the text-based equivalent of just talking to hear myself speak!

I like the knife aesthetic for Bruticus, it adds to the soldier-look he's got. Bruty brings EVERYTHING to a gun fight!

Regarding your reviews, I'd say they are enjoyable to read. What you should take away from it is that you are a). giving a bit back to the fans by sharing and b). honing your writing skills. Keep it up, there's an audience for it.

The final part of my review, this part covering the gestalt mode and the "Quake" mini-figure, is ready. Enjoy!

I never thought I'd see Bruticus do the YMCA.

I was wrong!

Banjo-Tron wrote:I never thought I'd see Bruticus do the YMCA.

I was wrong!

I was a bit disappointed in the "C," but to really get it you'd need a more flexable waist then is typically found on any robot toys.

Anyway, it was probably the second oddest posing I'd ever done with toys. As for the first...

D'oh! Just realized I forgot to mention something in the gestalt mode review I posted yesterday. Thus, I just added a new paragraph to the review. While I certainly wouldn't mind getting extra hits to my website as anyone who may have already read the review goes hunting for the new bit, instead I suppose I shall be nice and reproduce the added paragraph here.

"I should note that while overall, this is a much better looking and much more 'G1' Bruticus, there is one 'G1' element that the unaugmented Bruticus had that the version with the Fansproject upgrades alas lacks: the 'Scramble City'-like ability to swap around any of the limbs. Theoretically, you could swap around the arms. But you no longer can make an arm into a leg or vice versa. Nor can you swap around the two legs. Either foot will fit on Brawl, but only the right foot will fit on Swindle. An unfortunate loss of function, but one that is far outweighed by all of the benefits that the Fansproject additions provide."