Longarm and Payload - Reviews. WITH Pictures, now
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 3:05 pmWent to WalMart today, and while I was there, I checked for 08 Bumblebee - no dice. BUT, hidden among the DOZENS of Bonecrushers and eight or so Dreadwings, was a single Payload and Longarm each!
Longarm:
Vehicle mode:
Pretty decent, but with one major flaw - it's too wide in proportion to its length and height to be really realistic. Working tow arm adds a little more play value than just rolling it around.
Transform:
The doors become wings, the roof becomes the back, the hood becomes the legs, and the back becomes the arms (with arm shields). The wrecker arm becomes a "Quagma" cannon, which is NOT removeable from the toy. Relatively easy, no real problems getting anything into place.
Robot mode:
Pretty durn good. Articulation is pretty standard for a Deluxe (ball joint shoulders, hips, and head, normal elbows and knees, hinged feet), plus a little more articulation on the hands than normal (they're balljointed). The fact that the cannon is not removeable does limit some articulation, but not dramatically. No real Automorph. He's relatively broad, however, and the combinations of blue and white makes me think of Classics Mirage, though the added metallic grey chest, abdomen, and hips mitigates that somewhat. His head has decent to good light piping, and reminds me of a cross between Sunstreaker and a Gundam.
Overall: Thumbs up.
Payload
Vehicle mode:
As the first civilian Armored Car transformer, I expected this thing to be blocky and pretty solid, and wasn't disappointed. It's mostly dark blue with a few light grey bits (front grill and side diamond plate "curb armor"). No play value besides rolling back and forth.
Transform:
The inside rear end becomes the chest, and underside center becomes the abdomen. The outer front end becomes the arms, and the inner front end becomes the legs. A little tricky getting some of the parts separated the first time.
Robot Mode:
Looking at it from the front, it looks okay - a really cool set of arms, decently detailed torso and legs, and a cyclopean head that looks a bit more like Shockwave than Movie Swindle. View it from the side, however, and the awful truth is revealed. Turns out Payload is the red-headed stepchild of Cybertron Downshift, and has a chest "Capture Claw". But since there's no cyber planet key or minicon or anything to activate it... it's activated by a plunger at LEAST as long poking out his back as he is tall. He's also quite short, standing almost halfway between a typical Real Gear and a typical Movie Deluxe. Admittedly, he's got pretty durn good articulation, but the HUGE plunger out his back unbalances him so much you have to practically pose him leaning forward enough to fall over forwards, or he falls over backwards.
Overall: Woulda been thumbs up, but the huge plunger on his back negates that. Thumbs even, neither up nor down.
Longarm:
Vehicle mode:
Pretty decent, but with one major flaw - it's too wide in proportion to its length and height to be really realistic. Working tow arm adds a little more play value than just rolling it around.
Transform:
The doors become wings, the roof becomes the back, the hood becomes the legs, and the back becomes the arms (with arm shields). The wrecker arm becomes a "Quagma" cannon, which is NOT removeable from the toy. Relatively easy, no real problems getting anything into place.
Robot mode:
Pretty durn good. Articulation is pretty standard for a Deluxe (ball joint shoulders, hips, and head, normal elbows and knees, hinged feet), plus a little more articulation on the hands than normal (they're balljointed). The fact that the cannon is not removeable does limit some articulation, but not dramatically. No real Automorph. He's relatively broad, however, and the combinations of blue and white makes me think of Classics Mirage, though the added metallic grey chest, abdomen, and hips mitigates that somewhat. His head has decent to good light piping, and reminds me of a cross between Sunstreaker and a Gundam.
Overall: Thumbs up.
Payload
Vehicle mode:
As the first civilian Armored Car transformer, I expected this thing to be blocky and pretty solid, and wasn't disappointed. It's mostly dark blue with a few light grey bits (front grill and side diamond plate "curb armor"). No play value besides rolling back and forth.
Transform:
The inside rear end becomes the chest, and underside center becomes the abdomen. The outer front end becomes the arms, and the inner front end becomes the legs. A little tricky getting some of the parts separated the first time.
Robot Mode:
Looking at it from the front, it looks okay - a really cool set of arms, decently detailed torso and legs, and a cyclopean head that looks a bit more like Shockwave than Movie Swindle. View it from the side, however, and the awful truth is revealed. Turns out Payload is the red-headed stepchild of Cybertron Downshift, and has a chest "Capture Claw". But since there's no cyber planet key or minicon or anything to activate it... it's activated by a plunger at LEAST as long poking out his back as he is tall. He's also quite short, standing almost halfway between a typical Real Gear and a typical Movie Deluxe. Admittedly, he's got pretty durn good articulation, but the HUGE plunger out his back unbalances him so much you have to practically pose him leaning forward enough to fall over forwards, or he falls over backwards.
Overall: Woulda been thumbs up, but the huge plunger on his back negates that. Thumbs even, neither up nor down.
