The Energon Pub

[necr0blivion]

I received the new upgrade set for G2 Prime - Battle Tanker right before Christmas, and I've spent a bit of time trying to learn the ins and outs, as well as watched a video review to help with transformation. Here are the thoughts of your average fan with resources to spend on this type of purchase.

Packaging: The box art is FANTASTIC! I love the drawings of the armor, then armor + ED-209 style weapons add-on. Open up the front of the box to be treated to all the pieces in clear display. I also see a shiny sticker telling me I've got a limited edition Drift sword, w00t!

Contents: Not only did I get that bonus Drift sword, I also received the replacement head for Prime that uses screws instead of the boiling method. that was the first thing I added to Prime, and the thing is on tight. I try to be careful when posing the head, the fit is just a bit too snug for my tastes. The other add-on pieces to Prime weren't that bad, even replacing the codpiece ("Toki, that's not a codpiece!). I'm curious as to why there are two different blades to use for the sword: the clear red and the solid grey blades.

Add-on battle suit: The first steps to transform the tanker to battle armor are fine, but I experienced a stiff rotational piece to move the arms of the tanker. If you look closely, there's an arrow printed on the circular piece holding the connections for both arms of the tanker, it needs to be rotated 180 degrees and I was worried I was about to break something. I encountered further difficulties adding the rocket launchers to the legs (wouldn't sit flush due to the tires) ***EDIT - remember that there's additional transformation needed on the legs - fold the two flaps back for each leg, rotate tires around, then push tires down into leg. This let me add the leg launchers in flush***. Finally, adding the battle suit to Prime, it's a good fit but feels flimsy. I think I need to work with this a bit more instead of writing it off as bad fit.

Transforming to tanker mode: Again, I feel that it will take a few times before I'm comfortable changing to this mode. I appreciate how each of the parts attach to the main piece, definitely shades of City Commander here. Add-on the alt mode for Prime, and you've got a neat looking gas tanker set, albeit smaller than the previous sets we are used to (Voyager Prime and his two trailers, City Commander/repaints, or Protector).

The replacement pieces for Prime look great, especially the head. I was never a fan of the original head the figure came with. The pieces that actually attach to Prime in robot mode give him some much needed "beef", but he still falls a bit short compared to Voyager OP (Classics/Henkei). And those guns are damn cool!

The most infuriating part of the whole kit is the gas hose and pack. It's doesn't stay on well when attached as a backpack. Also, the hilt easily falls off the handle. The LED is bright, but doesn't really shine well throughout the clear red blade. Finally, the soldering wasn't that great - when trying to remove the sword from Prime's hand, I pulled out one of the connections. I may not bother to rig it to work, as it didn't seem to add that much. This might've been prevented if the mold were different, and the hilt/handled didn't come apart. Anyone else have this issue?

Overall: I wasn't a huge fan of G2 Prime mold, and I've now spent $100 to make him better. What you get from this kit seems to be worth about half the price. I'm glad to have it as I am a collector, but wish I could've gotten more for my money. I'll probably leave the tanker portion as a base while in display. MakeToys definitely used some unique ideas, like the c-clip for the forearm attachments and the original hands to hold the new hands, and I hope we can expect more innovative ideas like this in the future. I'm looking forward to their mini-botsu line and Giant set.

[El Duque]

Another great thing about this set is if you happen to have two RtS Primes, or one RtS Prime and one United Prime it can still form a perfectly usable trailer even with all the robot upgrades removed. The trailer is actually more realistic and poseable with the upgrade parts removed.

[Nemesis Destron]

I received the new upgrade set for G2 Prime - Battle Tanker right before Christmas, and I've spent a bit of time trying to learn the ins and outs, as well as watched a video review to help with transformation. Here are the thoughts of your average fan with resources to spend on this type of purchase.

Packaging: The box art is FANTASTIC! I love the drawings of the armor, then armor + ED-209 style weapons add-on. Open up the front of the box to be treated to all the pieces in clear display. I also see a shiny sticker telling me I've got a limited edition Drift sword, w00t!

Contents: Not only did I get that bonus Drift sword, I also received the replacement head for Prime that uses screws instead of the boiling method. that was the first thing I added to Prime, and the thing is on tight. I try to be careful when posing the head, the fit is just a bit too snug for my tastes. The other add-on pieces to Prime weren't that bad, even replacing the codpiece ("Toki, that's not a codpiece!). I'm curious as to why there are two different blades to use for the sword: the clear red and the solid grey blades.

Add-on battle suit: The first steps to transform the tanker to battle armor are fine, but I experienced a stiff rotational piece to move the arms of the tanker. If you look closely, there's an arrow printed on the circular piece holding the connections for both arms of the tanker, it needs to be rotated 180 degrees and I was worried I was about to break something. I encountered further difficulties adding the rocket launchers to the legs (wouldn't sit flush due to the tires) ***EDIT - remember that there's additional transformation needed on the legs - fold the two flaps back for each leg, rotate tires around, then push tires down into leg. This let me add the leg launchers in flush***. Finally, adding the battle suit to Prime, it's a good fit but feels flimsy. I think I need to work with this a bit more instead of writing it off as bad fit.

Transforming to tanker mode: Again, I feel that it will take a few times before I'm comfortable changing to this mode. I appreciate how each of the parts attach to the main piece, definitely shades of City Commander here. Add-on the alt mode for Prime, and you've got a neat looking gas tanker set, albeit smaller than the previous sets we are used to (Voyager Prime and his two trailers, City Commander/repaints, or Protector).

The replacement pieces for Prime look great, especially the head. I was never a fan of the original head the figure came with. The pieces that actually attach to Prime in robot mode give him some much needed "beef", but he still falls a bit short compared to Voyager OP (Classics/Henkei). And those guns are damn cool!

The most infuriating part of the whole kit is the gas hose and pack. It's doesn't stay on well when attached as a backpack. Also, the hilt easily falls off the handle. The LED is bright, but doesn't really shine well throughout the clear red blade. Finally, the soldering wasn't that great - when trying to remove the sword from Prime's hand, I pulled out one of the connections. I may not bother to rig it to work, as it didn't seem to add that much. This might've been prevented if the mold were different, and the hilt/handled didn't come apart. Anyone else have this issue?

Overall: I wasn't a huge fan of G2 Prime mold, and I've now spent $100 to make him better. What you get from this kit seems to be worth about half the price. I'm glad to have it as I am a collector, but wish I could've gotten more for my money. I'll probably leave the tanker portion as a base while in display. MakeToys definitely used some unique ideas, like the c-clip for the forearm attachments and the original hands to hold the new hands, and I hope we can expect more innovative ideas like this in the future. I'm looking forward to their mini-botsu line and Giant set.

I value your posted review and thanks for sharing your input. Where did you order your set from that you got the head that does infact screw on?

[necr0blivion]

I value your posted review and thanks for sharing your input. Where did you order your set from that you got the head that does infact screw on?

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/prod ... ode=retail

I got an e-mail on 12/19 saying that their preorders came in, and immediately shipped out my Pile of Loot. I actually ordered 2 copies of Battle Tanker (for either the new BotCon Ultra Magnus or a "Nemesis"/Scourge repaint that I'm not sure why Hastak is dropping the ball on). When I received shipment, there were 2 packages of Battle Tanker, as well as two additional baggies with the new screw-on head and instructions. So, if you order the 1st Edition, not only do you get the limited Drift sword, but also a 2nd OP head.

I'm glad you enjoyed the review. I have to admit that I went back to play with Prime/BT to try some poses, was able to figure out why the leg rockets weren't flush (and edited my original post), and I'm liking the full-on suit mode a lot more now. The suit just takes getting used to, and patience in posing - unlike City Commander. Still have a broken wire/hilt issue, but everything else is pretty damn cool. Still think the going price is a bit more than what I would like to pay, but that's the cost of 3rd party items.

[Kibble]

This set makes a downright terrible figure pretty cool. Still has some articulation issues (especially if you don't want to cut that tab off his 'shoulder',) but what I find to be the worst parts of the figure are corrected, namely his head and feet.