by prjkt » Mon Apr 20, 2015 3:56 am
- Motto: "What'd I miss?"
- Weapon: Laser Pistol
Ok, so wave three arrived today - photos to follow as usual.
Voyagers:
Hot Spot: Probably my favourite voyager of the Combiner Wars line so far, simply for how the combiner torso is formed - the ladder apparatus wraps around the entire figure, pegs into place holding the arms/combiner ports in place better than on OP/Motormaster and then the head pegs into place on the top G1 style (from the ladder).
Alt mode is probably the weakest, especially at the hips - the don't seem to peg in too well on my copy, but it's still a solid, believable airport-style fire engine.
Bot mode is Hotspot dead on. Blue Optimus prime-like head, red chest plate and red strips on his shoulders/legs. Really brings back memories of G1 Hotspot (who was one of my favourite toys as a kid - in fact I think I had all the Protectobots as a kid, but I don't ever recall combining them completely...)
Cyclonus: A surprising retool of Silverbolt in a couple of ways - his head no longer flips forward into the chest, instead simply rotating backwards - the "gap filler" part of the combiner torso flips into place much easier for it.
The heavily retooled parts made the alt-mode almost unrecognisable in comparison - very Cyclonus, and only the robot shoulders give hints that the mould originated with Silverbolt. The wings hold the arms and the legs into place (the legs are tougher to plug in that on SB.)
Again the retooled parts make bot mode quite unique, although due to transformation constraints, he doesn't quite have the long horns that I associate with Cyclones. I don't think he'll replace the RTS version on my Lost Light shelf, but I may stand him beside Mania King. I have to say the shade of purple they chose for this release is impeccable - quite a deep shade, with a gloss hint in parts - much to the contrast of the quite pale RTS version. Big points just for that.
Deluxes: One overall comment, compared to previous waves, the plastic here feels "stiffer" and less malleable, especially on First Aid.
Blades: Easy one up, no real changes from Alpha Bravo apart from a new head (with a nice angry grimace) and paint job. Same pros and cons as A/B.
First Aid: Quite a retool of Off Road - almost all the "shell" pieces are new, along with a new chest piece, only the front of the bonnet and the transformation scheme hint back at Off Road.
As he's no longer a ute style truck and more an ambulance, it seems to me that they've lowered the overall height a little - those windows seem quite small, but the overall bulk of the figure doesn't suffer IMO. As I've mentioned in the past, I wish there was still translucent plastic in use, especially for the light bars, but I'm not taking points off for that.
The legs in bot mode look a little weird with arm shaped cutouts down the sides, but otherwise no faults here - and head sculpt looks straight out of MTMTE - big positives.
Streetwise: Retool of Deadend (apart from Blades, the most obvious one - and even then you've gotta take a good look.) I'm not sure if it's due to the plastic in use, but he comes together in alt and limb mode better than dead end, and the peg holes aren't as loose (big positives for that hand/foot attachment.)
Alt mode, of the protectobots, looks the most "futuristic" - something you'd see in Back to the Future's version of 2015, but not so out of place that he doesn't fit in with the rest of the team. Again those lightbars need translucence....
Again that head sculpt is quite comic accurate from what I can recall, and the bot mode has all the pros and cons (minus the looseness) that apply Dead End.
Rook: The new mould/new character of the wave, first impressions are you would not want to be in his way - in all modes he looks solid, beefy, and would pack one hell of a punch.
Transformation is quite simple, and a bit of fun, but the end result is a bit nondescript. A tapered box on wheels, but I guess that's what SWAT vans are in real life?
Head sculpt looks like a bot wearing an American Gridiron helmet, and there's no doubt of his allegiance with the Autobot sigil smack bang on his forehead. The whole upper front end of his alt mode ends up on his back, but it's not in the way much, and does hint that potential retools in the future could be quite different.
Legends:
Warpath: Deep red repaint of Legends Megatron. Haven't opened as I've already got Deluxe Gen Warpath on my shelf.
Viper: Blue repaint of Powerglide with a new head and big Cobra/Decepticon sigil on his chest. His legs still have trouble coming together for alt/weapon mode, so no real difference from PG.
Groove: My favourite Legends figure of Combiner Wars so far.
His alt mode is a sleeker, modernised version of the G1 toy, but actually has leg and arm articulation in bot mode. Though his legs are a little long in proportion.
His combiner add-on mode beats Blackjack hands down - there's a peg on Defensor's chest that connects to the centre of Groove, and there are pegs on Groove's arms that hold onto Defensor's chest quite well - no chance of him falling off with the slightest touch like with Blackjack/Menasor.
Overall: I might be saying this simply because he's new, but Defensor might be, at least in my opinion, the best combiner so far. Four solid limb bots, the best voyager/legends pair so far and the best overall proportions.
