New Galleries: Unite Warriors UW-08 Technobots Combiner Computron Set

So here are my thoughts on the different Computron sets from Hasbro's Combiner Wars and Takara Tomy's Unite Warriors product lines. I think Takara Tomy's set is the clear winner, but it is not without its faults.

Hasbro's Combiner Wars Computron


Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Computron Gallery

• My biggest issue with this set is that while it attempts to homage the original toys, instead of the cartoon models, it fails to do that very thing since there were so many discrepancies and missed opportunities, which were brought more to the forefront than normal simply because the Takara Tomy set strove so hard to homage the cartoon version of the Technobots.
• The other big issues that I have with this set are the lack of the guns that came with the individual figures in the UW-08 set as well as the new heads and other remoldings.
• I feel like since many of us already bought Scattershot as a single packed Voyager Class figure, that not providing us with the Takara Tomy remoldings for both chests, the guns, and the Computron head is kind of a slap in the face. I feel like I've paid for those retoolings already because I have purchased so many different versions of this mold.
• Scrounge is awesome and it's nice to see a figure that is along the lines of a BotCon figure being released at retail. Obscure, but important, and nice to finally have after 30+ years.
• Lightsteed is good in vehicle mode, but does not look like Lightspeed in robot mode.
• Nosecone is probably the weakest of the bunch. At a minimum, he needed a new head. Brawl, in different colors, is still Brawl.
• Strafe is the most bewildering to me. The "nosecone" or whatever distinct front piece he has should be called, seems like it's a spot that will easily break as soon as a Computron tumbles off someone's display shelf. As it is, I now have two cracks in mine after knocking out the pin so that I could display him holding his "guns". It's dumbfounding that this piece wasn't designed as a pop-off piece so he could have a weapon accessory, and to help reduce it as a breakage point.
• Afterbreaker looks good and having Groove's accessories helps with the homage. However, unlike the UW-08 Afterburner, you can't attach the accessories to the peg hole on top of the cockpit. Mine cracked after attempting to do this while he was attached as Computron's arm.
• Computron is OK. A proper head would have gone a long ways toward selling me on this set. In fact, I feel like Hasbro really missed an opportunity to do something truly unique with this set. I wish they had just gone all out trying to match the G1 toys with the heads, accessories, and colors. While I like UW-08 Computron's head, that head is the Headmasters cartoon head. It is not the extremely distinct toy head, which would have been really cool to have seen Hasbro done that, not with just Computron, but with all of the heads. Just make the Hasbro set a true homage to the toys to contrast Takara Tomy's version being an homage of the cartoon models.
• The new hands and feet are nice. They are a very welcomed and long overdue addition to this line. However, it's a little too late. While it's nice on Computron, it's odd that he's the only one beside the Victorion set, that doesn't have the standard Combiner Wars hand-foot-gun accessory. I guess my biggest thing is that I'd just like to see the unique hands and feet used on Computron be offered as appropriately colored sets for the other Combiners such as Defensor, Menasor, Superion, etc.

Takara Tomy's Unite Warriors UW-08 Computron


Transformers Unite Warriors Computron Gallery

I really like this set. Let's get right into it ...

• Afterburner is nice, though I definitely prefer his toy colors. The Technobots were on-screen for such a small amount of time, that I've never considered his cartoon colors to be accurate and have always thought of any of the indiscrepancies with the colors of the Technobots to be an error in the cartoon. Another odd thing with Afterburner/Afterbreaker (and Groove as well), why in the world do these two figures have the light piping eyes? That's one of my favorite features on Transformers since the early 90s which I've been bummed to see going away recently, but it looks a little out of place on this mold when none of the other Combiner Wars/Unite Warriors figures have light piping. Love the new guns.
• Lightspeed is great, but something is off about the head. It looks better in person, and in my photos, than I saw in the video reviews I watched prior to working on these galleries, but something is just a little off about it.
• Nosecone is good, but again, something just seems off. While the new drill piece looks good, it's a little too big and it bugs me that the drill doesn't spin. It's a minor feature, but at this point with all of the remoldings and all of the money I have spent on this molds over the past 2 years, it seems like a minor feature that would have been nice to have. Something is off with his head as well. It's a little too wide or something compared to the cartoon model. I'm also not a fan of the Rook "hands", not sure why this opportunity wasn't taken to remold the hands finally to give him proper fists.
• Strafe is pretty good. I haven't photographed Blast Off yet so Strafe is pretty new to me still. I like how he's a reversed Blast Off. Very clever. I also like that the front orange gun pieces detach to become hand held accessories, even if that's unnecessary since he comes with his proper gun (which again, is very welcomed). I like the cartoon head, but for some reason the toy's head is more representative of Strafe to me (especially since his Marvel Comics model had the toy head).
• Scattershot is the most welcomed change other than Computron as a whole. Thank you for remolding Scattershot's chest, Computron's chest, providing new distinct guns, and doing a new head for Computron! Colors also look great. This is what I expect at this point after already purchasing so many different versions of this mold already. I didn't realize that the chests were remolded prior to working on the gallery so it was a very welcomed surprise!
• Computron is the Computron I wanted. I'm not a fan of the hands and feet, but at this point, I think it would have been very odd if Takara Tomy had released this set with the Hasbro version's hand and feet. They're not the greatest, but they work. I'm not quite sure what to make of the combined gun. Usually when this is done, ALL of the guns combine to form one BFG, not just some of the guns. The combined Scattershot guns seem like they would have sufficed to represent G1 Computron's gun. It looks cool, but just seems odd at the same time if that makes any sense.

With all of that said, Takara Tomy's set wins for me. It's got the correct weapon accessories, the correct heads (for the most part), and the colors are faithful to the version of Computron and the Technobots that Takara Tomy was trying to homage. Hasbro's version doesn't even get that right, doesn't have unique accessories, doesn't have the right heads and failed to deliver on any other additional remoldings that the Takara set offers. While Scrounge is a very welcomed addition to my collection, he's not enough on his own to offset all of the other issues I have with Hasbro's Computron set. Thank you, Takara Tomy, for going the extra mile. Hopefully our dollars speak volumes to the powers-that-be that we want more things like Takara Tomy's Computron set going forward.

I like the HEAD better for Takara Computron, but that's about it. The Hasbro head with the soft, rubbery antenna? I prefer hard plastic. With all the shenanigans mortal children get up to, a hard plastic, slightly pointy antenna on an action figure is the LEAST of their problems....

Seibertron wrote:I'm also not a fan of the Rook "hands", not sure why this opportunity wasn't taken to remold the hands finally to give him proper fists.

That seems to be the one thing people seem to be having the most fun with though, which is weird. I don't like them from the stand point of display-ability, but the guns and drill were all designed to be hulk-handed with him, and it's fun putting different weapons into his hand-ports. If anything it would have been cool to remove the hand moldings and just use the ports as 'multi-tool hands' like cybertron red alert

Just look at that smugly handsome face of his. "I'm here to kick ass and look good, and I just ran out of ass to kick."