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Monday 25 June 2012

Prime - Ironhide (CV)

"Ironhide is always ready for anything, as long as "anything" involves a fight. Surly, tough and spoiling for battle, Ironhide has made a career out of blasting Decepticons to pieces. His laser-proof armour makes him a tough opponent for even the most powerful warriors."
Faction: Autobot
Function: Heavy Munitions
Size Class: Cyberverse Commander

Strength: 9
Speed: 4
Rank: 8
Firepower: 7
Intelligence: 5
Endurance: 10
Courage: 8
Skill: 6
Robot Mode
Ironhide's robot mode is a black and red masculine bi-pedal form with clear blue parts as well. His body is sculpted with some faux interior parts from his vehicle mode and also features various parts from his vehicle mode too, as per usual.

Ironhide's torso part is pretty standard for a smaller figure. His abdomen area features a tiny Autobot insignia (so small in fact that you probably won't see it in most pictures here). Above that is a windshield chest. His head is attached to the torso and cannot move as such (again, common for smaller figures). The head is mostly a red, mohawked helmet with a forehead chevron, side rounded panels and other smaller details. Ironhide's face is silver with sculpted mouth, nose and red eyes (the eyes may have just been left unpainted by accident however). 
Surrounding Ironhide's head are the front lights from his vehicle mode acting like haunched shoulders, these are used to hide his connectors for his arms. On his back is a peg suitable for storing his weapons (or at least one weapon anyway).

Ironhide's upper arms are connected to his torso by a long connector that is able to move via a hinge (located under the lights) and a ball-joint in the actual arm. The shoulder is made from his vehicle mode grill split in half and with a large bolt visible on each one. Ironhide's upper arms are connected by a hinge, which lead to his lower arms via a ball joint that gives him quite a lot of articulation for his size class. Ironhide's upper arm features his front wheels hanging on a loose joint that can be removed if needed without damaging it. His lower arms feature a sculpted pair of hands, featuring fingers. He also has peg holes on his outer forearms and in his hands as well for him to hold or wield any smaller scale figure's weapons.

Ironhide's legs are created from the entire rear of his vehicle mode basically. The upper legs are connected to the groin area of the torso by ball joints, whilst his knees are formed with hinges that allow them to bend back and forth as needed. Ironhide's feet are formed by the cover of the vehicle mode's rear being folded out using a pivot joint and a hinge, allowing him to be re-posed as needed for whatever surface you needed, within reason. The lower legs also feature his rear wheels, just for decoration.
Vehicle Mode
Ironhide's vehicle mode is a red and black pick-up truck with a covered up haulage area in the back. This mode also features several sculpted pieces of truck detailing, such as headlights, front grill, roof lights, side windows, bumpers and other such things and small detailing.
Ironhide's front windows are made with clear blue plastic, whilst the side windows are made using silver painted plastic. His wheels are fully functional and allow him to roll along a smooth surface as needed without obstruction (a common feature in recent years of toys of course).
On his hood is a large black mark that looks like it's loosely based on the Autobot insignia, which could mean that he was originally going to have one there, but it was changed late in the process.
Ironhide features small peg holes for his supplied cannons on either door and in the boot.
Accessories
Ironhide comes with two small clear blue plastic cannons which feature 3 pegs and 2 peg holes. The pegs can be placed in any small peg holes to combine with smaller weapons if wanted, or in the configurations shown on this page. The most commonly used configuration would be the arm cannon format shown in the robot mode section or the combined weapon below, rather than being used as hand held cannons.
My Final Thoughts
I really like this Ironhide figure, despite him not being an in-show character (yet) he's been very well designed, especially considering that he's a smaller scale figure as well!
This figure is mostly impressive to me because it seems to homage most older incarnations of Ironhide all in one figure the weapons of the Movie version, colours and head of the G1 version, alternate mode of the RID version (and Movie as well I guess), but more than all of those, he even seems to be based somewhat on the designs for Animated Ironhide's Earth mode (seen in the Allspark Almanac II), albeit modified for the Prime aesthetic as well.
The only real issues I have with this toy are that in his vehicle mode he can't have the "cover" for his rear removed, this is because of his transformation sequence, but I'm sure that'll be fixed by the time his larger Deluxe toy version comes out.
I do recommend this toy for most fans, he works as a stand-in for Ironhide in pretty much any continuity that you want, or just as a currently non-show character for your Prime shelf.

Sunday 17 June 2012

Prime - Vehicon Stuart (CV)

"The Vehicons aren't always happy about their duties, but they follow orders without question. Mostly because they're more afraid of their commanders than they are of whatever the Autobots will do to them."

*The Name Stuart is my personal name for my Legion Class Vehicon, as I believe all Vehicons need to have names.

Faction: Decepticon
Function: Assault Infantry
Size Class: Cyberverse Legion

Strength: 6
Speed: 6
Rank: 3
Firepower: 5
Intelligence: 5
Endurance: 5
Courage: 7
Skill: 4
Robot Mode
Stuart's robot mode is a bi-pedal masculine one in mostly black with grey and silver highlights. Stuart's torso is mostly black with a silver chest plate and abdominal area. The torso appears to be a stylized false-part based on his vehicle mode's hood and window with a Decepticon Insignia magically appearing as well. His head is connected on a hinge joint that is able to nod slightly (as per his transformation sequence as well). The face is mostly silver with a sculpted mouth-piece and red visor optics and is bordered by a black collar on his shoulders.

His arms are connected to the upper torso by a screwed in pivot joint and ball joint combination that enables him quite a lot of movement for such a small figure. The rest of his arm is a single piece that ends with a sculpted hand with a peg hole inserted on the outer forearm and inside his hand that allows hi to hold weapons on either arm.
His legs are slightly more complex. His upper legs are connected via a ball joint connector to his groin area that gives him full movement from that point, and his knees are made from hinge joints that allows them to move back by about 45 degrees. The lower legs end in stubs that are his feet, which are supported from the rear by the vehicle mode spoiler, giving him an almost high-heel effect that makes him sturdy on most normal surfaces.
Vehicle Mode
Stuart's vehicle mode is a sleek black sports car with silver windows and a large angular spoiler, this mode also features a pair of side mirrors and some sculpted details like his front grill and lights. He has some purple highlights on the fronts of his vehicle mode going down the sides towards the wheels.
The wheels are fully mobile and enable Stuart to roll along a flat surface with great ease. He features 3 small peg holes that enables him to hold his gun/sword accessory in vehicle mode as a weapon. Stuart's robot mode feet are visible from the rear of the vehicle.
My Final Thoughts
As you may have guessed from me lovingly giving him a name like Stuart, I love this figure. Most likely it's because I like smaller scale figures in general, but also because I like character who are just presented as drones as such to have individual names as well.
There's not really much to say about this toy honestly, I personally like it, but I'm sure other people wouldn't depending on their own orientations etc.
I'd say that the Vehicon toys are best bought if you can get several of them so you can re-enact your favourite Vehicon based scenes from the series (like that time the Vehicons tried shooting the Autobots but kept missing...or that other time they...did the same thing...and...yeah....)

Prime - Dreadwing (CV)

"Dreadwing is fiercely loyal to Megatron, and is nearly as savage in battle as the Decepticon leader himself. As a Seeker, he proved himself a force to be reckoned with, as Decepticon Second-in-Command, he may be the end of the Autobots."

Faction: Decepticon
Function: Demolitions Expert
Size Class: Cyberverse Commander

Strength: 8
Speed: 8
Rank: 9
Firepower: 8
Intelligence: 8
Endurance: 7
Courage: 7
Skill: 5
Robot Mode
Dreadwing uses a blue, silver and yellow bi-pedal robot mode with a masculine feel to it. This mode also prominently features his vehicle mode wings behind the arms. His torso is silver on the outside, whilst the inside of it is made of his vehicle mode nose and cockpit, which is blue and yellow. On his back is a clip that you can use to hold his weapon as if it was in a gun sling (as he uses in the TV series). Dreadwing's insignia's are found on his wings.
Dreadwind's head is connected to the cockpit piece of the torso and cannot rotate or move independently from the torso. Dreadwing features a yellow face under a blue horned helmet with a forehead chevron on top as well. Dreadwing's face features a pair of red eyes and is sculpted with a frowning mouth and a dipped chin.

Dreadwing's upper arms are connected to the upper torso by a ball joint that allows them to move as much as needed. His elbow joint is also created from a ball joint too. Dreadwing's hands are sculpted with an open flex that disguises a small peg hole large enough to hold his weapons on their handles. His lower arms also feature a peg hole to again hold weapons if needed. His shoulders are created from a pair of pads formed from a part of the front of his vehicle mode, thus adding decoration and distracts from the connectors attaching his arms to his torso.
His upper legs are connected via a pair of ball joints at the groin like the arms are to the upper torso. His knees are created with a hinge joint which allows him to bend them back by about 90 degrees as needed. His feet are created by simple fold out stubs that are actually surprisingly supportive!
Vehicle Mode
Dreadwing's jet mode is blue with yellow highlights. His cockpit is made of a translucent plastic that allows you to see the inside of it. Underneath it features a landing wheel as well so that he can be kept straight in this mode as well. This mode also features wings, tail-fins and a single thruster between the fins.
The underside of the wings feature a pair of small peg-holes that fit his weapons in this mode. The upper-side of the wings feature a pair of gold Decepticon insignia's with wings on either side (somewhat akin to the Autobot Elite Guard wears, but closed off at the ends).
Dreadwing's robot mode arms are visible under the wings, but luckily they are mostly tucked away from above-views. His feet are combined on the underside as well, which are visible in this mode as well, but again they are pretty well hidden on the whole.
Accessories
Dreadwing comes with a pair of clear orange weapons, a cannon and a sword, these can be held in either of Dreadwing's hands, or clipped into the slots on his outer forearms. The weapons can also combine into a larger weapon, either a gun with a sword on the side, or a sword with a gun behind the blade and can be held in either configuration as needed.
As seen in my earlier images, Dreadwing's gun can also be clipped into the slots on his wings in vehicle mode as weapons, or on the clip on his back in robot mode as he does in the TV series.
My Final Thoughts
Is it odd that I seem to prefer the smaller toys to the larger ones in this toy line on the whole? Dreadwing has reasonably good articulation (for his size class anyway) and looks good in both robot and jet mode. He also comes with a fun pair of accessories that forms a very nice combined weapon as well.
Now despite me liking this toy, I do have to say that I'm looking forward to when this character is released in his larger Voyager toy at a later date, mostly because he's tiny compared to my other Decepticons like Megatron and Soundwave.
Dreadwing's twin brother, Skyquake is of course meant to make a toy appearance in this mold, and most likely his Voyager toy as well down the line (but of course since Skyquake is dead it's not such a priority at the moment, unlike the now main-character Dreadwing).

Prime - Megatron

"Megatron began his life as a gladiator, built to fight in the brutal darkness of the Kaon pits. It was there that he learned that the strong survive and the weak perish, and there that he became determined to be the strongest of all. His conquest began there, and has since burned its way across the universe."

Faction: Decepticon
Size Class: Voyager Powerizer

Strength: 10
Speed: 8
Rank: 10
Firepower: 10
Intelligence: 9
Endurance: 10
Courage: 8
Skill: 6
Robot Mode
Megatron's robot mode is mostly light grey, but with some purple highlights visible as well. His form is a masculine bi-pedal robot with wing kibble on his back. Due to the nature of the purple plastic on his body, if placed in a reasonable enough light source he will seem to glow with energon (much like how they do in the WFC games)
Megatron's torso is very simple, he features a purple body covered in light grey armour, which covers his abdominal area and chest, but leaves some gaps for accents of colour to break up the scant grey. In dead center on his chest he has his Decepticon insignia on a purple background. His head is attached via a ball joint connector that allows it to move as far as possible (which isn't much due to the height of his shoulders) but it is enough for you to pose him in a smug titled head pose if you want (And you know you want to). 
Megatron's head itself is mostly made of a grey angular helmet with some eye-brow chevrons pointed out the  sides above his eyes. Megatron's face is silver and sculpted with a skull-like feel to it, with him have a recess where his nose should be and some small fangs in his mouth as well. His eyes are purple and can light up by activating the light-piping feature found on the back of his head.

Megatron's upper arms are connected to his upper torso by a ball-joint connector that give sit full articulation, however the articulation is hindered by the shoulder pads that are placed over the tops (to hide the connection, and gives him decoration). Megatron's elbow is formed from a hinge-joint that leads to a pivoting joint at the top of the lower arms, thus allowing the lower arms to rotate as far as needed, and also flex inward as far as possible too. The hands are connected to the lower arms by a hinge joint each that can fold in on themselves. The hands themselves are sculpted with sprawled claw-like fingers that feature a hidden peg hole as well between the fingers and thumb for him to hold any standard sized weapon.
Megatron's lower arms feature two sets of peg holes, one near the outer wrists and one higher up, near the elbows. Megatron's knuckle duster is plugged into the wrist one, whilst his cannon is plugged in the elbow one (or any other weapons from other characters can be plugged in instead).

Megatron's upper legs are connected to his groin area by ball joint connectors and pivoting joints that allows them to rotate and swivel as much as needed. Megatron's knee joints are created from a hinge joint that allows the lower legs to bend backwards as far as possible.
Megatron's lower legs are made up mostly from Megatron's vehicle mode wings (I know! Weird right?) and are very solid, but feature nothing else to really talk about. His feet are made up of two toes and one heel which are connected to the lower leg by a set of hinge joints and can be altered to allow for any surface type needed (within reason)
Vehicle Mode
Megatron's vehicle mode is a light grey and purple Cybertronian Jet (as it tends to be for his Cybertronian mode in recent years) and also features his fusion cannon plugged in on top.
This mode features two wings and a...thing on the front that I guess is either a weapon or a deflector device of some sort. As with Megatron's vehicle modes in the Movies this version has his head at least partially visible in vehicle mode.
Now, despite me liking this mode from the front, I do have to say that the rear looks just lazy, his hands and legs are fully visible, which I'm guessing isn't a planned design feature, unlike what happened with his head (please note, in my pictures I have left the hands open, but even when closed they are still very visible none-the-less).
This mode doesn't feature any unique features, much like with Optimus Prime's Voyager toy before.
Accessories
Megatron comes with his fusion cannon and a knuckle-duster/blade weapon that are able to combine (as shown in my vehicle mode pictures) or kept as separate weapons (as shown in my final picture). The weapons are able to be inserted into Megatron's forearms, or wrists by the peg holes on either arm.
Megatron's cannon can be converted into a sword as well by pushing the large purple button on the end of it, which pushes forward his blades and activates a light as well
My Final Thoughts
Megatron's an interesting one, he's the sole member of the Prime cast to still retain his Cybertronian mode whilst operating on Earth, and I like Cybertronian modes, which gives Megatron a few points from me, and he looks good in both modes, again more points, but that's about it.
He's a very annoying figure to Transform, and half of his robot mode is clearly visible in vehicle mode, plus in robot mode he has some random kibble that's just annoying on his back.
He's not very stable on his feet honestly (this may be just mine) as he likes to do the splits randomly, or tilt on his side for no apparent reason (as in the lower picture).
His accessories work very well on this toy and are indeed fun, but that's about all the play-value you can get from him (unless you still like turning the toy into jet mode and going "Phwoosh, PiCHOW!!"and the such).
So all in all, I'd say that he's worth buying, just so you have Megatron in your Prime collection, but otherwise you may as well just forget about him on the shelf afterwards (also, get him when he's on a sale or something, not full price if possible)

Monday 11 June 2012

Prime - Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime
"It took long years of patient training, battlefield experience, and constant modifications for Optimus Prime to achieve the raw might with which he combats Megatron and the Decepticons. Now, he is the perfect warrior and a courageous leader, against whom evil can never stand."

Faction: Autobot
Size Class: Voyager Powerizer

Strength: 10
Speed: 7
Rank: 10
Firepower: 9
Intelligence: 8
Endurance: 10
Courage: 10
Skill: 8
Robot Mode
Optimus Prime's robot mode is a masculine humanoid bipedal form. He is, despite his vehicle mode mostly grey but with blue legs and hip-parts and red back plates and arm armour.

Optimus' torso features a sculpted abdominal area which features several false parts from his vehicle mode. His chest however actually uses his vehicle mode windows (which have been slightly folded in on themselves in order to gain more shape). Optimus' head is connected via a ball joint connection that allows the head to rotate as much as needed. The head is mostly made up of a blue helmet with ears and a large forehead chevron (featuring a silver grooved inner chevron detailing as well). The face is silver and features a mouth plate with small details over it. Optimus' eyes are activated by a light-piping gimmick that makes them glow a pale blue.

Optimus Prime's arms are connected to his upper torso by a shoulder joint by a ball joint that allows it to move on that joint as needed. The lower arm is connected via a pivot joint-hinge combination that allows them to rotate fully as needed and bend inwards as far as possible too, enabling him to flex him muscles as needed. Optimus' hands are connected to the lower arm by a hinge joint that allows them to bend inwards by about 90 degrees. The hands feature sculpted open fingers around a hidden peg hole for weapons to be held in if desired. The lower arm also features a peg hole for other weapons to be held if needed too.

Optimus' legs are connected to his lower torso by ball joints on either side of his groin that allows them to move as much as possible (barring obstruction). The upper legs also feature a pivoting joint that allows them to rotate by 360 degrees if needed for posing. Optimus' knees are created by a hinge joint hidden behind a knee pad. The hinge allows him to bend his legs back by about 90 degrees. Optimus' feet are connected to the lower legs by a ball joint-hinge combination that allows them to move as far as possible and is needed for whatever surface he's on.
Vehicle Mode
Optimus Prime's vehicle mode is a truck cab in mostly red, blue and grey. This mode features several sculpted details that you'd expect to see in a truck mode (doors, mirrors, front grill, headlights etc) but doesn't feature any other real gimmicks in this mode, other than having six fully rotating wheels that allow him to roll along a smooth surface without obstruction.
Accessories
Optimus comes with two accessories, a sword and a collapsible gun, that is opened up by pulling down a lever on the back, which flips out the barrel and causes a light to activate. I haven't found a way to keep this gun open yet so far (please tell me if you have). The gun and sword can clip into the robot mode via either the peg holes on his lower arms, or his hands on either arm. The weapons also feature a peg hole each that can have other weapons pegged into them if you want.
The weapons can be stored on Optimus' vehicle mode in an awkward way on the back by clipping them into the rear peg holes, though you can just leave them off the vehicle is needs be!
My Final Thoughts
Over all I do like this incarnation of Optimus Prime, he looks good in both modes, has some fun weapons (albeit the gun's annoying habit of not staying open without constant holding). He's a very sturdy figure in both modes (assuming you transformed him properly).
One major issue I do have with this figure is that he is very annoying to transform (from either mode) which I know puts off a lot of fans (I can't see my nephew sitting there and trying to figure this one out). Although this is also a trait shared with his wave-mate Megatron as well, so it's hardly unique to Optimus.

I'd say that all in all this is a good figure, especially if you want a representation of Optimus from the Aligned continuity for your shelf, and he can also be used as a passable replacement for G1 and Movie Optimus as well if you're having problems finding a figure for either of those lines that you like the look of.