Z is a Wild Card!!!!

The Winning Toy

Name: Cyclonus

"Cyclonus is so reckless that even his own Decepticon allies are afraid of him. While performing aerial attacks, he may suddenly fly off to attack a lone Autobot, leaving his companions unprotected. Megatron likes to let him loose because he's so dangerous in battle, but he has trouble stopping him once he gets started. Will Cyclonus ever learn to control his savage recklessness?"

Toyline: Armada

Generation: Unicron Trilogy

Size Class: Deluxe

Faction: Decepticon

Quote: "Out of my way! Attack!"

Strength: 8

Intelligence: 5

Speed: 8

Endurance: 7

Rank: 5

Courage: 8

Fireblast: 7

Skill: 5


Robot Mode



Cyclonus' robot mode is a combination of blues, white, purple and gold-brown. His robot mode is quite basic looking and with somewhat limited articulation, and features a large rotot on his back as well.

Cyclonus' torso is made up of the bulk of his vehicle mode and therefore features his cockpit, and the gimmick of inserting his Mini-Con into his chest to give him a new weapon. His head is connected by a simple pivot joint that works when he flips the head outwards, and allows him to nod his head a bit in this mode. His face is a bright orange with green eyes inside a dark blue helmet. His face features a sculpted nose, eyes, jaw and sneer for a mouth.

Cyclonus' vehicle mode wings are doubled as his shoulders in this mode which lead to hinges on each one that connect to his upper arms, allowing them to bend forwards and back as far as needed. His lower arms are connected by another hinge that forms an elbow which allows him to bend the lower arms inwards about 180 degrees. His hands are sculpted with fingers, but feature no articulation or pegs for additional weapons. His arm cannons are activated by inserting a Mini-Con to launch the missiles.

Cyclonus' upper legs are connected to his groin area by a pivot joint that allows him to bend them as far as needed. (if you remove his tail fin then you can make him bend his legs back as well). His legs feature a knee joint that allows him to bend them back as far as possible. His feet are made from a small protrusion at the front and his vehicle mode non-firing guns as his heels. His legs feature a hidden pair of guns that are revealed by inserting a Mini-Con into either of the Hard-Points on his outer legs.

Cyclonus' rotor balde can be removed and inserted into one of his Hard-Points as another weapon (like Cybertron Evac's). But this mode isn't supported by any fiction I can think of.


Alternate Mode



Cyclonus' vehicle mode is a blue, white and purple Cybertronian helicopter with a gold rotor blade, tail fins and side cannons.

This mode features a pair of blue/silver guns on his undercarriage that cannot really fire, and a pair of missiles under his wings that can be fired by inserting a Mini-Con into the Hard Point on either side.

Cyclonus' cockpit can be opened up and his personal Mini-Con Crumplezone can be inserted to extend his cockpit and give him another weapon. His tail fins can be repositioned as needed for your fictional needs. His wings can also be repositioned slightly as needed.

Cyclonus features a trigger on the tail of his vehicle mode which can be pulled back to make his rotors spin, and the gear gimmick below the cockpit activate, which can make any connected and compatible Mini-Cons (Destruction Team, Adventure Team and any repaints) activate their gimmicks.

A problem with this alternate mode is that you can clearly see his robot parts in this mode, it still looks good, but maybe could have been better somewhat.


Crumplezone



Crumplezone's robot mode is a combination of blues, blacks and whites with a golden brown cannon on his back and some orange detailings on his shoulders and face. His Mini-Con port is located on his chest next to his insignia. His arms are connected at about half-way down his torso and can be moved back and forth as needed. His legs are connected by a hinge that allows it to move forwards and bend at his knees each.

Cyclonus' little buddy is the Mini-Con Crumplezone, he turns into a Cybertronian tank (akin to Cyclonus' Cybertronian helicopter mode) and features a pair of wheels on either tracks allowing him to really roll along a smooth surface. He features a turret on top which can be made to move by moving the rear of it (this can also be activated by pulling on Cyclonus' trigger as well when he is connected to him.

When connected to Cyclonus by the chest/cocpit he looks like a new Cockpit for him and even gives him a gun under the cockpit as well. His arms can be folded backwards as well to make him look more flowing.


Legacy

Cyclonus appeared as a main character in the Armada TV series and Dreamwave comic series, where in both he acted as one of Megatron's main soldiers. In both series he was a bit manic, but was very loyal to Megatron. Interestingly, in the Dreamwave comic he is shown to scan a normal human made helicopter, but ends up taking on a more alien looking alternate mode.
In the Dreamwave series, Cyclonus was used as a test subject for the Destruction Team, which overloaded him and he ended up attacking Thrust under their power (he was later fixed up however). In the cartoon however he survived until the Energon wars, but was eventually converted into Snowcat by Megatron.

This Cyclonus' toy has been repainted a couple of times as Cyclonus as well from different parts in the TV series or with power ups, and was later repainted as a new character Buzzsaw for the Cybertron line. This new character appeared in some prose stories from Fun Publications, and the same character model, including colours appeared in the Cybertron series as a Velocitronian race announcer (being the only aerial robot other than Skyfall to come from that planet). The character model was also used for the fiction only Predacon character Buzzbomb.

The name Cyclonus has been used in a few series, starting with G1 where he was rebuilt from a dead Decepticon by Unicron, as well as being one of the members of the Expansion in the IDW series. An alternate version of Cyclonus appeared in the Transformers Animated series as a member of Team Chaar, and is hinted as being from the future, possibly as an evolved form of one of Starscream's clones himself. A swell as having a Shattered Glass counterpart (see my review for him) and a character of him in the War for Cybertron game from the Aligned continuity.

Crumplezone's name has been reused a couple of times for the Velocitronian character from Cybertron, and the similar looking character from Animated as well, and as one of the lesser known DOTM figures from the Speed Stars lines.


Is he Cool?

This is a hard one...he is cool to an extent. His toy does look good, but not by today's standard of realistic looking alternate modes, however due to him having a Mini-Con with a very specific connection process to him (one of the few figures to have a very unique gimmick for Mini-Cons)

Although, as I said before by today's standard he's not that great as a figure, he has limited articulation, and a very weak alternate mode (as a disguise I mean) compared to today's standards.

As such, it might be only worth getting him as a way to complete your Armada collection or just to get the Mini-Con really, that's the main reason why I bought him this year. Honestly, if you want a helicopter Transformer then you should probably get one of the others like Bulkhead or Evac.

Rare Toy - Shattered Glass Cyclonus

PLEASE NOTE: This review was originally written at an earlier date, so it might be outdated or lacking by my current standards



Shattered Glass Cyclonus

"Idling in a prison cell is often the most profound way to chase an epiphany, and Cyclonus cornered his during his fourth deca-cycle of incarceration. Without the constant whispering into his audio receptors by the powers that be, the remorseful Decepticon finally found the still calm that allowed him to rise above the ever-present chatter and hear for the first time his true voice. Now, with a determination of his own and the moral consult from his Targetmaster partner Krunix, he seeks to redeem his name amongst the Decepticons, all the while endeavouring to never again lose his voice in the din of deceit and corruption he has re-avowed to fight."

Role: Warrior

Quote: "Never belonging to anything larger than yourself only brings despair"

Strength: 9

Intelligence: 7

Speed: 9

Endurance: 8

Rank: 6

Courage: 8

Fireblast: 9

Skill: 8


Robot Mode



Cyclonus' robot mode is very good, he looks good, is stable, and well articulated.

The arms are able to bend at the elbow and rotate at the shoulder joint, also the lower arms are able to rotate as well, allowing you to aim the gun better. Also, the upper arm can be raised at the side at about a 45 degree angle for some added realism. The right hand is fitted with a plug hole so it can hold a standard sized weapon, and of course his Minicon partner, however his left hand is filled in for some reason.

The legs are able to bend at the knees as well, and the leg can also bend and rotate on a ball bearing at the thigh so he can perform a horizontal split or a star jump if needed. His upper leg is also able to rotate just under the point where the groin is as a 360 degree angle (if you must do it) His feet are also able to be repositioned if needed depending on the surface he's on (ie the feet can be made to dig into the ground if on soil or sand)

Cyclonus' head can rotate 360 degrees (as it's required for his transformation anyway, and is also fitted with a blue light-piping system (as he is a benevolent Decepticon)

His back kibble is attacked to his shoulder thingies, so it won't hinder articulation for the arms (unlike with the Classics Seeker mold)

Cyclonus' colour scheme is clearly meant to denote Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime's G1 colourings, and works very well at that as well. The orange and red main colours compliment each other very well, and the orange wings on his back are a great reference to Hot Rod as well, without having to alter the original toy's mold at all


Alternate Mode



Cyclonus' alternate mode is of a space jet reminiscent of his original G1 design, but obviously in Hot Rod's colours instead of his original colours.

Whilst the wings and other orange highlights are quite sharp against the red main body, they actually work well

The alternate mode has landing wheels on the bottom that can be hidden if you want to pretend that he's flying (or if you actually throw him around to make him fly)

The back of the alternate mode is kind of messy, the robot mode feet aren't hidden that well...actually they aren't hidden at all.

The alternate mode has a decorative cockpit area in the middle, it can't hold any real figures, and is just there for aesthetic reasons


Transformation

The transformation sequence is very simple, and quite swift to do, however you have to follow the sequence very precisely, otherwise you'll miss a stage and his head will be stuck or something.

The hiding of the nose-cone is quite clever however, as it gets fully folded into Cyclonus' chest

The only real awkward part is the lower legs since they have to be folded together, and that requires piloting the inner joints together, although the end result is still very nice


Accessories



Cyclonus comes with probably the best type of accessory, A LITTLE ROBOT!!!! In this case he comes with his Targetmaster partner, Krunix (named for the character created in Marvel UK)

Krunix is able to turn into a small gun that Cyclonus can use to blast away his enemies (in fiction anyway, since he's actually a non-firing gun in the toy form) The gun mode can attach to Cyclonus is one of 3 ways, either as a normal gun in his right hand by sliding the handle into his plug hole, or by sliding into the Targetmaster port on Cyclonus' left arm (just rotate his left hand into it's socket to reveal the port) by sliding the small clip on his back into the small hole. The final way to to slide the handle into the small hole on top of his cockpit

Krunix is coloured to match his larger counterpart (most likely because of molding issues like they did with the Micromaster teams in G1)

In robot mode, Krunix is very articulate for a small figure, his joint on his groin area enables him to enter a foetal position, which also allows his legs to move on the axis as well. His arms can rotate at the shoulder joints, and the arms can also bend at a 90 degree angle forward, but nothing else




Availability

Cyclonus was made available in the first half of 2010 along with Punch/Counterpunch. His character model was first seen in the Botcon comic, Shattered Glass. I picked mine up at Auto Assembly 2010 in a bulk batch along with Punch/Counterpunch. He came to about £40 including P&P

This figure is a straight repaint of the Universe Cyclonus toy, as is Krunix, and with no added features for the actual figure


My Thoughts

Cyclonus is fantastic, his colour scheme is well designed to both look good on this new character, and to evoke a passing resemblance to G1 Hot Rod, which is very fitting, since in the Reunification comic from TFCC he ended up shooting and killing/near killing Megatron (his leader) which is also a trait that has been given to Hot Rod because of an animation error in the G1 Movie where some orange laser fire is shot at Optimus whilst Megatron is killing him, thus making people think that Hot Rod actually shot him as well

The alternate mode is great, though since it's a small jet toy, it doesn't really have any real play value other than holding it in your hand and making "THWOOSH" sounds whilst making it "fly" around the room.

Cyclonus' insignia is very well designed, since it basically matches his body colour as well, making it similar to G1 Optimus Prime's insignia in that respect

Krunix is one of my favourite parts of this figure, since I love Minicons, Micromasters and -Masters as a toy sub-group. He makes a good mini robot figure, and a great gun that can be used in more than one way (as seen in the accessories section)

Overall, I think this figure is great, he works as both a toy and a collectable honestly, with the compatibility between Cyclonus and Krunix he can be hours of fun, or just look pretty on a shelf with your other Shattered Glass figures