Ninja Cyborg
Super Articulated Toy Reviews Blog

Ultimate Optimus Prime

This sounds promising, hopefully it’ll be an improvement of the excellent ROTF Leader Prime (or even the Buster Prime, fingers crossed) with a cool battle armour.. or it may be rubbish.

Leader Bumblebee

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There’s already been two large Bumblebee figures, both of which sucked compared to the Human Alliance and Battles Blades figures. If we’re going to get another Leader size ‘Bee, it should be flawless, with transforming cannon hand, axe hand, battle mask and spot on transformation including the ‘wing’ arrangement of the back. Unfortunately, from the leaks so far, it looks like we’re not getting that.

Voyager Optimus Prime

Looking more like an FAB than a Voyager figure, the best thing going for this figure, is that it helped persuade us to get the awesome Voyager Battle Blades Prime before it’s discontinued.

Voyager Megatron

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Poor Megatron, while ROTF Voyager was probably the best Movie incarnation yet, matching the videogame version well if not the onscreen version, the huge tortoise shell back kibble and withered arm were pretty embarassing. This looks like more of the same, but at least his mechtech weapon blends in, which can’t be said for, umm, ANY of the other toys leaked so far.

Voyager Ironhide

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With improved proportions and colours, maybe this is the definitive Ironhide. The first Ironhide was probably the best overall Voyager mold from the first movie, and ROTF simply took that and reused it in some creative ways. The trunk bay doesn’t look great though, and there’s a prime example of the peril of the MechTech gimmick, which we could live with if not for the giant connection ports on all sides of the alt mode. Collectors of all ages want accessories that stow away in alt mode, not clip on and look ridiculous. They also want it to look as close as perfect to what they see on the screen. The ridiculous gimmicks seen here are a disappointing waste. Perhaps the best hope for Ironhide is a third party compatible cannons add-on.

Leader(?) Shockwave

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While it’s nice to see a very faithful translation of Shockwave to the movie-verse, a tank mode pretty much exactly the same as the awful ROTF Leader Megatron is going to be a massive shelfwarmer. The cannon’s ‘power’ hose is a nice touch though. Perhaps the most loyal homage in the movie-verse to a G1 character ever made. The size class is not confirmed although the bulk here suggests Leader class. However there is also the leaked ‘Voyager New Villain’ listing that means this could be a Voyager or there could be another Voyager version we haven’t seen yet. Based on previous experience with Megatron, the Voyager decepticon leader has usually been the superior figure.

Deluxe Starscream

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What we really want is the excellent ROTF Voyager mold, with new forearms. While still hoping we get that too, the deluxe doesn’t seem to do a half bad job, but at this size it’s bound to be lacking. Here’s hoping for some interesting repaints, including a non-tattooed version, as deluxe sized seekers are highly collectible.

Deluxe Jolt

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The ROTF Jolt was one of the worst Deluxes for the last movie so the only way is up for Jolt. While probably mistransformed, the arms at least look like a huge improvement already.

Deluxe Crankcase (TBC)

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Apart from the Insecticon vibe, there’s little redeeming features on this spiky monster. However black plastic doesn’t photograph well, and Movie 1 Deluxe Barricade was a pleasant surprise, and shared this aesthetic, so there may still be hope yet.

Deluxe Skids

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Surely to be repainted as Mudflap now that it’s seemingly confirmed that both twins share the same alt mode this time out. Pass.

Deluxe unnamed Lowe’s Nascar (possibly Roadbuster)

It remains to be seen if the ‘Wreckers’ will always have their weapons on display or not - this toy suggests not initially, but if it’s not screen accurate, no one will care. Also very much hoping that there won’t be two versions to collect, with normal and attack mode.

Deluxe Barricade

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Apart from the ridiculous mechtech weapon going straight in the parts bin, a new Barricade is welcome despite the fact that Barricade has had two pretty good toys already, including last year’s excellent Human Alliance figure.

Human Alliance Unnamed Buggy

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Human alliance toys, with the possible exception of Sideswipe, were a highlight of the ROTF line, and it’s great to see their role expanded for DOTM. Here’s hoping that the characters are seen on screen, or that awesome G1 homages are used. We’re also still holding out for a Sideways with Alice set. Although, that helicopter figure looks a bit… naff.

Voyager Helicopter

Speaking of helicopters, no images yet of this rumoured figure, but here’s hoping for a redone Blackout/Grindor, even if the leak suggests this time around it will be an Autobot. The first movie’s Blackout toy was one of the better molds but is now showing it’s age. Let’s just hope they avoid the trap of making a trigger driven rotor blade!

The Deluxe Arcee and Chromia figures, weak and shelfwarming as they were, did promise a three way combination, with combination being a subtle theme of the ROTF range - Optimus/Jetfire, the Twins and Devastator of course. With the vaporware third unique mold replaced by a repaint, there’s really no reason to stick with the Deluxes. But with the Human Alliance molds coming with reasonable (if off-colour) substitutes, does Legends Arcee fill a gap?

Well unfortunately the Legends Arcee, while at least as accurate if not moreso than any other ROTF Arcee, in terms of the waist hinge, it much smaller than the Human Alliance Arcees and thus it is not the answer to having all 3 bikes at reasonable scale. See the photos for more comparisons.

The sweet custom Desert Patrol Vehicle driven by the Sector 7 soldiers in the first movie was nicely embodied in the form of the allspark series Landmine figure. The same buggy gets another go as a Scout this time in the form of Dune Runner.

Substantially smaller than Landmine and thus quite out of scale in alt mode, Dune Runner disappointed, with simplistic transformation and cheap materials.

The more glossy plastic used here doesn’t compare well to the high quality matte green of Landmine. The mold might have been better used as a Classics scout Beachcomber, and may yet be repainted as such. Indeed, the headsculpt’s large visor certainly hints at Beachcomber, even if the onboard weaponry doesn’t reflect the pacifist Autobot.

All the PS3 specific fansites, even the UK ones (we’re looking at you) have failed to pick up on this, but over at Digital Spy you can find details of all the enhancements made to the iPlayer for PS3 site that have been rolled out alongside the FW3.0 upgrade that also brought the iPlayer XMB shortcut.

Perhaps the biggest news is that it nows support H.264 video thanks to the upgraded Flash player in FW3.0. The full list of changes is as follows:

• Shortcut to iPlayer under TV section in XMB (this is where PlayTV also lives, and if you haven’t got PlayTV yet, at £40, then why not?)
• Video now uses H.264 codec for higher quality
• Hardware accelerated full screen playback at 25fps, presumably also thanks to the new Flash player. No more striping!
• 1500Kbps SD video for near broadcast quality

Additional fixes and features are coming soon, perhaps because PS3 is now the second most popular platform for iPlayer behind Windows, and ahead of Mac.

Lets get right down to business - when it comes to movie Megatrons, the Voyager is the one to get. It’s two out of two so far.

The alt mode here is the jet-tank mode seen in Megatron’s flight to see The Fallen. It’s the same tank mode, but there are little wings, that unfortunately don’t really fold out of the way when not flying to Mars. They can fold upwars a bit, sort of.

Still, what you get here is accurate to the ROTF console game. Megatron’s tank mode is hardly seen in the movie itself so it’s hard to tell for sure, but this alt mode is surely more accurate than the leader mold. The rear features the jet mode boosters, while Megatron’s head is exposed right at the front, with a kind of cow catcher to protect him. Supposedly, Megatron’s exposed head allows his sensors to be more accurate in alt mode. Or something. But it comes off looking like one of Hordak’s ridonculous transformations.

In robot mode, the legs feature a nice transformation, also more accurately reflecting the two-toed tank treads he uses to lovingly grind Starscream. However, there’s still way too much green to be movie accurate (and I can’t believe that this is supposed to reflect him being underwater when first rebuilt). Rather this matte green than the nasty cheap grey plastic of the leader version though. The right arm also features a nice extending claw that accurately matches the claw used to ‘kill’ Optimus in the battle of the magic forest that appears from nowhere. However, his withered left arm is actually used for the tank’s cannon, so incorrectly features the missile firing mechanism here instead, making an already vestigial limb even less useful.

Sadly the tank’s armoured ’shell’ does not fold up nicely or disappear, it just hangs off Megs’ back like giant metal butterfly wings, and while they can be folded right back so that in front on views, as used in the publicity photos, they disappear from sight, they stick so far out you’ll want to position them more like a ‘cloak’. Anyway. Fail.

Overall for a Voyager, Megatron is way too simplistic and features far too much kibble. But since your collection would be incomplete without a leader for your Decepticon army, this is your best choice instead of Leader Megatron, or the Fallen.

While the Deluxe Chevy mode figures for the Twins seem superfluous in light of the similar but superior Human Alliance versions, this is the only way to get the funky ice cream van mode, and it’s a proper combining alt mode at that, all at Deluxe size.

The robot modes are surprisingly screen accurate considering their small size, and the transformation satisfyingly ingenious enough that they don’t feel like shell-formers (they’re not). The only low point are the broad panels on the arms, but I don’t think it could have been done any other way. Skids is also a little top heavy because of his scrawny legs. But it just helps with the genetically-deficient look Bay was going for. The little catch in front of Skids’ face, is easy to miss, but also feels like it could break easily, hence our leaving it the upmost position during the photo session. The combination of white plastic and very small parts does unfortunately give off a ‘knock off’ vibe but it feels more robust than that.

You could consider that you’re getting two Scout size figures for the price of one Deluxe. Even if you hate these characters, then skip the Chevy mode versions or just get the HA molds, and pick up this fun set.

While a more authentic, dirtied up version is included in a two pack with Sideways, we took a different approach. Look out then for a revised review including the pimpin’ Reprolabel add-on stickers!

What if you could have Alternators versions of your favourite movie designs? And what if those Alternators also came with a figure of that robot’s human buddy to ride inside? Say, Sam with Bumblebee or Lennox with Ironhide?

What if your movie was also so successful that it’s toy line was still filling shelves two years after it came out? And if you could be sure that even if you double the number of toy designs and duplicate characters across different size classes, you could still sell them all?

Then you could get away with a whole extra line of toys that at first glance don’t differ so much from the cheaper Deluxe and Voyager lines, but give something really special to collectors and the most enthusiastic new fans who dream of having their own robot car.

So Human Alliance Bumblebee is the first of a new line to take advantage of this opportunity, and a great excuse for an entirely new attempt at creating a definitive Bumblebee toy without being constrained by the existing, and very good, Deluxe design.

In car mode, Bumblebee reflect the new final Camaro design used in the ROTF movie, like the updated deluxe preview figure, and fits right in alongside your Alternators figures in scale and detail. Unfortunately no rubber tyres though. But apart from that, it definitely looks and feels like an Alternator, except perhaps for the quality of the plastic which suffers from the fact that Bumblebee has to be yellow, always the hardest colour to replicate in paint or dye. Remember that in Alternators, the only yellow car was Binaltech Tracks, as the yellow could not be adequately reproduced in the plastic version as the thin plastic required for Alternators designs would have been too translucent in yellow. Hence the car parts here tend to be thick and chunky, and there are some variations in tone between plastics used and yellow painted areas. The translucent windows are a nice shade of turquoise.

Transformation is less automatic than the deluxe figure with its automorph gearwork. As complicated as any Alternator, but ultimately a little dissatisfying as the resulting robot has more kibble on the back than the deluxe, and other aspects of the robot too, notably the legs are less accurate than the deluxe to the CGI model. It is however stronger in the chest area, where the hood bends forward and inward. The distinctive forearm armour plates are reproduced here in the form of the vehicle chairs, and while some effort is made to detail them like the cgi model, being chairs they are ultimately oversized and a little ugly. Robot mode Bumblebee is however suitably ‘chunky’ to look like he could stand his own in a giant robot deathmatch, carrying the weight of a stocky brawler or indeed boxer. Poseability in the neck, shoulders, elbows, waist and knees is sufficient for a variety of poses although the range of motion and location of joints is not always as much as we would have liked, especially in the knees. The robots wide three toed feet make balancing easy

Like the remolded preview Bumblebee, the right hand is molded into Bumblebee’s pulse cannon. Unfortunately the designers did not see fit to use the larger size to include a dual mode arm with both hand and cannon configurations. Once again a missile launcher gimmick gets in the way of making the perfect toy. The missiles provided (two, although there’s only one launcher) stow away when not in use, clipping to the wrists, which leaves them unnoticeably under the chassis in car mode.

The headmold is probably the most accurate of any Bumblebee toy so far, and includes large blue light piped eyes.

Pegholes in Sam’s feet and back allow him to be securely attached to Bumblebee’s hand, chairs/forearms or the footplate hiding in the back. They’re slightly too small but the plastic is soft enough to force it. As well as riding in either front seat in car mode, Sam can be ‘held’ in Bumblebee’s left hand, or ride in his forearm/seats, one of which has a weapon of some kind to hoist over Sam’s shoulders or use the footplate to ride on Bumblebee’s back. To represent attack mode Bumblebee has a rectangular shoulder mounted grenade launcher (not really matching it’s more rounded appearance) and an overhead firing cannon. Completing this is the battle mask that slides forward.

The Sam figure is by the way far more posable than anyone would expect at this size. Ball jointed hips, chest and shoulders, and neck and knee joints. The likeness is pretty good too, although the angle his eyebrows are painted on it makes him appear to be in a constant state of shock and awe. The scale is not quite right in vehicle mode but passable, and noticeably smaller compared to robot mode, where the figure is closer to being the right size for a deluxe robot.

If you enjoyed Alternators you’ll appreciate this line even despite the small steps backwards in accuracy. Confirmed to come in future waves are Epps with Sideswipe and Mikaela with both Skids and an Arcee figure, which sounds like tremendous value. It’s not yet announced who, if anyone, else we might get. Would it be fair to have Skids without Mudflap at this scale?

One limitation of the Human Alliance concept is that only Autobots have human alliances right? Here’s a concept to consider though, instead of human alliances, use the larger toy size and price point to enable more sophisticated versions of the symbiotic Decepticons - Barricade with Frenzy, Blackout with Skorponok, Soundwave with Ravage, and maybe Sideways with Pretender Alice?

This toy is still somehow not quite the perfect definitive Bumblebee, but it will certainly do until the inevitable third movie, and the line concept is great, including the high quality of the human figure, so deserves much support. It’s in scale with Alternators, and does not look out of place alongside Leader class figures at least, such as Prime and the forthcoming Leader Starscream. Alternators + Movie designs + Human figures is a big win and more than enough to outweigh the small limitations in this figure’s design. The packaging states that additional figures are sold separately, one wonders if this means that we might see a legends or scouts class multipack with some other figures such as John Turturro’s Simmons?

Updated: Hasbro confirmed today at Botcon that there will indeed be a Human Alliance series Barricade with Frenzy figure! We called it first!

Xbox 360 can claim Halo, Gears of War and the GTA4 DLC (for now) as exclusives. But that’s it unless you count un-remixed 1980s arcade games or a few budget titles scoring under 3/10.

The PS3 has loads more doesn’t it? There’s Motorstorm, Resistance, Ratchet and Clank, inFamous, Singstar, Metal Gear Solid, Killzone, Little Big Planet, Buzz, God of War, Ridge Racer, Wipeout, GT5, Uncharted, SOCOM, Warhawk and not even counting Flower, Pain, PixelJunk games and the dozens of other unique PSN titles.

John Lewis in Oxford street has:

• Wave 1 Scouts - Detour, Ransack, Knock Out,Dirt Boss
• Wave 1 Legends - Prime, Jetfire, Bumblebee, Springer
• Wave 1 Deluxes - Sideways, Rampage, Sideswipe, Breakaway plus non-preview packaging preview Bumblebee.
• Wave 1 Robot Replicas - Ironhide, Starscream, Ratchet, possible others. They look even worse than the first movie ones.
• Wave 1 Voyagers - repaint Prime, repaint Ironhide, awesome Starscream, Demolishor
• Fast Action Battlers
• ROTF Superion (Energon repaint)
• Bumblebee helmet.

The Entertainer in Westfield Shopping centre has:

• Leader Optimus Prime, Megatron - £45
• Voyager Optimus, Ironhide, Starscream, Demolishor - £22(?)
• Human Alliance Bumblebee - £30
• Deluxe Breakaway, preview Soundwave, preview Bumblebee, Rampage, Sideways, Sideswipe - £13
• Scouts Ransack, Detour, Dirt Boss, Knockout, Rollbar - £8
• Fast Action Battlers

You can also find loose Movie 1 legends Prime, Megatron and Barricade for £1.99 each but Buy One Get One Free at the counter.

Note that they are not shelved near the existing Animated and Movie 1 toys, but hidden in the girls section!

Despite appearing in the preview wave we’ve yet to see any movie footage or CGI rendering of how the final Soundwave will look like. Given that the first movie used protoform / reentry mode figures, it may even be the case that in the movie Soundwave is barely seen, or looks substantially different from the design used here (in which case we can expect another toy).

So unlike most reviews where we compare the toy’s accuracy to the on screen model, we can take the time for a more in depth discussion of the overall movie Soundwave design. The most obvious similarity and, simultaneously, difference to Soundwave’s of christmas past, is the blue and grey colour scheme, present here but reversed to a primarily grey with blue as a secondary colour. Additional bright and clear blue sections help redress the balance and give Soundwave a more ethereal quality, suggesting weird and wonderful electromagnetic radiation signals.

In satellite mode, Soundwave retains the blue energy “nodes”, but the grey/silver colour is even more predominant. The instructions and official photos show one particular configuration, whether this is movie accurate remains to be seen but the various antenna and solar panel like structures are highly articulated and can be arranged in a wide variety of configurations. An angular visor shape hints at Soundwave’s being covered by some kind of blast shield, but still watching over the battlefield from a very safe distance.

The third official mode bears more than a passing resemblance to various cybertronian space cruiser designs (especially Vector Prime), as well as to Megatron and The Fallen’s jet modes, while carrying the more intricate detailing seen in the movie style. It’s not a complete afterthought by any means, as the rear engine and wings do lock into each other in order to hold correctly in place. However it remains to be seen if it’s really a mode Soundwave uses.

Soundwave includes a jet black missile and obligatory launcher gimmick. The intricate detail on the missile however makes me think - could this actually be Ravage in reentry mode? In that case, kudos for finding some small way to have Soundwave include an ejectable Ravage!

At this time it’s unclear whether Soundwave takes on an earth mode of any kind, whether traditional satellite, pickup truck or something else so it’s not yet possible to say how accurate this figure is or whether there will other versions of Soundwave at Deluxe or other sizes. While it has some playability limitations, it is, despite the heavy modifications of the movie stylisation, still immediately recognisable as Soundwave. If you only pick up one of the preview wave of figures, then this is the one to get.