Toy Review - PCC Huffer w/ Caliburst

[griffin]

Toy Review - Huffer w/ Caliburst

Series - Power Core Combiners
Sub-line - 2-pack
Size - Commander w/ Minicon
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 1
Released here - May 2010
Approximate Retail Price - $15-20
Approximate Size - 10cm (Huffer), 5cm (Caliburst)
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Truck (Huffer), weapon/armour (Caliburst)
Main Features/Gimmicks - Combiner core (Huffer), weapon/armou (Caliburst)
Main Colours - Orange/black (Huffer), blue/grey (Caliburst)
Main Accessories - none (Caliburst is the accessory)
My Difficulty rating (out of 5) - 1.5
Stability - Holds together and stands well (Huffer), more stable than the other 2 Minicons (Caliburst)
Poseability/articulation - Good articulation for both figures in their robot modes.
Playability - On its own, play is good, as both modes work well and is easy to convert (the easiest of the three 2-packs). But with other PCCs, specifically the 5-packs, this toy has extra play value. Although, without drones, the Powerup mode is essentially unusable, wasting a third of this toy if it is the only PCC you buy.
Other Comments -
Huffer would have had a really great truck mode if it weren't for the 2 blue pegs sticking up erect at the back. If they were black, they would have just looked like part of the truck, but side-on, the truck mode is just totally ruined by them. Even attaching the Minicon in gun mode on the back doesn't help distract the eye. The packaging photos are very deceptive. The packaging shows a dark blue peg at the back, half hidden by part of the truck mode, because the photo is from the front. As such, it doesn't look too bad because of the blue minicon next to it. But looking at the toy with 2 bright blue pegs on a yellow truck... not good.
Compare that to the robot head, which is folded down and becomes part of the front bumper - but you don't realise it in the photos until you play with the toy, because the colour hides it. The pegs should have been done in colours to blend in with each toy.
The chest-armour gimmick of the minicons (each minicon has one mode that is dedicated to armour) is pretty lame, as it sticks out like a tumorous growth. A nice play gimmick for the kiddies, but not something I'd be doing to display them, as the Commander's own chest-sculpting is better looking than the minicons (which the minicons end up hiding when attached).
In Powerup (Combined) mode, both Drone sets in the first-wave go well with Huffer (to me), because Huffer is both dark and bright, matching the dark Combaticons and colourful Aerialbots.
Pics of the combinations can be seen here (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=7735).

My Rating (out of 10) - 7.5

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/tftoys/pcc05.jpg

[fatbot]

He is a great toy, but the other thing that gets me is the colour of the bonnet in truck mode, couldn't it be the same colour as the rest of him? Still he is a great little figure and lots of fun to play with.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

How hard would it be to remove the combiner pegs? When they come out here in Tas I have no intention of ever putting any drones on him or Searchlight (or Icepick when he comes out), though the color doesn't seem so bad for Searchlight.

[GoktimusPrime]

I haven't got this toy yet (but I wants!). I don't understand why Hasbro insists on making all the connector pegs blue like that. Why not match them with the rest of the toy? Methinks they took a cheap option and just had a whole batch of universal shaped pegs made in the same colour - okay, that's fine... but why not opt for a more neutral colour like grey?

I'd rather take their infamously underwhelming flag grey over this baby blue any day. So far it only seems to work with Searchlight... but Searchlight wouldn't look any worse if those pegs were grey. (-_-)

[SilverDragon]

I suspect it's so it's obvious to kids where they have to stick the limbs on. Yes, it's a bit off-putting, but a more subtle colour for the pegs could make it difficult to find on some PCCs.

[optimus1]

This is THE PCC i'll be after as soon as I get the opportunity.

Huffer will join my classics verse line up, the Minicon partner will be a great bonus gimmick for me :p

But seriously, his combiner mode seems the best compared to the other central leader figures (other than Bombshock).

[Deonasis]

I think the cog parts of Caliburst look out of place but apart from that, this guy has won Wave 1 of the PCC's. I like both modes and the colouring (except the allspark blue of course). I think the orange bonnet breaks up the yellow and I have seen a some trucks with a similar paint scheme before .

[BigPenney]

This guy was (for me) the stand out of the three 2 packs.
I like that in robot mode the blue is relatively hidden and I love his torso mode (Menasor) head.
My only complaint about it was my Caliburst came with very loose legs but that was easily fixed.


How hard would it be to remove the combiner pegs? When they come out here in Tas I have no intention of ever putting any drones on him or Searchlight (or Icepick when he comes out), though the color doesn't seem so bad for Searchlight.

On Huffer, The Arm pegs are attached by pins and the leg pegs are screws unless you're talking just the blue pieces on the end of the pegs, in which case they are pins.
You wont be able to remove the entire leg pegs though as they are required for Huffer as they become his heels and it would become impossible to stand on his own without them.

[GoktimusPrime]

I suspect it's so it's obvious to kids where they have to stick the limbs on. Yes, it's a bit off-putting, but a more subtle colour for the pegs could make it difficult to find on some PCCs.

They'd have to be pretty dense kids. The connection points on G1 gestalts were much more subtle than this and it wasn't off-putting for us as kids. In fact, I thought the connection ports on the 'Scramble City' gestalt commanders were fairly blatant, although those were holes not pegs... but still, it wasn't as if those universal slots were coloured some awful bright colour. I never really paid much attention to the colours, but now that I think about it, I think they're all black. (e.g. G1 Hot Spot has blue legs, but the actual connectors inside the ports on the bottom of his feet are black).

[SharkyMcShark]

I actually really like it, but it doesn't really shout Huffer to me.

It reminds me more of Energon Landquake, especially the inner robot. Actually the robot mode looks a lot like Swindle to me.

[liegeprime]

Cant wait to play with this once I get it off laybuy heheh:D. luuuv minicons!!

[GoktimusPrime]

Recently got this toy. He has the best Mini-Cons out of all the 2-pack PCC Commanders IMO.

He evokes "Huffer" a _lot_ more than Searchlight evokes "Searchlight"!

[Bartrim]

He evokes "Huffer" a _lot_ more than Searchlight evokes "Searchlight"!

Hence why Searchlight wont be joining my collection.

[kurdt_the_goat]

Am i seriously the only one to break Calibursts head off? lol
I was folding his arms in for the first mode and i swear, if you fold them in until they're parallel with each other (so the half circles sit close together, like they look like they should), his head is protruding too much.
I wasn't paying attention and POP off went his head.

[Zippo]

This guy was (for me)
On Huffer, The Arm pegs are attached by pins and the leg pegs are screws unless you're talking just the blue pieces on the end of the pegs, in which case they are pins.
You wont be able to remove the entire leg pegs though as they are required for Huffer as they become his heels and it would become impossible to stand on his own without them.

Was going to try and remove the leg pegs for alt mode
Does he REALLY need them in robot mode, cause if he didn't then they would be gone.

Only two pack I have purchased and I love Huffer in both modes, and even the Minicon isn't all bad. Pitty he can't hold standard weapons from other transformers and needs the minicon gun on the right hand only.

[PascTF]

3 solid modes, but the Minicon has some design problems where the wing-gear thingies can't close properly against the head but it gets in the way.

[snazzbot 101]

Admittedly I'm a bit behind the times, but I was initially turned off by Huffer's awful orange bonnet and I refused to buy him.

But I noticed the new stock the put out at my K-Mart had a running change so the color now matches the rest of the body (most likely it's common knowledge, but it was news to me and I just had to pick him up).

He's not Huffer to me beyond Orange/Blue/Truck, and I'm suprised Hasbro wanted to bring the name back, given its modern connotations. But the alt mode works well and it has a decent robot mode, despite not being able to "hold" his weapon. If only because that means he can't hold other weapons as well.

I'm a fan of the PCC gimmick - I believe it's one of the better ones in recent memory. At times I do feel it's let down by poor limb engineering, so they don't hold in place as they should, and a somewhat confused aesthetic. The limbs are very movie-ish, with claws and exposed pistons, the torsos not so much.

But I feel that as toys they're very much more than the sum of their parts.