Toy Review - STEELJAW (Studio Series)

STEELJAW
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Studio Series 86
Hypo-line - The Transformers The Movie
Size/class - Core
New/remould/redeco - new
Wave - 10
Released here - August 2024
Approximate Retail Price - $15
Approximate Size - 4cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - cassette tape
Main Features/Gimmicks - fits in TL Blaster/Twincast's chest
Main Colours - yellow
Main Accessories - x1 robot mode back (w/ wings & tail), x1 speaker connector, x1 speaker

https://i.ibb.co/HPXyQgt/86studioseries-steeljaw01.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/TwR3xZ8/86studioseries-steeljaw02.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/KFm2FZ5/86studioseries-steeljaw03.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/NpdWv6B/86studioseries-steeljaw04.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Vm9khs1/86studioseries-steeljaw05.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/WcpVfHF/86studioseries-steeljaw06.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Px6gkhd/86studioseries-steeljaw07.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/QmYN1bS/86studioseries-steeljaw08.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/PMFz4Q6/86studioseries-steeljaw09.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/d7Hz8Lf/86studioseries-steeljaw10.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Nx6gsyq/86studioseries-steeljaw11.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/99F7drT/86studioseries-steeljaw12.jpg

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As far as quadrupedal Cassette-bots go, Steeljaw is a vast improvement over the underwhelming Siege Ravage mould. I was expecting the toy to easily topple when holding the speaker, but it is surprisingly still quite stable even with a giant back-mounted speaker (the pic above with Steeljaw fallen over is a joke :p). There are also some really nice paint decos, including painted faux-tape spools (although only 1 of the tape-mode spools is painted), eyes, tongue and even white fangs! The toy comes with two pairs of guns, two permanently attached to the rear hips, and two more G1-accurate gun/wings which are part of the back/tail attachment. While the attached wings looks nicer, I do appreciate that this toy has permanent guns (that can also swing up as pseudo wings) should a kid lose the accessory. The connector also has faux wing bases, which makes it look like Steeljaw's wings blend into the speakers.

The cassette mode is half a mm thicker than Eject/Rewind, making it trickier to fit inside Blaster/Twincast's chest door. It took me a few attempts, but I was able to get Steeljaw to fit inside both Blaster and Twincast. Be prepared for some "gentle persuasion" to get Steeljaw inside. A really nice figure that's well worth the asking price. Highly recommended.

Look, he's....okay. I'm happy to have a CHUG Steeljaw finally (that isn't a Beyblade wannabe), but this one feels a bit low-effort to me.

Considering how well they've done the recent tape modes on Rumble/Frenzy/Eject/Rewind, the tape mode here feels like a definite step backwards. Painting one spool and not the other, plus the mess at the 'lion head' end, just makes it look unfinished, and only really makes sense if you're using him with the original 'Kingdom' Blaster - because then having half the tape look good makes sense due to the window design. But this is meant more for SS86 Blaster. There's also the tail accessory that is fairly necessary for the overall look, but goes nowhere in tape mode. It can peg on to the back of Blaster so that's something but, again, lazy design.

Lion mode is okay, if a little chibbi, with it's stumpy legs and oversized mane. There's also an odd joint on the back end that I don't see used often that lets the bag lets splay sideways for...reasons? Maybe it's needed for a future retool. The biggest issue here is the decision to do the MP Ravage 'splitting headache' approach which means there's a big nasty seam right down his face. I also find the lack of paint apps in Lion made a let down; I can fix it myself but for a figure that would have previously been half of a two-pack at the same price, it's a bit cheeky. The legs in particular desperately need fixing.

So yeah, if you're completionist, grab him for sure. But be prepared to be underwhelmed.

I don't mind the lion mode being chunky, because lions are big chunky cats. :) I think we've gotten too used to the pancaked look of G1 Steeljaw, which looks more like lion roadkill. :p
I also don't mind the detachable tail accessory, as it means that at least Steeljaw has a tail, unlike Siege Ravage. Steeljaw is undeniably a robotic lion, whereas Ravage is only a robotic jaguar because Hasbro says so. Seriously, I've shown that toy to Mundaners (non-TF folk) and none of them could even identify him as a cat; he's just some weird generic quadruped.

The head-split thing doesn't bother nor enamour me. I do admit that the unevenly painted spools is annoying though. IMO they would've been better off not painting the cassette window and the inside of the mouth/fangs in order to have enough in the budget to paint that other spool. Having said that, the tape window and especially the mouth & fangs are really well painted. So least they did put the money saved on not painting that second spool to good use. I dunno... I'm more forgiving of missing paint apps than I am of superfluous ones, because it's always easier to add more paints myself than it is to remove it. Oh how I do NOT miss all that silver splatter from Siege!

Only If... you are trying to collect all the Legacy or 86 versions of G1 characters.

Feels very small in person and too simple, lack of any movement in the legs, the tail (and wings) being an accessory make this feel very inferior to the Core 86 Frenzy/Rumble and more on par with the earlier Siege Micromaster tapes.