Toy Review - Generations Darkmount

Put me in the camp of people who don't know Straxus... When i first saw the online pics i didn't really get it.. didn't think much of his head (doesn't look very robotic to me) and I thought the ball-jointed ankles with gap would seriously bug me. But... decided to get him after watching some HD vid reviews... showing off the colours nicely. I think the colours are one of his strong points, nice primarys with highlights here and there.. unobtrusive hasbro grey. The head has grown on me and is fitting with the rest of the robot design. Pick-axe is cool and a first in my collection which is always welcome! Ankles are fine really and gaps don't bother me at all! He has good proportions and just looks cool. Shame they didn't do more with the backpack, when so much attention was clearly put into the rest of the figure.

Alt mode is nicely done, no obvious seams and holds together well. A bit more paint on the treads would have been nice though. I'm not a fan of the clippy-weapons which pop off too easily and don't think so many pieces to lose is a good idea! Would have preferred more solid, traditional mounting points.

Overall highly recommended!

Great figure. Thought the ankles would have bugged me, but it turned out not as bad as the pictures showed.

Buy on sight.

I'm loving this toy -- but I'm probably seeing this toy through G1-biased rose-tainted glasses. :D

I'm planning on making a "Famous Cover" toy recreation of US#18 ;) It's gonna be a challenge getting G1 Blaster into approximating that pose... haven't decided if I wanna cheat the scale or just have Blaster tower over Darkmount. :p

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

I'm loving this toy -- but I'm probably seeing this toy through G1-biased rose-tainted glasses. :D

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You are not, knowing next to nothing about Straxus, I freakin love this guy!

I picked him up from Big W and played with him in the car for the 30 minutes I had to wait so as to not turn up to a party too early. (turned out I was early anyway but oh well)

The half track howitzer mode is excellent. I love the clip on points for his three attachable weapons (rocket pod, machine gun and.... thing) the turret rotates 360 degrees but the standout for me is that the pitch of the cannon can be raised up about 45 degrees which is awesome considering he's an artillerypiece.

The extent of the paint apps are totally satisfactory for me which is one of the highlights of this generations line. I found the transformation very original. It reminded me of why I like transformers in the first place. I'm not a fan of the back kibble though, it's much easier to pop them off and reattach them after you're done as they are huge and get in the way too much during the transformation process.

Darkmount's robot mode is awesome as well. While I initially wanted to give the not-ankles a fair go I found that they restricted Darkmount's posing to 'precariously standing balanced and upwards'. However after I got home I found that he is more than capable of standing easily on a flat level surface (there were no such surfaces in my car) and I also discovered that he had heels which made all forgiven. He still can't really stand on carpet WITH heels which hampers child playability but this is no problem for the collectors market.

The other two things I like about his robot mode is closeable palm hands and the grand pick axe! I would like to see this hand design on more TFs, they are tight enough grip a typical gun/rifle accessory and also allow insertion of polearm type weapons. Additionally an open palm pose gives extra menace like "I want your neck!"
The pick axe is awesome and so novel and can be wielded in so many menacing ways. My only complaint is that Darkmount himself can't quite pull off an attacking pose with it but its a shared problem with most TF's that have axe type weapons.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

I'm loving this toy -- but I'm probably seeing this toy through G1-biased rose-tainted glasses. :D

I'm planning on making a "Famous Cover" toy recreation of US#18 ;) It's gonna be a challenge getting G1 Blaster into approximating that pose... haven't decided if I wanna cheat the scale or just have Blaster tower over Darkmount. :p

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No need to cheat...
Get Device Label Blaster - which can even hold Gen1 Blaster's gun.

Man I want that Blaster :(

Unfortunately Straxus is too small for all the other Blasters (specially G1) to display properly together with the exception of Action Master Blaster. However that AM toy looks a bit too happy for the comic character.

Another Generation toy where my feelings seem to go against the love the rest of the board is feeling.

I've known who Straxus is since I was 8 years old, and that familarity with the character is why I'm keeping this one. It's a nice version of the character that looks like Straxus. Not that keen on an earth mode for such a character, but the way it hides the ax is interesting. Transformation of the legs and shoulders could be better, I dislike the way both end up in robot mode. I find the little add on guns annoying and like that they can be taken off and discarded. The Ax weapon is cool.

I'd hoped to really like the figure to justify getting the Skullgrin repaint (Skullgriin being one of the Pretenders I got as a kid) but I can't. One of this toy is enough. I would say if you don't know who Straxus is, avoid or only buy if cheap.

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Originally Posted by Paulbot

Another Generation toy where my feelings seem to go against the love the rest of the board is feeling.

I've known who Straxus is since I was 8 years old, and that familarity with the character is why I'm keeping this one. It's a nice version of the character that looks like Straxus. Not that keen on an earth mode for such a character, but the way it hides the ax is interesting. Transformation of the legs and shoulders could be better, I dislike the way both end up in robot mode. I find the little add on guns annoying and like that they can be taken off and discarded. The Ax weapon is cool.

I'd hoped to really like the figure to justify getting the Skullgrin repaint (Skullgriin being one of the Pretenders I got as a kid) but I can't. One of this toy is enough. I would say if you don't know who Straxus is, avoid or only buy if cheap.

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lol...your one hard person to please :p ;)

Here is my take on the Space gun mode:
http://kupscigar.com/fun/straxus.JPG