Toy Review - Shatter (Power Series)
SHATTER
Series – Bumblebee
Size/class - Power Series
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 2
Released here – November 2018
Approximate Retail Price - $15~19
Approximate Size - 12cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode – Harrier jet fighter
Main Features/Gimmicks – Energon Igniter motor (not included)
Main Colours – red, black & grey
Main Accessories – None
Surprisingly better than I expected. Despite the fact that aircraft Transformers are usually harder to engineer compared to carformers, they've managed to do okay with Shatter. The jet mode is some made up generic looking design and looks nothing like a Harrier jet, but as far as generic jets go it's alright. It's jet shaped and has missiles sculpted underneath the wings and there are mini-missile pods along the sides of the aft fuselage. The proportions are pretty goofy, but for most little kids it's a serviceable enough jet. I do like the Decepticon logo on the port wing, something that's sorely lacking in a lot of Movieformers lately (I'm looking at you, Studio Series!). The colours kinda clash, but I guess because they're trying to make it a red robot with enough grey in jet mode. The only times I've seen Shatter in jet mode in the trailer shows her either mid-transforming to her red car mode or shrouded in darkness, and there does appear to be some red, but I can't tell if it's the lighting let alone how much red it has. It could be completely grey like a real Harrier jet (after all we know that Dropkick has a realistically all grey helicopter mode in the film). But anyway, this is the Power Series, not Studio Series... they're not setting a high bar for screen accuracy here. :p
Having said that, the robot is reasonably screen accurate being predominantly red with car kibble on the body with plane parts forming back kibble. That's not too shabby for a basic 5-step changer.
Now you'll all recall that I whinged a lot about Power Series Dropkick not coming with an Energon Igniter engine. Neither does this Shatter, but for some reason it doesn't bother me as much. Reasons include:
* It's just a more solid toy. The cars are hollow, obviously with the cavity existing to house the engine. But with Dropkick it feels like a good chunk of my purchase was for air. People whinge about hollow parts in a forearm, Dropkick and Shatter's car forms are nearly half empty! But jet Shatter is actually pretty solid. The cavity that houses the engine on this toy is occupied by the legs, so there isn't a huge empty space when the engine isn't plugged in.
* The cavity just looks better. On the car figure the panels flip up and look weird. Upon closer inspection I can see that the side panels lifted up have guns, but it still looks strange. And the turbines on the windscreen? Huh? The cars just look like they've caved in because someone dropped an engine on them from a great height. But the jet's compartment drops open kinda like a bomb bay, or like Thunderbird 2. :) And the legs form to the side to become these chunky engines. And of course the gimmick is pretty much the same as with all Energon Igniters.
https://image.ibb.co/h5uDQL/shatter01.jpg
https://image.ibb.co/g4xpzf/shatter02.jpg
https://image.ibb.co/imxBC0/shatter03.jpg
https://image.ibb.co/cOQL5L/shatter03a.jpg
https://image.ibb.co/nG5WC0/shatter05.jpg
OVERALL
"Just okay." Given its target market and what it's meant to do, this is an alright toy. By no means great but a big improvement over the cars. If this sort of thing interests you and you can get it for $15 or less, then you might like to consider getting it.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22..._jaam_jaam.gif
