Series - Generations
Sub-line – Thrilling 30
Wave: Wave 8 - 2014
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - New
Released here – Not yet
Approximate Retail Price - AU$30
Approximate Size – 13cm
Allegiance – Autobot
Alt-mode – Front payloader
Main Features/Gimmicks – Double Targetmaster, light-piped eyes
Main Colours – Orange, black & yellow
Main Accessories – Holepunch, Caliburst (evidently meant to be Tracer, but name has been changed for trademark reasons), exclusive variant of More Than Meets The Eye #23

PROS
+ A well sculpted figure with nice paint apps. Scoop has shed his previous G1 blocky body for a more 'buff' appearance. Looks like ol' Scoopie's been hittin' the gym. Even his tyres are beefier!
+ Nebulan partners look really nice and have improved transformations over their G1 counterparts (though that's not hard ). They are also similarly 'roided up.
+ Has "Kung Fu Grip(TM)"! The hands are sculpted with an open grip, but is still able to hold 5mm post weapons. He also has 5mm compatible ports on the outer forearms if you want him to hold the weapons like his G1 namesake, and there are also ports on the top and sides of the vehicle's rear section. There isn't any port on the front of the vehicle though.
+ Holepunch and Caliburst can transform into either two separate guns or combine into a larger gun, just like their G1 counterparts. Their handles also fold away in humanoid mode.
+ I quite like how the driver's compartment covers up the head like the G1 toy, and the clear blue windows that allow the robot head to look out of his own driver's seat is a cute touch.
+ The bucket is also able to tuck itself in quite well against the robot's back, concealing the driver's compartment; whereas G1 Scoop leaves the compartment exposed and requires a recess at the back of the bucket to fit around the compartment, which is still quite good by G1 standards, but it's interesting to see how toy designers are using better methods of doing this (which is all part of the fun with collecting Classicsverse toys IMHO ).

CONS
+ There's a massive unsightly gap in the front of the vehicle just behind the bucket.
+ The vehicle mode isn't quite as solid as the robot mode, being rather reliant on a series of tabs locking into small slots. This in itself isn't an inherently bad thing, but the tabs need to be flawless to work. I have one tab that's too thick on its end, and won't lock in properly (I think I'll need to file it down). So the transformation has a very low tolerance for QC errors. :/
+ The handles on the Nebulans are prone to coming off, although they're easy enough to put back on.
+ The shoulders don't lock in. Pushing down on the chest prevents the shoulders from popping out completely, but they still roll back and forwards by a few degrees. Alternatively you can hold down one shoulder while moving the other, because they're both connected together.
+ The head looks nothing like G1 Scoop. The helmet appears to be a completely different design, and the face has two eyes instead of a single visor. The colours are also completely different -- whereas G1 Scoop has yellow head and white face, Generations Autobot Scoop has an orange helmet with a grey face. I prefer the yellow helmet on G1 Scoop as it helps to break up all that orange. Similarly the bucket is all orange, lacking any yellow to break it up. Although the stock photography on the back of the card shows the bucket being half yellow, so it seems that Hasbro was intending on putting in more yellow into the toy but for whatever reason it didn't happen with the final product. The end result is that the toy is a tad too orange and does need some more yellow contrasts.

OTHER
+ Generations Scoop uses a "banana yellow", which doesn't look bad per se, but I personally prefer G1 Scoop's more golden yellow. But the banana yellow doesn't look bad, just different.

OVERALL
This toy appears to look better in robot mode than vehicle mode. In all it is a good toy and a nice update of G1 Scoop. 8/10.


PHOTOS