Toy Review - CW Liokaiser

[GoktimusPrime]

Similar to what I did for Unite Warriors Computicon, I'm going to take out and fiddle around with one toy a day, forcing myself to appreciate each figure in isolation before assembling them as a set and as a gestalt. Cos otherwise the figures can end up feeling like "components" rather than independent Transformers in their own rights. Also, it brings back that nostalgic feeling of when I used to collect G1 gestalt members one at a time (since none of the gift sets were ever released here).

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Name – Drillhorn
Series - Combiner Wars (Platinum Edition)
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - redeco of Combiner Wars Brawl
Released Here - December 2016
Approximate Retail Price - $180 for the set
Approximate Size – 13.5cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Sub-Group - Destron
Alt-mode – Drill tank
Main Features/Gimmicks – gestalt
Main Colours – blue, light grey
Main Accessories – drill weapon (repaint of CW Nosecone's drill)

See the CW Brawl review thread for more details about the original mould. This review will cover differences made to the redeco.

PROS

A surprisingly excellent attempt at using the Brawl mould to replicate G1 Drillhorn. The colours are quite faithful to the G1 colour scheme and some of the changes have actually improved things over the original toy, such as having the treads on the arms being a uniform light grey (which also helps to break up the blue on the arms from the G1 toy). The stripes on the side which are a homage to the stickers on the rear sides of the G1 toy now extend all the way down the sides. This wasn't possible on the G1 toy but it's nice how they've done it on this figure. The "ribs" are coloured red, which is reminiscent of the red stickers on Hornbeast when attached to Drillhorn in breastplate mode.

The new head sculpt features a more show-accurate form of Drillhorn's head, with the "ears" being reduced the the "horn" being exaggerated. The horn folds back in tank mode and extends in robot mode, which is a neat touch. The show head was probably based on Drillhorn's box art. Also mighty glad that Hasbro were able to secure the trademark for this name.

CONS

Drillhorn has inherited Brawl's main flaw - the inability for the hips to lock into the torso. He's also inherited CW Nosecone's drill, which is really too small. A redeco of Unite Warriors Nosecone might have suited Drillhorn better, but the Brawl mould works well enough. At least the drill is officially mounted on the front of the tank instead of behind.

OVERALL

Drillhorn is a far better executed toy than I was expecting. They've done a much better job here than they did with Nosecone given the G1-accurate colours and new head.

PHOTOS

Better tread lightly.


Tank you.


Okay, I won't drill in any more puns.


Comparison w/ G1 Drillhorn (sans Hornbeast)


Comparison w/ Rescue Force 3

[GoktimusPrime]

Name – Killbison^Ironbison
Series - Combiner Wars (Platinum Edition)
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - redeco of Combiner Wars Brawl
Released Here - December 2016
Approximate Retail Price - $180 for the set
Approximate Size – 13.5cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Sub-Group - Destron
Alt-mode – Battle tank
Main Features/Gimmicks – gestalt
Main Colours – silver, gold, light grey
Main Accessories – Tank barrel-gun

See the CW Brawl review thread for more details about the original mould. This review will cover differences made to the redeco.

PROS

Much like Drillhorn, Ironbison is a really nice attempt at replicating Killbison using the CW Brawl mould. The colours nicely match the G1 figure and cartoon model and even improve it in some areas with additional silver and grey highlights. The choice of using silver in place of light grey for the treads and turret is a good one and looks really nice - this is a case where the designers have chosen well in terms of where to remain faithful to the G1 design and where to creatively deviate to improve the overall aesthetic. The shin hatches are black and silver instead of yellow (which would've been more G1 accurate), which would've been nicer looking on this toy IMO, but the plus side of the black-silver deco is that it does make it look more different from the shin hatches on CW Drillhorn. So in terms of this toy's looks as part of the ensemble set of Destrons, I can see why Hasbro went with this decision. The use of red accents on the chest and groin are a nice homage to the red highlights on G1 Bisonbreast. Obviously the CW Destrons aren't Breastmasters, but I really appreciate how they've made little colour choices to at least reference the Breastplates.

The new head sculpt looks really nice and features G1 accurate red eyes with show-accurate silver mouthplate and more protruding horns. Although the horns are grey instead of gold, but I think that this is another good choice as it helps to break up the gold and accentuates the toy well.

CONS

As expected, Ironbison has inherited Brawl's flaw of the waist section being unable to connect properly with the torso. I'm also surprised that Hasbro weren't able to secure the trademark for the name "Killbison," but Ironbison's not a bad compromise. The head is made from a metallic gold plastic whereas the rest of the gold on this toy is a flat gold. The flat gold doesn't look bad but it makes the metallic gold head kinda clash. I would've preferred for all of the gold to be the metallic gold colour, which would've made it more G1 accurate.

OVERALL

I can tell that a lot of love and dedication has been poured into this redeco. Whoever did these designs have really put in a top notch effort in terms of replicating Killbison using the CW Brawl mould. It's the kind of thing you'd expect to see from an expensive BotCon or FunPub exclusive set, only that this is a regular store release toy! These toys have far exceeded my expectations so far... I'm really enjoying the CW Destrons and look forward to seeing what the rest of the set is like. If the others are just as good as Drillhorn and Ironbison, then I expect to be in for a treat!

PHOTOS

ROBOT MODE





Here's what Ironbison thinks about the loss of his trademark


I don't own G1 Killbison, but I do own Rescue Force 1!


VEHICLE MODE

[Sinnertwin]

Name – Killbison^Ironbison


Here's what Ironbison thinks about the loss of his trademark

Love the little nod to the cartoon

It's a real shame that Desleogar is such a let down. The other 4 are such fantastic looking stand alone figures.

[GoktimusPrime]

Okay, I finished the last of my reports today, so I rewarded myself by opening the rest of the Destrons one figure at a time. So here we go...

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Name – Hellbat^Fellbat
Series - Combiner Wars (Platinum Edition)
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - redeco of Combiner Wars Skydive
Released Here - December 2016
Approximate Retail Price - $180 for the set
Approximate Size – 15cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Sub-Group - Destron
Alt-mode – F-16 Falcon x F-18 Hornet hybrid jet
Main Features/Gimmicks – gestalt
Main Colours – navy blue, yellow, light grey
Main Accessories – x2 dual-barrel guns

Note: This toy is a redeco of CW Skydive. See the CW Skydive review thread for more details about the mould. This review will cover differences made to the redeco.

PROS

Another beautifully done homage to the original G1 counterpart, Fellbat's colours in jet mode are slavishly accurate to the G1 toy. The main colour departures are the black nosecone and stablisers, but they still look great. The G1 accuracy is carried through in the robot mode, with a more cartoon-accurate G1 head. As with Drillhorn and Ironbison, Fellbat's head has features (the 'bat wings') which can retract or extend between vehicle and robot mode; this feature replicates the exaggerated look of the cartoon model's head. The 'bat wings' are also coloured light grey which makes the wings themselves more toy-accurate in colour, but the overall affect is that the wings do offset the blue helmet quite well. The missiles moulded under the wings are entirely red, which feels like a neat little nod to the G1 toy's entirely red face. The tiny yellow stripes around where the nipples would be on a human are reminiscent of the yellow stripes on Koumoribreast's breastplate mode. There's a lot of light grey on the chest which does look somewhat plain, but bear in mind that Koumoribreast is almost entirely light grey anyway (it's the least colourful of the Breast partners); so it is G1 accurately dull.

CONS

Other than the loss of name trademark, none. I honestly cannot find any real fault in this toy.

OVERALL

HasTak have really done a top-notch job in redecoing the Skydive mould and making it look like Hellbat as much as possible. I cannot believe that this isn't a BotCon or Fun Pub exclusive figure, it's that good! I had really low expectations for this set, but so far the figures have blown me away.

PHOTOS









More photos of Fellbat here. Alas I do not own G1 Hellbat and Hasbro never released this figure as part of the G1 Rescue Force. Someone else will have to post a comparison pic.

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Name – Guyhawk
Series - Combiner Wars (Platinum Edition)
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - redeco of Combiner Wars Air Raid
Released Here - December 2016
Approximate Retail Price - $180 for the set
Approximate Size – 15cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Sub-Group - Destron
Alt-mode – MiG-29^F-14 Tomcat jet
Main Features/Gimmicks – gestalt
Main Colours – pink, black, yellow, light grey
Main Accessories – x2 dual-barrel guns

Note: This toy is a redeco of CW Skydive. See the CW Air Raid review thread for more details about the mould. This review will cover differences made to the redeco.

PROS

As with the tanks, Guyhawk hits the right mix between G1 accuracy and creative licensing to improve over the G1 colour scheme. The whites on the toy have been mostly replaced with silver and light grey on the upper legs. The G1 toy's wing stickers have been homaged on tampographs found on the wings and both horizontal and vertical stabilisers. The new head is based off the colours of the G1 cartoon and is pretty accurate (the only main discrepancy is that the eyes are pink instead of red). And yay, they managed to obtain the trademark for the original name! The pink colouring on the body coupled with black is reminiscent of the colours on Hawkbreast in breastplate mode.

CONS

The insides of the black rectangles are coloured yellow, but red would have been arguably a more G1 accurate homage to the red stripes on Hawkbreast's wing stickers.

OVERALL

Honestly, if the above comment rates as the worst part of the toy then it's doing pretty bloody well! So yeah, no real complaints about this mould. Just an excellent toy all round. The toys in this set just go from strength to strength. It seems that they can do no wrong!

PHOTOS











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Name – [b]Leozack^[b]Jallguar^DeszarasDezarus
Series - Combiner Wars (Platinum Edition)
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - redeco of Combiner Wars Sky Lynx
Released Here - December 2016
Approximate Retail Price - $180 for the set
Approximate Size – 20cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Sub-Group - Destron
Alt-mode – Space shuttle & mobile transport undercarriage
Main Features/Gimmicks – gestalt
Main Colours – teal, gold, off-white, red, black
Main Accessories – x2 sword-rifles

Note: This toy is a redeco of CW Skydive. See the CW Skydive review thread for more details about the mould. This review will cover differences made to the redeco.

PROS

It's cheaper and easier than getting G1 Leozack, Jallguar and Deathsaurus. Otherwise see comments on the Sky Lynx review thread.

CONS

F'ugly.
This toy has taken Sky Lynx and taken together elements from Deathsaurus, Leozack and Jallguar and blended them together, and the end result is not pretty. In trying to look like all 3 characters, it ends up looking like neither of them.

OVERALL

As horrific as this toy looks, I can understand why they've done it. First of all, what other existing mould could they use as the core of Liokaiser? Sky Lynx and especially as Sky Reign's core is the nearest approximate match to the core of Liokaiser. None of the other CW core components would have worked as well. And so it's necessary to make the body resemble Jallguar and Leozack, but then Sky Lynx's saurian robot mode doesn't make sense for either of those characters, so they've retooled and repainted it to resemble Deathsaurus' dragon mode. Fans would complain if either one of those three characters weren't homaged in this toy. So as awful as it looks, it was understandably a necessary thing.

PHOTOS






I don't own G1 Deathsaurus or Leozack (and Rescue Force is the only member of Rescue Force that I never bought), so I can only compare it with my G1 Jallguar (the only Breastmaster that I own ) and Rescue Force 2. Again, someone else can come and post more comprehensive comparison pics please.

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Name – ION SCYTHE
Series - Combiner Wars (Platinum Edition)
Size/class - Mini-Con
New/remould/redeco - pre-assembled redeco of Arms Micron Gul
Released Here - December 2016
Approximate Retail Price - $180 for the set
Approximate Size – 9cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Sub-Group - Destron
Alt-mode – gun
Main Features/Gimmicks – Targetmaster partner for other Destrons
Main Colours – blue
Main Accessories – it is an accessory!

Note: This toy is a near-identical redeco of AM-07 Starscream's Micron partner, Gul. See the AM-07 review thread for more comments and pics of the original mould, this review will cover what little differences exist.

OVERALL

This toy is almost the same as Gul, only that it comes pre-assembled and the stickers are now tampographs. The most visually striking difference is the pattern on the neck sticker/tampo. Otherwise the two toys are virtually identical. The name is odd... not sure how a scythe can cut through an ion... uh. I would've preferred to see this toy being named Death Cobra.

PHOTOS



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Name – Liokaiser
Series - Combiner Wars (Platinum Edition)
Size/class - N/A
New/remould/redeco - see above reviews
Released Here - December 2016
Approximate Retail Price - $180 for the set
Approximate Size – 29cm to top of head, 33cm to top of shoulders - shoulder height can vary depending on wing configuration
Allegiance - Decepticon
Sub-Group - Destron
Alt-mode – N/A
Main Features/Gimmicks – gestalt
Main Colours – all the colours of the Destrons
Main Accessories – all of the Destrons' accessories + Ion Scythe

Note: This toy is a redeco of existing Combiner Wars figures (see links in previous reviews). This review will examine differences made.

THOUGHTS

The limbs look absolutely gorgeous. The ungainly colours on Dezarus do work and look much better in this mode, and it's obvious that the toy was primarily coloured with Liokaiser in mind. The abundance of teal and light grey on the upper chest and belly do really make it look a lot like Leozack. The black helmet is a departure from G1 Liokaiser's teal helmet, but it is also a neat nod to Jallguar and helps to break up the teal. I'm not sure how I feel about the gold collar though, but then again, I guess the collar had to be some sort of colour and G1 Liokaiser has no collar. The black on the sternum is reminiscent of the black on G1 Liokaiser (Leozack's landing gear). Aside from the black helmet, the only other nod to Jallguar is the black centre of the crotch. I would've preferred more black on the waist and hips and light-grey upper legs, but this would've made Dezarus look even weirder than he already does, so I can understand why they chose to go with more teal and red.

Liokaiser has inherited one weird thing from Sky Reign, and that is the apparent lack of anywhere decent to place Dezarus' robot head/neck in gestalt mode. The official transformation according to the instructions is to have it hang out like a thick tail, which makes it look less G1-like. Alternatively you could reconnect the head to the body, which then makes it look as if Liokaiser is excreting Dezarus' head (although this configuration saves more shelf space). Or you could flip the head/neck up and rest it against the centre of the back. This makes it look the least conspicuous and it's how I've positioned it in the photos below. It would occupy more airspace on a shelf though.

OVERALL

On the whole, this is a really nice set. Hasbro have outdone themselves with the limb components, and there's not a whole lot you could do with the body core. So given what toys we have to redeco as Liokaiser, this is really about as good as it gets.

I'm super pleased that this toy was released locally and that I was able to get it fairly cheap at Myer's sale. Liokaiser is a toy that I would love to get if Takara ever reissued it, but they haven't and it looks unlikely that they ever will. As you all know, Liokaiser is such an important landmark in Transformers gestalt engineering/design history (I won't go through the story again, you've all heard it 100 times) and modern gestalts like those in Combiner Wars owe their success to G1 Liokaiser's legacy. On one hand, CW Liokaiser has detachable hands and feet, although unlike G1 Liokaiser, the head is self-contained and the limbs are interchangeable. Having interchangeable limbs with articulated robots and an articulated gestalt mode with self contained gestalt parts really places a lot of challenges on designing the toys, and you'd end up with something like Fall of Cybertron Bruticus. But more importantly, Hasbro had to work with existing CW moulds. All things considered, this set really is a lot better than I was expecting and I think that the strengths outweigh its weaknesses. Recommended.





I haven't got a G1 Liokaiser, so someone else will need to post a side by side comparison photo, thanks.

[Demonac]

Pretty sure 'loss of trademark' is not the reason we have Ironbison & Fellbat.

[GoktimusPrime]

Gah... I'd forgotten that I do actually own a G1 Drillhorn, although just zero accessories (including no Hornbeast). Got it for cheap second hand somewhere. Included full sized photo on my Drillhorn review post (scroll up).