Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
It all depends on how you like your robot asthetics really. No one is wrong with what they like and dislike about the figures. I personally love both but tend to err towards Arcee more for having much better articulation than the brickformer static bot mode of Chromia. Arcee's winding waist has 4 points of articulation but posing can be limited as the points of articulation tend to "pose" the figure to the right and causes balance issues.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Favourites aside, I think in terms of design Arcee is far more successful when compared to Chromia. After seeing the bikes in the movie I think Hasbro did a brilliant job with the Arcee toy. The snake-like torso makes sense as in the movie the bikes jump all over the place in bot mode and this design would provide the necessary suspension as they hit the ground. There is no awkard wheel behind her head or unsightly gaps as is the case with Chromia. The look of the bike-bots is an aquired taste to begin with but to me they hit the nail on the head with Arcee, and not quite so much with Chromia.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
I finally opened Jolt I bought on sale a few weeks back today. After hearing mediocre opinons of him, I was not excpecting to much but I actualy found he was quite cool. His transformation is fun and interesting, and not to simple, nor frustrating.
His monochrome colourscheme is good to, don't even mind his weapons as I imagine they are some sort of extendable energy whip, like one of those crazy Wing Gundams.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
strato- best left in alt mode
lil op is awsome now thats a micro machine fomer
ps cant get the side panels to click back together >.<
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Got my hands on Ejector and he's pretty nifty.
A few assembly faults I noticed... the first one I picked up had no bottom jaw. Looked at the bottom of the pack and shook it too if it just got dislodged off its peg. Nope, completely missing. The second one available is fine. Upon opening, both arms were off the ball joint. Luckily it wasn't loose or anything and popped back in easily and securely.
Bot mode is nice. With good articulation for the checken walker leg and the arms too. I wished the 2 other arms on the outside had their own separate biceps though for better posing and a mroe believable 4 armed look. Otherwise the huge gaping mouth and crazy eyes convey a very cartoon psycopath demeanor a robot would have if it's alt was a toaster. Paint apps are few but it does the job well. Really digging the botmode.
Conversion was a lot different to what I imagined. Probably a little simpler and straight-forward than other scouts.
The alt mode was a little dissapointing. For one, there's many seams. Recall Universe Ironhide alt mold. Biggest dissapointment was the other end of the toaster where the cable & powerplug side is hollow. There's no cover or design. I expect this from the bottom of the alt mode but not the side. It looks good as long as the back end isn't shown. The little heat dial and on/off switch is a nice touch.
Nice one to add to the scouts collection and hopefully more kitchenbots from the movie make it as scouts!
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
I think Ejector is awesome - mostly due to the novelty of a toaster Transformer.The transformation is pretty complex for a Scout; reminds me of FAB Decepticon Frenzy but obvioiusly at a smaller and simpler scale.
An interesting thing to note about the plug is that it appears to be the same / \ plug configuration that we have in Australia. I thought the US used the | | plug configuration (like Japan).
The colours on the robot mode are pretty dull but the colours for the toaster mode were surprisingly better than I expected.
Almost Transformers!Originally Posted by Stompy
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Alrighty, brief review for the Big-Ass Devastator...not expecting to change any board member's minds with this but here goes...
First up, he's a lot of fun. I have to say that before anything else, because I think it's really important to sometimes be able to enjoy your collection on the merits of what it was designed for. This is a kid's Transformer, make no mistake. But in terms of size, gimmicks and playability, he's awesome. Having him loom over (and eat) a bunch of Legends-sized Autobots is great fun. The kids'll go nuts for that sort of crap. He's also one of those Transformers that are just fun to 'fiddle' with. The transformation sequence is just involved enough to be interesting, without the insane intricacy of most of the movie line - no Mixmaster/Leader Prime-like frustration here. I've had more fun tooling around with him tonight than I have had with MP Megatron the whole time I've owned him. I bring him up because he's the only other transformer I've spent this much money on before, and he's at such an opposite end of the spectrum. Brilliantly designed, great attention to detail, lovely display piece, respectful to the character - but no fun at all. Transforming Megs is an ordeal, and it's not a toy I can share with the kids.
I also want to state categorically that Devastator can stand all fours, and lift his head up. A lot of folks seem to think he can't, but he can. There's a flap under his chin that can slot into the Scavenger component to hold his head up - it's not mentioned in the instructions, but it's a snug enough fit that it seems pretty intentional. It does take a bit of work to get him stable on all fours, but it can be done, no mods required.
The face is pretty well done, especially the way it moves when you pull on the lever (although that has a habit of making the cement mixer detach). It has to be said that from behind, he looks ridiculous, but so do 95% of Transformers. As a representation of the movie model, it's not too bad - it's just that there's a lot of details on him that are lost due to the shoddy paintwork. For example, the cockpit of the excavator is visible on the front of his shoulders like on the movie model, but it's all in the one red colour so it's lost. Likewise, the gold/yellow colouring on his shoulders is supposed to suggest the 'tangled' nature of the gestalt, but again, poor colour matching means this detail is lost too.
And really that's what lets this guy down overall - the paintwork. There really is a lot of work put in the detail on the components, in both modes, that is completely lost because they've just been rendered in straight plastic chunks. Hightower is the worst offender, although Scavenger isn't far off. There's also a missed opportunity in the underside of Scavenger's treads - these aren't visible in vehicle mode, so there's no reason why these couldn't have featured additional robot detailing and colouring. It wouldn't even touch the ground in vehicle mode thanks to the generous-sized rolling wheels.
Mixmaster needs to shut up too, he is WAY too sensitive in both modes. The sounds are pretty good, and it's not just a case of pushing the button for different cycled effects, it changes depending on whether you push it, hold it or hold it longer - the latter producing the cycling light effect in his mouth and the grinding sound effect. The effects would be worth keeping in if they would just shut the hell up, but as is, I think the batteries will be coming out after the kids have a bit of time with him.
Overall, I'm happy with Devastator. He's not the best TF I own by a long shot, but as a big chunk of ugly plastic, he's pure win. I can't wait to show him to the kids. More importantly, I can't wait to get started on adding more paint details to him - nothing to the degree of the more professional modders out there but enough to bring out all those great details. Lots of silver highlights, and a properly-coloured face would be a good start IMO.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Alrighty, poor blurry pictures time...
RUN, MUDFLAP, RUN!!!
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Too slow, Flappy...
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Not so easy with Prime...
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