Review 10-006 - Star Wars Crossovers Magnaguard

[griffin]

Review 10-006 - Magnaguard
Series - Star Wars Crossovers
Sub-line -
Size - Basic
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 2009 wave 4
Released here - September 2009
Approximate Retail Price - $30-40
Approximate Size - 20cm
Allegiance - 'evil'
Alt-mode - Magnaguard Starfighter
Main Features/Gimmicks -
Main Colours - Purple, grey, black.
Main Accessories - 2 missiles, launchers, electro-staff.
My Difficulty rating (out of 5) - 2
Stability - Holds together well, and stands well (very big feet).
Poseability/articulation - The plug-in shoulder-pads prevent upward movement of the arms, and since they plug-in, the toy would be better without them. Otherwise, the toy has enough articulation to make good use of all its weapons.
Playability - Very playable in both modes, and the Star Wars Crossovers series needs more 'evil' toys to balance out the numbers. Detatch the should-pads and the electro-staff is a lot easier to use (which kids would probably prefer against all the Jedi toys that have lightsabers).
My Thoughts - A bit of a cheat with the shoulder-pads, in that they don't become shoulder-pads as a result of the conversion, but detatch and re-attach. The toy also comes with more weapons than it can hold, and doesn't have any storage points for which ever 3rd weapon it isn't holding. Vehicle mode looks good with it almost looking seamless, and only the feet hanging out the back. Since I've only seen this character in one Star Wars medium (Ep3), I'm not too familiar with how Magnaguards or their starfighters are supposed to look. But the Starfighter looks a bit like the ones that could transform into big droids in those first 3 movies. One of the better SW Crossovers, and a new mould too (been heaps of redecos in the line).
Overall Recommendation Rating (out of 10) - 7 (buy it if you are into the SW Crossovers)

[MV75]

Bit of rotf engineering there with the legs/feet.

Otherwise it's a bit of, well quite frankly, rocklords with the look of the "flat" transformation.

Actually now, if I could I'd change my vote to only buy if cheap, but overall I have no real interest in the starwars crossovers after all of those repaints.

[GoktimusPrime]

Allegiance - 'evil'

Allegiance would be the CIS (Confederacy of Independent Systems; informally known as the Separatist Alliance).

[griffin]

I wasn't really worrying too much about the allegiances at this time, because it's just easier to adopt the standard Transformers 'good' and 'evil' labelling the packaging always had.
But since these reviews are supposed to encourage others to comment on, and review these toys, it helps to have people pick up on the extra details that were yet to be included.

[Grievous]

I've seen this guy around...and I still can't make up my mind.
I only own two crossover toys (Green Hulk & The Darth Vader Death Star)
and most of the time...I stay clear of them...but I really like the
looks of this Magnaguard.

My main fear is with his arms. I've watched a couple of youtube
reviews and they all keep saying how bad the arms are...


Are they really that bad?

[griffin]

I think the arms could be better, especially if it didn't have the shoulder pads there limiting movement. Without them, I think it has enough articulation in the arms to play properly with its 'electro-staff'.

[Stompy]

I love this figure in the fact that it isn't one bit shell-formery or panelly like every other SWTF before this. It was quite a surprise from a constantly dissapointing line. Nifty conversion too.

[Grievous]

So I finally picked this guy up and...he's okay...I guess...


The Alt mode is sweet and the robot mode has a certain
charm about it...but those arms...those damn arms really
kill his overall coolness factor.

I don't regret picking him up...but I think he'll be my last
crossover Transformer.

[Zippo]

Played with this at a friends placed and liked it, but of course now I can't find the damn thing locally (used to be everywhere after we got Wave 1 of the new packaging, after getting swamped with Wave 1 of the previous packaging)

[ComicGuy89]

I just picked this guy up and I'm very pleased! I'm quite a big fan of Star Wars and I've long wanted a Star Wars Transformer, but was afraid of all the bad reviews they were getting. Before this, I have had only one disastrous encounter with SWTF where my Han and Chewie Millenium Falcon cracked out of the box due to Chewie's Gold Plastic Syndrome! Needless to say, that went straight back to the Toys R Us.

I picked this guy up at Big W, where SWTFs are currently 50% off due to the Toy Sale.

Pros:
-Sleek vehicle mode and fairly good robot mode; the color scheme works well. There's almost no kibble in vehicle mode and robot mode looks good and well proportioned, especially compared to other Star Wars TFs.
-Quite a lot of weapons! I especially like the awesome staff; it was very ingenious how they broke it up to fit his vehicle mode.
-(Fairly) Tight joints and ratcheting knees! I'm always a sucker for these, and sadly too many Transformers these days require a dash of floor polish on the joints right out of the box. Not this guy.
-A lot of pegs that keep both robot and vehicle modes stable.
-Transformation is fun. I'm a guy who marvels at transformation that easily shows how the robot is formed from the vehicle. While the ROTF ones have amazing engineering, the transformation feel from point A to point B gets a bit lost. This is only my opinion, but if you share my view, you'll like the Magnaguard as well.
-Big potential for fan modes. His vehicle cockpit resembles a mech cockpit, and his transformation allows him to take on some gerwalk or mech modes. His partsforming parts and weapons also give him fun customizability,

Cons:
-Plastic feels cheap and brittle. I've already known and have experienced Star Wars Transformers plastic, so I know how it's like. Maybe I'm exaggerating because I'm so used to normal-line TFs. Still, a word of a caution when playing with him. Don't force or stress the figure as it feels fragile.

Cons for some, but that I have no problem with:
-Some people may dislike the partsforming nature of his shoulders and weapons.
-Arm articulation. Personally I think it's great (I like the elbow pegs) and just requires a bit of work to play well, but don't be expecting double-jointed elbows or free-flow articulation like those in other lines.

Overall, I really like this figure and had more fun with it than I had expected. In fact, I haven't had this much with a TF in a long time, and my recent purchases were TFs like WFC Bumblebee and HFTD Ironhide. If you are a fan of Star Wars, especially of the sleek looks of the Prequel Trilogy, or if you just like cool drone-like robots in general, this guy is worth picking up (especially at discount prices!). While I've only ever encountered one other Star Wars TF before, I'd still be willing to guess that this is one of the best Star Wars TFs ever. I just hope his plastic doesn't crack soon...

I'd give him an 8.5/10.