Toy Review - Collector Club Punch

[griffin]

Toy Review - Punch-Counterpunch


Series - Official TFs Collector Club
Sub-line - Timelines
Size - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - redeco with new head
Wave - N/A
Released here - No (July 2010)
Price - US$59
Approximate Size - 15cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Sports car
Main Features/Gimmicks - 3 modes (car, Autobot, Decepticon spy)
Main Colours - Blue, black, yellow.
Main Accessories - Gun, roof-vents.


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[Doubledealer]

Dunno about the toy but I give that box 10/10.

[optimus1]

P/CP actually looks better than many photos portray him.

The much debated 'small head' issue isn't actually that bad. It's really well detailed, even if pain apps on the flipping face could be touched up.

The dual rubsigns (on both sides) really do add that extra touch.

A great addition to everyone's Classics collection (if lucky enough to find one at a reasonable price) IMHO.

His box has great artwork and also includes the biocard. I'd display mine in Punch/Autobot mode if I had space for my classics. For now, he's still in the box

[jaydisc]

Yeah, the box alone is nearly worth the price of admission. The toy is beautiful too. It's such a shame about that head. While it's not that bad (purely subjective), it holds it back from being perfect.

I heard there might be a custom head coming soon. Hope so.

[liegeprime]

I heard there might be a custom head coming soon. Hope so.

If that be the case, we'd be seeing a lot of people clamoring to get their hands on extra Sunstreaker /Sideswipe for a custom paint job which would be more cheaper than scouting for the original... now that Ive gotten a look at the pics, yeah the head does look puny.

Now if only I have gamblor's expertise and patience in paintings customs.....

[LordCyrusOmega]

Yet another one i want but will probably never get. Oh well...One can dream.

[Golden Phoenix]

It's such a shame about that head. While it's not that bad (purely subjective), it holds it back from being perfect

Agreed. Although only for the Decepticon mode. The wider chest in the Autobot mode makes it looks tiny

[kup]

Thanks to Griffin I got the Club's Punch/Counterpunch.

He is certainly a high in demand character but sadly the toy itself does not match that. However he is not without hope as the concept is indeed sound and you do have some room to work with if you are not strict when it comes to official transformations.

First, the bad QC: After I transformed the toy for the first time, I was disappointed not because of the toy itself but it's poor Quality Control. The toy's automorph head gimmick was not aligned so the hood piece didn't fully rotate in place and there was a big white mark on the front from the mold injection. On the other figures of this mold the injection 'scar' is much more subtle and of the same color as the figure making it almost invisible. From what I heard, these flaws are not isolate to my Club figure.

Although it was disappointing to find these flaws on an expensive exclusive toy, they were thankfully all fixable. I realigned the chest rotator and painted over the white mark with a matching color. Disappointed that out of the box I had to take the figure into a 'repair cycle' but now that it's all good, here are my views on the toy:

Car Mode

This is the mode that the toy comes packaged in and it's got a very nice metallic finish with well done red painted hubcaps. This paint job certainly makes it stand out from the other releases of this mold by making it look very unique and it certainly pays excellent tribute to the original toy. The back side of the car has a very corny number plate that defeats the purpose of the toy as a spy (PCNTR P), the tail light parts are oddly painted silver and purple with green break lights. Despite this, it doesn't really detract from the well executed car mode that much. Yeah it could be better but it's not as tragic as one may think, at least not for me.



The Engine block can fit on top of the car mode and although this is a feature unique to Sunstreaker, the colors of the car help to maintain the Punch/Counterpunch tribute despite it.





Counterpunch Mode:

This is my favorite mode and it works really well as you can see by the pictures bellow with one exception - He has a tiny head! I won't go much into details here as the pictures speak for themselves and we are all familiar with the mold (Sunstreaker mode body). Despite the size, the head is a very nicely done representation of the G1 character head which is nicely sculpted. Unfortunately the head has another critical flaw - It fits too tightly on the ball joint making it very difficult to move and feels as if its going to break when you move it.

To compensate for the small head, I have added the 'folded' engine block as a back pack to the figure to 'hide' the size by making it seem bigger. It does work to a point so regardless of the pinhead, he still manages to display nicely. This is certainly the mode to display him in.





Punch Mode:

This is the more compromised mode of the toy. If you stick to the official transformation, the feet become impossible to place flat or straight making it impossible to stand the figure properly unless it's in an 'awkward' looking pose.

The head in this mode looks even tinier due to the big chest and unlike the Counterpunch mode, the face is unpainted aside for the eyes which are almost hidden under the helmet and hard to see anyway - disappointing. As you can see, the face is based more on the character model than the G1 toy.

Like with Counterpunch, I have pulled away from the official transformation and made up my own as you can see in the pics. He may no longer have proper feet but at least the figure is now stable, poseable and the feet are no longer in goofy positions. This also works as a G1 tribute as the official transformation for G1 Punch doesn't have any feet either

I also painted the silver screw heads so that they blend in better with the legs aesthetically.

In this mode, I have also placed the engine block as a backpack to compensate for the figure's small head but it is not folded but sitting flat like Sunstreaker's.

In regards to the fists, you can choose to pop them off an switch them for each mode to maintain the 'thumbs' in the right place or you can simply twist them around which is hardly noticeable as the black hides the 'reverse' thumbs.





Overall this is a good toy with an excellent concept, specially with the car mode and Counterpunch robot mode. Unfortunately it seems that little thought has gone into the P/CP gimmick execution despite most of the engineering already done thanks to the nature of the base mold. The tiny head is the first flaw one notices and certainly the most distracting. According to FP, this was a mistake from the factory as the head was intended to be bigger. However one can eventually get used to it and if you like you can compensate as I have with the back pack.

The official 'Punch' mode is rubbish and unstable, this to me shows a lack of imagination when it comes to execution of the figure as a little more effort and creative thinking they could have improved on it. However if you transform the legs as I have, the figure becomes stable and poseable.

As you all know, demand for this figure was huge but due to lack of demand anticipation and badly thought out release method by FP, not everyone got to buy one before they sold out and that includes Club members. This has severely driven up the prices in the secondary market for this Exclusive Punch /Counterpunch toy and sadly the toy itself is not worth it due to it's many flaws.

[kup]

Comparison pics

[iceburn]

i really wish the windscreens would be white in colour too like the G1 figure