Toy Review - Siege Spinister

[GoktimusPrime]

My thoughts...

PROS
+ No ifs or buts, this toy is undeniable Spinister.
+ 20 points of articulation, bay-beh!
+ I love the way that the tail section of the helicopter collapses rather than just folding back. It significantly reduces the amount of alt-mode kibble.
+ Great sculpt and well coloured. The head and underbelly cockpit appear to be inspired by Spinister's IDW model.
+ Nice use of tampographs for added details. So glad that they've moved away from stickers.
+ Rotor blades can spin freely (unlike G1 Spinister's).
+ The guns resemble Targetmaster guns and can be wielded individually or combined, just like the G1 guns.
+ The yellow eyes are a big improvement over the G1 toys' blue eyes, and I think that it stands out better than the red eyes on IDW Spinister (as it better offsets his pink upper body).

CONS
- Not a Targetmaster. Boo.
- The legs and the faux cockpit. It's not the concept but the execution that bugs me with this. The faux cockpit just sits there on the underbelly and it doesn't sit completely flush against the fuselage either. IMO if you can't do it properly then just don't do it. I would have no qualms if the legs were just one cockpit that split apart into two separate legs. Okay, you'd have to sacrifice the clear windows, but I'd be okay with that.
- The hands aren't concealed in helicopter mode. They're completely exposed.
- The rotor blades don't lock into position in robot mode. I can make them loosely sit in a balanced position if I squeeze the centre of the rotor blades into the back, but it doesn't lock in. While this may be fine for static display purposes, the moment I try to play with this toy and the blades swing. I guess that adding a lock feature may have exceeded budget, but they could've made one blade higher/lower than the other and allow them to intersect and 'scissor' around the tail shaft (thus effectively locking into place).
- The wings are quite chunky as they're formed by the feet. I can personally forgive this as the feet need to go somewhere, and it's more creative than just having fold down wings on the G1 toy. But yeah, it's not the best look.
- I wish that the blue gun and fists were black. Again, G1 bias kicking in here, but I don't see why they could've have moulded that gun and fists together with the black head.
- Not a fan of the "battle damage" on the forearms and thighs. Gah.

Mine also has a QC issue. The right elbow joint has been assembled backwards, making it really hard to make the arm bend all the way in, which is essential for transformation. Probably an isolated case so I'm not counting this as a negative feature of the toy, per se.

OVERALL
On the whole it is a very nice toy, although not without its flaws. I'd give it a 7/10.


PHOTOS

Alt mode next to Crosshairs


Helicopter mode


Robot mode...


Comparison with G1


The obvious solution to the lack of Targetmasters -- just use the G1 Targetmasters (joys of 5mm post weapons!)


Rotor blades balanced in the "V" position. Unfortunately it's not terribly secure.