Toy Review - MENASOR (Legacy)

[SharkyMcShark]

You can assemble a version of this figure that doesn't have any loose pieces.

The gun turret base can plug into the port on the centre of Menasor's back. The gun itself can plug into the forearm - you splay the two handles out to line up with the pegs at the rear of Dead End/Dragstrip's vehicle modes.

The connection is solid and it feels like intentional design.

I don't have Breakdown yet, but I can say that I quite like this figure. It is hefty and has a solidity to it that a lot of gestalts simply lack. I am aware that it is in part created by the fact that the car bots are basically armour padding, as opposed to being structurally integral.

The only real downside for me is that the sword is piddly, and I wish that the individual figure's guns could combine into a mega gun.

Otherwise, I liked this one and am all in for the G2 version as well.

[GoktimusPrime]

I don't have Breakdown yet, but I can say that I quite like this figure. It is hefty and has a solidity to it that a lot of gestalts simply lack. I am aware that it is in part created by the fact that the car bots are basically armour padding, as opposed to being structurally integral.

Which is both the best and worst part about TL Menasor, depending on which criterion you're judging it from With G1 and CW, there was a journey to completing the set and finally forming the gestalt. It took me about 9 months to complete CW Menasor (with Brakeneck being the hardest to acquire), and four years for G1, as I didn't collect Dead End and Wildrider until 1990 as Classic reissues. With TL there was no journey to complete Menasor; more of a journey to complete Menasor's kibble. It was still a journey, but it's really not the same journey as waiting months or years to complete a "proper" gestalt (recent/current examples being Studio Series Devastator and Masterpiece Raiden).


Left: Legacy Menasor, Right: Legacy Menasor with oversized Mini-Cons

[KELPIE]

Aahh Gestalt.

Such better word usage over "Combiner".

[SharkyMcShark]

I finally completed this set yesterday and am really happy with it. I'm all in for the G2 version, as that slowly dribbles out over the next few years.

My only two complaints are that the sword is tiny in combined mode, and that the guns of the limb bots don't really do anything. There's enough 5mm ports to plug them all in, but I guess I was expecting some kind of combined mega-gun or something.


I enjoy looking back on the last few years of combiners and seeing HasTak slowly iterating their designs.

To be fair, it's not the fairest comparison as CW and POTP stuff didn't have the benefit of the extra mass from Motormaster's trailer, and needed the limbs to do more than plug on. A big part of why I like this set is that in combined mode it feels very solid, but then that is in part down to every single one of the combined mode joints being set up specifically for that mode. A lot of why I didn't like the CW combiners that much was because a lot of the engineering that had to pull double duty (limb robot mode waists having to be combiner mode elbows, and the actual combiner port joints needed to be shoulders and knees) was a mess.

Those factors aside, this is massively helped by a few things from a design perspective.

1. Big, broad feet with solid ankle tilts. Compared to the first wave of Combiner Wars stuff (tiny feet with no tilts) and the later POTP stuff (still tiny, some ankle tilt), its night and day.
2. The chest and shoulders are set up to stop the arms from bowing inward at the shoulder.
3. I think the idea of having dedicated roles and engineering for each limb helps. I got absolutely nothing out of CW and POTP's "everyone can be either a leg or arm" play pattern, and the hand/foot/guns actively made me like the figures less. The parts having to pull triple duty made them worse. You get a tiny foot the size of a hand that has gun barrels for toes, you get a hand that has gun barrels hanging off the front that can't actually extend fingers, or you get a gun with a thumb. This set benefits from each figure having a set role.

[Deano85]

I completed Legacy Menasor last week. Got Wildrider and Dead Ends Toyhax stickers on order to add some much needed detail.

[jaydisc]

I completed Legacy Menasor last week. Got Wildrider and Dead Ends Toyhax stickers on order to add some much needed detail.

Nice. It's great to see them side-by-side. I no longer think Legacy is the clear winner. I find its legs so dull and disappointing. The Unite Warriors Menasor, with the Perfect Effect kits, might still be the winner for me.

[Tha_Phantom]

Nice. It's great to see them side-by-side. I no longer think Legacy is the clear winner. I find its legs so dull and disappointing. The Unite Warriors Menasor, with the Perfect Effect kits, might still be the winner for me.

FWIW there is a Legacy upgrade kit also. If you compare apples with apples (either both upgraded or both standard) Legacy will always win.