Review: Fansproject LER-03 Volar w/Velos (not-Swoop)
(Note: I was too lazy to take pics and put up a gallery. If you really want to see some pics, let me know and I'll post some next weekend)
As a pretty big fan of most Fansproject stuff, coupled with my love for the first 2 of Fansproject's not-Dinobots, made Volar a buy-on-sight for me. I love Columpio (not-Sludge) and Cubrar (not-Slag), and they fit on my Classics shelf just beautifully. While still a pretty great toy, Volar is the weakest of the 3 LER toys released so far.
He's approximately 18cm tall, with a wingspan of an impressive 40cm or so. Scales pretty well with CHUG toys.
Accessories: Volar comes with 2 wing-mounted missles (whose red tips are removable but are not spring loaded and don't "fire") and a clear red sword. The wing missiles also have handles that fold out so they can be held as guns in robot mode.
He also comes with Velos, his minicon/weapon that transforms from robot to a gun/crossbow-type thing.
The release of Volar was slightly delayed due to FP including with him a separate blue body (instead of the factory released red one), and instructions on how to switch the bodies if you want to (and I do). I think this may divide people; there will be those who will prefer this approach rather than the way that FP released the red- or black-head versions of Cubrar (essentially, you didn't know which you were going to get until you had it in hand - no choice was given), but at the same time, I think there may be those who lack the willingness or confidence to actually take apart their toy to change something. Personally, I prefer the approach they've taken with Volar rather than the Cubrar method, even if this meant a slight delay in the release.
He also comes with a new hip/crotch replacement for Columpio with stiffer hip joints (more on that later).
Pros: The sculpt, like the other LER's, is incredible. So much beautiful design work has gone into this guy, its just staggering. The plastic quality is great, very solid indeed. I know not everyone is a fan of the plastics that FP often use, but I like it. The colours are vibrant (not an ounce of Hasbro grey in sight!) with the metallics especially beautiful. The paint apps, except for one slightly thin area on the crotch on my toy, are extensive and immaculate and enhance the toy greatly. Size-wise, he fits in great with Columpio and Cubrar, being a little shorter and more lithe than those guys (although, it must be said, I don't like it that Cubrar is taller than Columpio, but that's another story). The articulation is almost faultless, much better than most HasTak releases.
Of all the minions included with the LER range, Velos is the best. Despite some slight arm kibble and detachable "wings" that tend to pop off a bit too frequently, he has an incredible range of motion for a toy his size. He also lacks the "handle-extending-out-the-back-of-his-head" syndrome that plagued Columpio and Cubrar's partners. The tip of the crossbow arrow becomes a melee weapon for Velos to hold. His colours, a deep blue and dark metallic grey are gorgeous. The sculpt and articulation on this guy are brilliant for a toy that size.
Cons: The engineering is not perfect, and the trade off for a brilliant bot mode with near-perfect articulation is a weak and uninspired Pterodactyl mode. The transformation, while reasonably intuitive, leads to a clunky and awkward dino-mode that doesn't really stand well. One would hope a flyer like Volar would look sleek and streamlined, but aside from the head and the wings he doesn't. His arms and visible hands just sort of sit on his back in dino mode. His legs and feet look poorly positioned. Worst of all, due to the impressive wing span, he is a little back-heavy in both modes (even though I can get him to stand unaided in bot mode).
It's ironic that Volar comes with a hip fix for Columpio, when in fact my Volar's hips are looser than my original Columpio's hips are.
If I wanted to nitpick, I'd also say I would have preferred chromed wings, but the metallic colours he comes with are almost as good. But not quite.
His price was quite high, too, equal to that of the other LER toys, despite Volar being the smallest of the three. The weak dollar didn't help in that regard either. Not an easy purchase for anyone who has a very limited budget for toys. It was a stretch for me.
Conclusion: I like him a lot. Not as much as LER-01 and -02, but nearly there. He'll mostly be displayed in bot mode, so the alt mode deficiencies don't bother me too much. I may go back and chrome the wings myself at a later date, but probably not for a good long while. Despite the quality of Velos, I'm still not sold on the idea of the LER not-Dinobots having minicon partners - I think it just adds to the expense of the toy unnecessarily. I would recommend Volar to Swoop completists, those who love Fansproject stuff, and those who loved Columpio or Cubrar. With all the Dinobot releases in the last few years (3rd party as well as officially licenced), I fear Volar might be down the pecking order for most in terms of priority.
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