Classics 2.0/Universe Comments thread

[kup]

Henkei Sunstreaker and Prowl:



Henkei Sunstreaker: The Chrome is absolute love and the painted parts on Henkei Sunstreaker blend in a hell of a lot better than Universe even if not perfect. The lemon yellow also helps in the feel of the car to look more realistic a as well as more G1 accurate. I am blown away at how much of a difference the chrome and change of color from Fluro yellow to lemon yellow has made on this Henkei. This figure just feels really good!

Henkei Prowl: He is the weaker figure in this duo but still miles ahead of Universe Prowl. The doors are not sticky and have proper paint applications although the front side panels have minor QC issues in the white paint edges (You have too look carefully to see it). The side panels are also feel much more fragile than the rest of the figure but this appears to be due to the choice of clear plastic rather than plastic quality. The chrome applications are perfect on this figure and its amazing how much the silver missiles add to the figure which Universe neglected even to paint gray. The chromed weapon also adds to an awesome look. The only real flaw with Prowl's paint apps is the chest (front of car) panels. Because they are white plastic painted black, the edges happen to be white and in car mode (and robot chest mode) it shows ugly white lines on the edges. This flaw was also present with BTA Alert and is an issue that neither Takara nor Hasbro have ever been able to get right in similar toys. That is a tiny issue and aside from that the figure is great and certainly well above the Universe release.

Mold wise, Sunstreaker is great while Prowl comes second due to his apparent fragility and non ball jointed head which only allows it to look from side to side not up or down.

Honestly, the Universe figures don't compare to their Henkei counterparts. I am glad I waited and got these instead!

[dirge]

I think you mean Cadmium yellow, rather than lemon yellow. The classics one is actually more of a lemon yellow. But you're right - this shade looks better and is a lot more faithful.

I'm not sold on the chrome on Prowl's spoiler, but I'll take with chromed shoulder cannons. It's not like G1 Prowl had a white spoiler, anyway!

[Pulse]

I remember people were discussing possible Botcon figures for '09 & Red Alert seemed to be brought up fairly often. Well, I happened to stumble across Ethir's effort on Sector70 (scroll down to 2nd set of pics) & I'd say he's done one heck of a job...

[Paulbot]

I remember people were discussing possible Botcon figures for '09 & Red Alert seemed to be brought up fairly often. Well, I happened to stumble across Ethir's effort on Sector70 (scroll down to 2nd set of pics) & I'd say he's done one heck of a job...

That's kind of how I imagined it (except for the Red Cross) but given that we got Prowl>Bluestreak>Smokescreen in regular Universe releases, I would think that Sunstreaker>Sideswipe>RedAlert should be likely too without venturing to BotCon.

[SilverDragon]

I finally managed to get some Universe toys this week: Legends Hound and Tankor Octane.

Hound is all kinds of awesome, while Octane is a bit messy and shows why Triple Changers should all be Voyagers like Blitzwing (not to say he sucks, just that Triple Changers should be at bigger size classes).

In regard to Octane's guns in truck mode, I prefer to put them on the sides of the cab so that they are smokestacks (now, to paint him red and blue and call him Optimus Prime...), rather than what the instructions say and put them on the tank. They look more effective on the cab.

Why would anyone get these Universe BW TFs? :/

Well, I appreciate them since I can't buy the originals online myself, so these are the next best thing.

[STL]

I finally managed to get some Universe toys this week: Legends Hound and Tankor Octane.

Hound is all kinds of awesome, while Octane is a bit messy and shows why Triple Changers should all be Voyagers like Blitzwing (not to say he sucks, just that Triple Changers should be at bigger size classes).

In regard to Octane's guns in truck mode, I prefer to put them on the sides of the cab so that they are smokestacks (now, to paint him red and blue and call him Optimus Prime...), rather than what the instructions say and put them on the tank. They look more effective on the cab.

That's a brilliant idea and it definitely does look very nice. I kind of liked the guns on the back b/c it covers the obvious fists but it looks equally nice as smokestacks. Hrm... gives me a reason to grab a few extras...

[kup]

USA Edition Ultras



Personal Comments and Observations:

Silverbolt:

He is an excellent looking concord like plane with an attractive robot mode which is clearly intended to be much more accurate to his cartoon/comic character model. However as attractive as both modes are, he has little more than the engineering complexity of a Micromaster; the whole plane is a folded back pack which the robot litely folds underneath in plane mode. For an Ultra class toy this is very disappointing and his transformation is unsatisfying. Out of this trio Silvebolt has the simplest design and it must have cost Hasbro next to nothing when it comes to Research and Development as he is just a blown up Micromaster with lights and sounds.

When it comes to the lights and sounds, they are not bad and relevant. Just generic gun fire and the multicolored lights are fairly nice. Aside from the simplicity of the design, my biggest issue with this toy is that his neck has been molded to slightly look down instead of looking forward and that can be a little distracting when it comes to posing him - silly decision.

Overall a dissatisfying toy given his basic design but an excellent character tribute to the Aerialbot leader. I would only recommend this toy for the character tribute or if you find on sale as he is not worth his retail price.

Powerglide:

We have discussed this guy to death and my opinion has not changed that much but there are a few things worth mentioning.

His transformation is not bad and somewhat satisfying, specially when compared to Silverbolt. However while Transforming its very easy to trigger his sounds but they are brief and much more tolerable than other 'trigger happy' toys such as Movie Leader Brawl. The Sounds themselves are generic gun fire but while transforming a G1 Transformation sound is triggered which is nice.

The plane mode looks decent if not spectacular. For some reason I thought that it was going to have this giant body with little wings but the proportions are much better than expected. The wings are long enough making the plane seem capable of taking off unlike Movie Starscream which was a tank with little wings.

This USA Edition makes tribute to G1 Powerglide a lot more obvious but the mold itself is an obstacle to making the tribute satisfying. He feels more like some gestalt given his disjointed look than the original character.

Sadly, Powerglide is the sort of toy that you can tell right away that you won't really like even by looking at early prototype/promo pics. However the orange 'breasts' are less bright in person than in photos but still distracting and annoying.

The tribute to the character is lacking but present and his engineering is decent enough if not great so it really is a matter of taste and how much emphasis you place on a worthwhile character tribute when it comes to this toy. Overall better than I expected but still disappointing.

Onslaught:

This figure has a satisfying transformation and engineering for an Ultra and the tribute is spot on even if the alt mode is now a SWAT armored riot control vehicle rather than a flat bed truck. I am very happy with this toy but it has some flaws such as the gaps in his knee joints which are somewhat distracting and some fluro orange accents such as his electronics trigger button which look out of place. Aside from that its very well done.

The Alt mode is a very aggressive looking SWAT vehicle with a massive double turret canon on top which is the only real tribute to Onslaught's G1 alt mode but it still makes it very clear as to who this vehicle is meant to be. I originally had issues with Onslaught being a SWAT vehicle as it felt out of place given his G1 alt mode; however as time has passed I have grown used to the idea and although it still bothers me somewhat, I can live with it.

The lights and sounds on this toy are excellent. The Machine gun fire is great and the police siren has been greatly improved over the Universe version (more on that later). Overall Onslaught is the more satisfying figure of the trio with a well done G1 tribute and satisfying (if still a bit simple) engineering and transformation sequence given his price/size scale.

Differences Between Universe and USA Editions:

Please note that I had very little contact with the Hasbro Universe versions of these Ultras and my perceptions may not be accurate. The Universe Ultra which I had the most experience with is Onslaught.

Silverbolt: The biggest change here is the color. The Japanese version is a nice milky white rather than Hasbro Silver (dull gray) which changes the personality of the figure somewhat. The Hasbro version makes it seem like a very gloomy (sad) character while Takara's release is more cheerful and feels more in line with Silverbolt's characterisation as well as more G1 accurate. The White also makes the other colors stand out more and makes the color scheme seem more diverse.

Powerglide: He is now a bright red with gray accents rather than mostly gray with small red accents like the Hasbro version. The character ribute with the Japanese version is stronger but my biggest issue with the Takara color scheme is that they painted the arms red when they should have left them lite gray. The Takara colors bring out the G1 character a lot more too (even if the red is a little too bright) but the mold still sets the tribute back.

Onslaught: Takara's version is much more G1 accurate and the metallic green is superb. Its hard to tell within the package but there is an awesome metallic shine on the green which looks fantastic. The head has also been painted to resemble the G1 head more, particularly the G1 character model. The Universe version is still pretty decent but I prefer the Japanese colors for G1 accuracy and because of the awesome metallic shine. I was also very pleasantly surprised to find that the Japanese have improved on the electronic sound effects, specifically the siren. In Hasbro's release the siren was a half a second sort of 'beep' which sounded silly but in USA Edition, the siren sound sequence lasts longer (making it actually sound like a police siren) and can continue on if you continue to press the button.

[Paulbot]

Kup, Silverbolt looks blindingly white in that pic

[STL]

Kup, Silverbolt looks blindingly white in that pic

That's one of the things that scares me about the mold but I guess it must not be bad in person as no one's complained to date.

[jacksplatt11]

I really like USA Edition Onslaught's paint job.. I mean there is nothing wrong with the Universe version, but the shiny colours just make it that little bit better