Transformers: Energon & Beyond

[JediTricks]

I picked up Snarl & Sideways last night, but I am tired today so I will curb my major comments till later.

Snarl is good but has super weak colors and his gimmick doesn't stay open, you have to hold the key in place for the mouth to stay open which totally sucks. Transformation is pretty clever, I like the weapon but not the missile, and the articulation is good but the arm should have rotated just above the bicep instead of only below it.

Sideways is really cool, he's so much like the prototypes it's almost weird. Both modes are good and his transformation is cool, he's well-articulated and has decent weaponry. I only wish the orange was red, this looks like a bit like halloween on Cybertron. I am very pleased with this figure, almost the same level as Red Alert which is my best friend after all.

(Snarl) After fiddling with it a minute, I found that if you turn the blue patches of fur that move when you insert the key forward with the force chip inserted it will hold. But the chip has to stay in.

Good find, that makes it a little better, but I suspect this trick isn't intentional and may not hold up over time.

[kool-aid killer]

I still haven't found Decepticharge yet, that was an especially poigniant bummer when an actual S2000 blew by us on the streets tonight (actually though, it was the exact same color as Windcharger so that was kinda cool).

I saw the first TF:CY Armada Remold today, Longrack who is remolded from Armada's Hoist (an ok but overrated figure IMO), he comes with a DVD of an ep. I passed.

Hey JT, you still looking for a Decepticharge? I seen two of them at a TRU today. Let me know if youre interested in one or not.

I seen the same Alt. Prowl and Wheeljack today. Yet again i couldnt pull the trigger on either of them. Im thinking thats a sign that my interest in the line has died.

[JediTricks]

Wow, couldn't get Prowl? He's a new mold too. Still, he is one of the lesser figs in the line, so you might wanna wait before ensuring your permanent disinterest.

Thanks for the offer, but I'm gonna try to pick him up in town - I was thinking about this the other day, he's not even a new figure and doesn't come with the driveshaft.

[JediTricks]

TF:CY Snarl - Beast mode is a wolf, techno sculpting with a little fur. The only details in beast mode I don't care for are the kibbly tail and the cyber key holder tabs on the right rear leg, the rest of the look is a powerful wolf look - I would strongly suggest removing the translucent-orange tail missile though. Beast mode has well-articulated legs with limited-tilt ball-jointed hips & shoulders, and hinged knees and ankles, and the tail can hinge one way, however the head is entirely fixed and permanently gazing a bit downward as if he's stalking some prey; the mouth doesn't stay open due to the key gimmick having it spring-loaded. The colors really bother me, the pearly white front half and dull light blue rear half with dark blue and some yellow paint accents just looks awful, the white hides a lot of the details and the overall colorscheme really makes no sense that I can discern. There's a painted Autobot logo on the left hip.

The key gimmick is the same beast and bot modes, insert the key behind the wolf head and the mouth opens up with some long translucent fangs inside coming out of its palate, also some tufts of cyber-fur on either side of the head rotate upwards, the whole thing looks like an angry dog... an angry vampire dog. The mouth doesn't stay open unless you hold the key in place though, when you let go the mouth closes and the key is pushed out of the slot - Adam on my Star Wars forums pointed out that while holding the key in if you rotate the fur-tufts around till they point forward the mouth stays open, this works but I believe it is not designed with this in mind and may stress parts over time... and it looks even sillier than before.

Transformation is fairly unique for a beast-bot, the rear end is fairly simple but the front end is clever as the whole thing folds around so the beast forelegs become the middle of the back, and there's sliding on the shoulders, and the transformation becomes quite satisfying. Looking down above the chest shows a few narrow gaps but they're easily forgiven, and folding the beast feet down obscures the hole in the lower back. Back to beast mode feels pretty quick after you get the hang of how the beast head orients onto the shoulder pegs - pay attention when first transforming to bot for a sidestep of that potential confusion.

Bot mode is pretty cool, the beast head as the oversized right forearm isn't as oddball as it seems, and the large shoulders somehow don't overwhelm the general proportions of the figure. The colors are still pretty heinous, but the redistribution of dark blue at least balances the look better than beast mode - the pearly white plastic still loses sculpted details though, especially in the newly-revealed face, shoulders and arms. The head as some dark blue paint, most of which is a bit sloppy, and the eyes are light-piped orange which would look better if not set against the pearly white plastic. Articulation is good but could be better, the lower legs are the same as beast mode except with less knee range due to rotating the lower leg, the neck rotates, each shoulder acts as a ball joint even though it's really 2 totally separate articulation points, the elbows are hinged, and the forearm rotates just below the elbow - it would have been even better with rotation above the elbow though. Snarl's weapon is his tail, it has a hinged peg handle so it can be a fat sword or a spring-loaded missile-firing gun, I don't generally care for spring-loaded missiles but the gun looks alright either way with or without; the weapon only fits in the left hand since the right one is the wolf head.

Overall, Snarl is a figure I hope gets a more wolf-like repaint in the future as there's enough here that I do like the figure, but I loathe the coloring enough to push it into underwhelming, less-than-exciting territory. It's a solid figure in both modes, the best beast in the line so far, with lots to appreciate, but it could be better too.


TF:CY Sideways - packed on a Decepticon deluxe card but with split-faction graphics and proclaiming he's from Planet X, Sideways is once again a mysterious faction-crossing Transformer. His alt mode is a sleek, futuristic space plane with forward-swept wings that have a span wider than the plane is long, and I like that the whole thing is solid instead of floppy. The plane sports plenty of details from the top, though the underside has less to look at, I especially like the cockpit with the small chromed reticle-like window on top and the long eyeslit-like windows on either side. The plane has 3 small wheels on the underside, one of mine isn't totally free but I don't care as he's not a car. The packaged transformation has the fists showing from the bottom, but if you rotate them around you get a sculpted, painted vent detail instead. The colors are an odd lot of black, silver, dark bronze, and some green and orange accents as well as translucent orange windows and part of the upper midsection - it sounds like a mishmosh, but somehow it doesn't seem that way, it's all fairly balanced (there's a lot more orange on the underside though).

The cyber key itself is one of the more nifty keys in the line, it has an interesting shape that has a Decepticon-logo molded into the back and some good sculpted detail to it, it's translucent orange with a lot of silver paint. The key gimmick in alt mode works either by just plugging the key in, which switches the faction logo from Autobot to Decepticon as long as the key is inserted, or by raising up the middle section to become a cannon, and the key changes the logo and springs out 4 translucent orange curved blades. In bot mode, the whole cannon part ends up on the left forearm like a narrow shield.

Transformation is pretty interesting once you figure out the best way to get the cannon around the rear end of the planel, and that the instructions make the leg transformation seem far more convoluted than it really is. I especially like how the head comes out of the cockpit, and how the back/cape is formed. The non-locked downward-shrug shoulders don't bother me, it's a small range of movement and I think it seems expressive.

Bot mode has long thin legs, big feet, a techno-horned head, and a cape of sorts, all of which make for a boldly sinister look, yet the bot isn't floppy even though it easily looks like it could have been. The triangular head is especially unusual, no actual face to speak of but lots of sculpted shapes with a big light-piped eye/mouth right in the middle, it's quite unique and very cool. As mentioned before, there's a chromed reticle-like window in the cockpit and since the transformation has the cockpit fold forward to open, I suppose you could leave it open and have Sideways use it as a targeting reticle. Bot mode adds more orange to the overall mix, I wish they had used a red color instead so it wouldn't look quite as halloweeny, but it is an effective contrast as it is now; a few elements are painted orange, and all of the paint is done a bit sloppily. Articulation is pretty decent, the knees hinge, the hips are ball joints and rotate at the bottom, the feet can fold down, the wrists rotate, the elbows are hinged, the biceps rotate, the shoulders are universal joints, and the neck rotates - the head lifts up slightly to turn more than a few degrees. Sideways has the cannon/blade-shield attached to his left forearm, the plate it's on can rotate and the hinges are still in play; unlike most cyber key gimmick elements, this weapon isn't ridiculously oversized, being only slightly longer than Sideway's arm. Sideways also has his wings attached to the sides of his boots, each wing is removable and has a peg at the end to become a sword, he can hold a sword in either fist, or at the top and bottom of one fist for a double-bladed sword that is as long as he is tall.

Overall, I think Sideways is really quite cool, my top favorites are Optimus Prime, Red Alert, and now Sideways. He's a mysterious side-switching character, a sleek space plane, and a sinister-looking robot; he's also a solid toy, not fragile or floppy in either mode.

[Adam]

Sideways is the bee's knees, but he's not my best friend. ( I won't betray you yet Red! )

Galaxy Force Exigeyser ( Cybertron Hot Shot ver 2)

So on the second day of botcon I got bored after the Hasbro panel. And being bored at a convention is not good, because it ultimately leads you to buying something you probably should have waited for Target to get. But I digress. His vehicle mode is an armored car with a gun turret, sporting mostly the same color scheme as our first Hot Shot. (That being light blue for the most part with some black, red and yellow for good measure.) There is a painted Autobot symbol above the drivers seat. This symbol however overlaps a red V, which stands for "Vanguard." (Hot Shot, along with Red Alert and Scattor Shot for the Vanguard Team, in GF anyway.) One obvious feature is the return of minicon ports. I'm not sure why they left them off mosy of the earlier figures, but whatever. Transformation is not too complicated, pull back the rear end for the legs, front end splits open (Armada Optimus Prime style) head flips down, arms pull out, and done. The blade that was stored between the legs in alt mode can now be stored on the side of the left leg. Some details from the first HS are caried over, so there no mistaking who this is. They are altered slightly though, so its not the same. The force chip gimmick is the same in both modes, insert chip in the turret and it flips up revealing two missle racks. How ever the best part of this figure is what complements this gimmick. His legs each have a rectangular panel that can be flipped around to reveal more missles. Same for the shoulders, except the panel has to be opened instead of rotated. And the red bumpers on his shoulders can be opened to reveal, you guessed it, more missles. And if thats not enough, the aforementioned blade can be used in the hand or inserted into the hole on his fist. Simlpy put, this guy is pretty heavily armed. Articulation wise, he is opposite to version one. While the first version legs had decent movement, ver2 is improved allowing him to take some wide stances. The arms are slightly dissapointing in that there is no wrist or upper arm rotation. But despite that, the shoulder joint can turn 360 degrees, so all is not lost. He is a little shorter, which is an odd from a supposed upgrade, but its that bad really. I would say if you like Hot Shot version 1, then you should like this one. The neat chip gimmick and cool missle racks make this worth owning alongside the original.

[JediTricks]

Yeah, he definitely doesn't overtake RA's status as best friend, nor Optimus' status as "BMF", but I think Sideways is probably 3rd in this line.


Cool review on Vanguard Hot Shot, but is he a deluxe-size or mega-size figure? How much did it cost ya?

[Adam]

He is a deluxe and was about $25. That is about regular price for newer import deluxes.

[Tycho]

You know it sucks not having Alternators I am looking forward to coming out.

What about Decepticon jets and Megatron (as a tank or Hummer?)

Skids might elicit a purchase from me when I see him, but Prowl didn't.

He might also be redone as Ironhide yet or something. (what happened to the pickup truck?)

Is Sunstreaker out? I might buy that repaint (my first repaint).

[darthvyn]

(what happened to the pickup truck?)

the dodge ram pickup is actually going to be optimus prime! hasbro wanted to do the pickup so much, but takara was like "we don't have pickups in japan" so they decided that convoy always sells in japan, so they made him convoy!

[Tycho]

the dodge ram pickup is actually going to be optimus prime! hasbro wanted to do the pickup so much, but takara was like "we don't have pickups in japan" so they decided that convoy always sells in japan, so they made him convoy!

Groan. While I have no idea who Convoy is, I bought the 20th Anniversary Optimus to be my Alternator leader. If the pickup has a "Prime head" I'll skip it and wait for a repaint (Ironhide, Ultra Magnus) etc.