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Name: Skids
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Comic Relief
"Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, come and get yo' ice cream." -- Skids, Revenge of the Fallen
Name: Mudflap
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Comic Relief; Snack
"Nobody messes with the Twins!" -- Mudflap to Devastator, Revenge of the Fallen
Ah, the Twins. Two of the new Autobots introduced in the movie, and they proved to be the most controversial. Said to be stereotypes by some critics, they got themselves a wave of unpopularity. Myself, I don't see stereotypes in the Twins. They're more like those 'gangsta punk wannabes' type. In any case, I enjoyed the Twins' performance in the movie. Sure, they could do with a little less cursing, but personally I think they are funny... I don't particularly love them, but I don't hate them as well. I mean, they aren't someone you can't find in any other movie. Not like, say, those human brats from Armada.
The Twins are called Skids and Mudflap, and are given the characterization of being young, immature, and being wannabe punks. Being twins, they argue with each other quite a lot, even going to blows at some points. I find this very comical and frighteningly realistic... A sentiment I really love and understand, having a (albeit non-identical) twin myself. We keep fighting but we get along well. Well, we haven't killed each other yet...
The Twins first appeared combined in their ice cream truck mode, when NEST and the Autobots arrived on Shanghai to hunt Decepticons. As the humans and Ironhide attack the massive Demolishor, the Twins and the Arcee trio are deployed to pursue the smaller Decepticon Sideways. After a chase across the streets of Shanghai, the Twins crashed on a particularly sharp turn and split into their two separate robot modes. Sideways split into two as well, soon afterward when Sideswipe came with his swords and promptly carved the Decepticon into two. After returning to base, the Twins were given new chevy compact cars to upgrade themselves into. They fought over the green Chevrolet Beat, which is finally taken by Skids (the older one) while Mudflap (the younger one) gets the brown Chevrolet Trax. The Twins, in their new bodies, appeared mostly in group shots in their car modes. Afterward, a revived Megatron killed Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee had to get our human heroes to safety. The Twins somehow found themselves helping Bumblebee guard Sam, Mikaela and Leo in an abandoned factory, and witnessed the Fallen's demand to bring Sam to him. The Twins threatened to 'pop Leo's ass' if he doesn't shut up. The Twins doesn't read Cybertonian, apparently. Afterward, the Twins followed Bumblebee and the humans as they retrieved ex-Agent Simmons, revived Jetfire in the Smithsonian and when they were teleported to Egypt. All the while, they acted as the comic relief of the group, Skids saying that they had to blend in like a ninja. When they arrived at the (hidden) Tomb of the Primes in Petra, Mudflap and Skids fought with each other over following and trusting Sam. A pissed-off Bumblebee clonked their heads together and threw them out of the Tomb. However, their little fight had revealed the real Tomb. There was no time to rejoice, however, as the Decepticons arrived soon afterward. With Simmons and Leo, the Twins acted as decoys while Bee, Sam and Mikaela went off to get the Matrix dust to Optimus' body. However, the Twins found themselves in a quarry with a lot of construction vehicles. A lot of them. They combined into Devastator through a spectacular process. Devastator had a massive maw with spinning gears which could suck in anything not nailed down like a vortex. This means sand, cars, camels, tents, background humans, random bricks and debris, and unfortunately, Mudflap. Now Mudflap ain't gonna get chowed down without a fight, and he tried to discourage Devastator from eating him by using his 'kung-fu grip'. Devastator ate him. However, Mudflap proved to be tougher than he looked, and proved to give Devastator the worst case of indigestion he ever had, to use a Furmanism. Mudflap punched and shot his way out of Devastator's face, and the Twins proceeded to bravely bounce around and randomly shoot climb onto Devastator and attack him head-on. Their efforts managed to do little to stop the Constructicon gestalt, though, and Mudflap shot Skids' face. Skids' gold tooth fell off. They weren't seen afterwards, but it's presumed that they survived.
A little name history, as usual. Skids' name is taken from the Generation 1 character Skids, a theoretician who transforms into a Honda hatchback. He was almost nonexistent in the cartoon (barring a line or two) but he got a bigger role in the Marvel comics, up to the point that he had a spotlight issue to himself (saving cowgirls) and was used as a major plot device in the UK comics, enabling Galvatron to come from the future and wreak havoc. Skids got a new Alternators toy in 2005, but until now the name 'Skids' have never been used. Sure, RiD and Armada both marketed toys with the name 'Skid-Z', but I'm only interested in Skids. The 2007 movie's trading card series also had a character named Skids. Afterward, there's ROTF Skids. Mudflap didn't have the luxury of having a G1 name, an original name (Scalpel), or even an Armada-series name (Grindor, Demolishor, Sideways). Instead, his name is recycled from 2005's Cybertron/Galaxy Force toyline. Cybertron's Mudflap was a tow truck Autobot who defected to the Decepticons. After Starscream beat him up a little, he returns to the Autobots. He's pretty much pathetic. In the 2007 Movie toyline, the Mudflap toy was repainted in G1 Erector's colours as Mudflap, so ROTF Mudflap isn't the only one in the movieverse with that name. But then again, such things are common. Just ask Movie/ROTF Dead End. All four of them.
So anyway, being reformatted means Hasbro gets to sell an additional toy. Skids and Mudflap, in their compact car bodies, have been released as deluxe class toys. Their ice cream truck bodies were released soon afterward, and are going to be the topic of our review.
You see, the unique alternate mode alone, an ice cream truck, is the first reason I'm attracted to the Twins. ROTF had given us lots of unique alternate modes. And to top that, the Ice Cream Truck Twins feature one of the less famous gimmicks from Generation One -- Micromaster Combiners!
...
You don't remember them, do you? Nevertheless, the Micromaster Combiners were part of the final year of G1, right after the Micromasters and before the Action Masters. Two Micromasters combine into a vehicle, and each of them is interchangeable and all. Still, none of them ever got recognized in any fiction barring MTMTE profiles and a cameo for Terror-Tread in Dreamwave's Micromasters series. But ROTF references them! Whether it's intentional or not... still, I love obscure characters, and the Micromasters are very underused characters...
ALTERNATE MODE
It's an ice cream truck, obviously. Pink and creamy-white are the main colours of the ice cream truck. Of course, the awesome 'Decepticons suck my popsicle' bumper sticker isn't included, as it's for kids. I'm sure a kitbasher can supply you with one, though. Tampographed onto the ice cream truck are: 'Made fresh for you!' above the front wheels, two ice cream cone tampographs and a 'Creamy Ice Cream' logo on either side of the upper main body of the ice cream truck. Also, there's an Autobot symbol. I hoped that they made an Autobot symbol integrated into an ice cream or something (like Barricade and Ratchet's), but nooo.....
A molded swirly ice cream is on top of the ice cream truck, and it's not hard to imagine the Twins rolling across the street with the faux ice cream spinning. Although, unlike the movie, it does not light up. Also, dark gray colour the grill and horn, while dark blue goes on the windows. A very charming little vehicle mode, and almost kibble-free. It could use some dirty 'battle damage', but we can't have everything...
The Twins have some problem rolling as Mudflap's big feet have a tendency to pop down. Also, Skids' face is on a very powerful spring, so he just loves to pop out of the front lid. There's a latch that holds the lid down, but mine just simply refuses to cooperate. Still, from what I've heard, it isn't a widespread problem, and chances are it should latch just fine.
Overall, a charming and cute little alternate mode. But it doesn't just stop there. The ice cream truck splits in the middle. The two halves, contrary to what the toy bio says, are secured very tightly by latches and whatnot. One separated, the two halves can transform individually into their robot modes. But it's just funny to have two halves of an ice cream truck displayed.
SKIDS: ROBOT MODE
Now what I like of the new lines (2007 Movie, Animated, ROTF) all try and make the toys as show-accurate as possible. Skids has a larger right arm, while Mudflap has a larger left arm for whatever reason. These are translated into the ice cream truck as well. In fact, compact car Skids looks leaner and thinner than compact car Mudflap, and again, the same thing is reflected in the ice cream truck. Their legs and heads are all very similar to the compact car toys as well. It's nice to see that they placed some effort in designing the toys, not just slap the heads on and sell it off.
Now Skids is formed from the front cab of the truck. As mentioned before, his head is very eager to pop out. After a transformation that is more complex than what it seems, we get Skids. His face is exactly the same as the deluxe class toy, with a bigger 'monocle' eye, a bucktooth (no golden tooth, though) and large ear-like horns. He looks dopey, and by far, Skids' face is my favourite among the movie characters. If only they added the golden tooth!
The colours are still pink, gray and cream white, but a brighter shade of white appear, and some silver for the face. Skids is noticeably more pink than Mudflap. Again, Skids' right arm is molded as larger, and even has wrist articulation! Skids' posability is excellent for a toy his size as well. The head is on a ball joint, the elbows are on ball joints, and so are the thighs and knees. Ankles, wrist, waist and shoulder all have limited articulation as well. Skids' shoulders are a bit hard to pose as the hinge are a bit tight in order to hold the parts together in vehicle mode. This does make it a little frustrating to move the shoulders up into robot mode position.
Skids' legs are gangly and very similar to his compact car counterpart. I mean, they have the same face, foot and everything, although Compact Car Skids is more... muscular, so to speak. Skids is about the same size as the average Scouts class toy, maybe a little smaller. This doesn't make him any less awesome.
MUDFLAP: ROBOT MODE
The back of the ice cream truck has a larger mass and is boxier, so Mudflap is a bit bulkier than Skids. Again, like with Skids, more white and silver appear. The left arm is bigger and coloured black for some reason. Mudflap's posability is about the same with Skids, though his shoulders are much easier to move around.
Unlike the lankier Skids, Mudflap is more ogre-like with his massive feet. Mudflap's leg, again, is patterned after his deluxe class toy. Mudflap's face could use some detailing, though. Personally, I don't like Mudflap's face. It just feels... out of place compared to the other more... fluid and 'cool' designs. While Skids' face feels right at home, Mudflap's a bit odd, like someone glued eyes and ears and a jaw together. Although you'll get used to it. In any case, Mudflap has a great robot mode, and looks great displayed next to his twin.
No 'Mech Alive' gimmick, but having the Twins able to interact like this is kind of awesome. Anyhow, an awesome toy and they are recommended to anyone who doesn't hate the Twins.
Mark out of ten for the following
Durability 6/10 The Twins are rather durable, although there are some joints that seem loose and might break easily. Skids seems to be the more fragile of the two, but that's because he's thinner. Also, the stickers and everything can be scraped off.
Transformation 4/10 for Skids, 6/10 for Mudflap. They're quite easy, although transforming them into car mode needs a lot of work. My Skids' front refuses to pop down, so I have to permanently leave them in robot mode in display.
Fun 9/10 Two for the price of one! Plus, there's the combining gimmick! Now if only they added a gun or two...
Price 10/10 Two for the price of one. Actually I got them as a birthday present, so it's an immediate 10 for me. Regardless, for those who are shelling out money for them, they should fetch a 8 or 9 easily.
Overall 8/10 My verdict? The Twins are an unique toy and, like Demolishor or Devastator, are a unique toy. Toys, in this case. The unique alternate mode and the Micromaster Combiner gimmick alone ensured him in my 'must-have' list. However, they are not flawless. I still recommend the Twins for anyone who doesn't bother for their compact car versions, though.
Toy Review Archives
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I've added the following to qualify the design, after all the feeback:
This figure is based on earlier concept art, where his arms are even more disproportionate than in the final version, under the premise that Megatron had been rebuilt from the other dead Decepticons dropped into the abyss. (It would appear this idea was dropped from the film, as there is no indication of the other corpses even being present in the same area as Megatron.)
That's in the review now before discussing the use of other Decepticon parts.
Thanks!
You know, I am finding myself enjoying the figure very much, despite his obvious flaws. The transformation is surprisingly fun! And the tank mode is very imposing.
Still, I think my scorings in the review are fair. He's not the best figure ever, but he's not the worst either. Still, a TF should have a good alternate mode as well as a good robot mode.
This figure is based on earlier concept art, where his arms are even more disproportionate than in the final version, under the premise that Megatron had been rebuilt from the other dead Decepticons dropped into the abyss. (It would appear this idea was dropped from the film, as there is no indication of the other corpses even being present in the same area as Megatron.)
That's in the review now before discussing the use of other Decepticon parts.
Thanks!
You know, I am finding myself enjoying the figure very much, despite his obvious flaws. The transformation is surprisingly fun! And the tank mode is very imposing.
Still, I think my scorings in the review are fair. He's not the best figure ever, but he's not the worst either. Still, a TF should have a good alternate mode as well as a good robot mode.
ROTF Sweeeeeeerve! -[PROOFED]
Name: Swerve
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Metallurgist/Fabricator
Retool of: ROTF Deluxe Sideswipe
Ah, Swerve. The original character was a red-and-white retool of Gears with a more humanoid face. G1 Swerve was released in 1986, during the time of the G1 movie's release. He was supposed to be a metallurgist or scientist or somesuch. Swerve first appeared in the cartoon as part of the Minibot contingent that tried very ineffectively to stop Trypticon from destroying the Ark. They failed, Swerve was stomped to the ground. Poor Swerve. In the Marvel comics, I don't think he ever appeared (save for one scene where Gears was miscoloured red-and-white. Or is that Swerve?). Swerve did appear in Dreamwave's G1 comics, as well as the current IDW comics. The name Swerve would later be reused as repaints. The Cybertron line repainted Clocker as Swerve. Universe repainted Armada Blurr red into Swerve. Universe had another super-exclusive Chevy Swerve mold that you get only if you buy a car. That somehow makes him the most expensive toy EVER. The 2007 Movie card game also had a Swerve character. Finally, more recently, ROTF repainted Sideswipe red as Swerve in deluxe class as well as Legends class, as a homage to G1 and possibly to keep the trademark 'Swerve' in Hasbro's hands. Also, a 'G1 skin' version of Sideswipe in the ROTF Game expansion pack is technically Swerve as well. Damn but he gets around.
So Sideswipe is included in the ROTF movie, as a badass swordsman-on-wheels, with his key scene slicing Sideways into two. But he's silver, unlike the G1 red colours. Like what I've said with Sideways, solid silver is too generic, so I waited for the Swerve repaint to get the Sideswipe mold. After all, they did day that this mold is awesome and all, and I can't resist a GEEWUN repaint. After all, I'm bored of silver cars.
Anywaaaay, I passed Sideswipe after seeing that there will be a red repaint. I got nothing against silver, but it's just not flashy enough. 'Sides, I need more red in my display racks. Too many blues, yellows, blacks and purples.
ALTERNATE MODE
Swerve transforms into a Chevrolet Stingray concept. Due to the whole General Motors bankruptcy and whatnot, the Sideswipe/Swerve mold may be the only way we can see the Stingray for now. Still, the Stingray is an a sleek and hot car, especially in red.
Black round out the colour scheme in the windows and wheels, a little yellow and white on the tail lights, and the Corvette symbol at the front painted in bright golden-yellow.
The license plate is situated above Stingray's four exhaust pipes. Instead of something like 'G1-51D35W1P3' or 'SWERVE', a red Autobot insignia sits snugly in the middle of the white license plate. Detailing is excellent, as with most other licensed vehicle modes in the movie lines. Those little grooves and cuts really give Swerve an Alternators-esque feel.
The robot mode pieces don't hold together very well in this mode, I'm afraid. The doors, each made by two separate pieces of the swords (I'll get to that in a bit) don't latch on very well to the other pieces of the car. Takes quite a bit of fiddling to get them to click on properly. Otherwise, it's an excellent vehicle mode.
Another quibble with Swerve is that it doesn't roll too well. Swerve's knees poke out from his underside. Unlike, other toys like, say Sideways, Swerve's knees are much worse and are practically scraping the floor when I try to roll him around. Not such a big deal for collectors, however. Still, continued play by younger relatives might scrape off the silver finish on the knees.
Overall, a nicely designed and heavily detailed vehicle mode, but not free of problems. Still, it's adequate as the toy focuses more on the-
ROBOT MODE
Swerve's transformation to robot mode is very fun to do, and rather well-designed. Swerve's very impressive, and looks actually sleek and nimble, something 2007 Movie Jazz failed to deliver. The first thing you would notice is the new head sculpt for Swerve. It's a nice thing to know that they actually put effort in making Sideswipe different from Swerve. Swerve's head is completely different from the visored smiling G1 face. Swerve's face seems to be a stern movie-ized samurai face. He has a samurai/martial arts master look with a 'helmet' and a long goatee at the chin. A veeery long goatee. Regrettably the goatee causes the head's articulation to be nearly nullified.
Swerve's front lid separate and become back kibble. The kibble is adjustable, and you can make it stay there as in the instructions, hanging there and hoping not to be noticed. You could also adjust them so they form window-wings like that of G1 Prowl/Bluestreak/Smokescreen, or you could simply point them down. I've heard people making them into chest-armour as well, but I can't manage to do that.
Colours shifted from nearly pure red and added more blacks and a little light gray and yellow to break it up. Swerve's chest is made up from the back of the vehicle, the cabin into the backpack while the front lid separates into the 'wings' and part of his feet.
Yes, his feet. We have to get there sometime, don't we? Swerve's feet, like Sideswipe's, are pure wheels. Now Landmine's and Jazz's wheel-legs are more retractable roller-blades, while Bonecrusher's wheel-legs have those claw-toes to support him. Sideswipe's CGI model made him only with wheels as feet. The deluxe toy makes an effort to be accurate, by making the wheels as the feet. (The legends class toy, in contrast, ignored that and gave Sideswipe/Swerve 'proper' feet) Parts of the car's front end up as stabilizing 'toes'. This doesn't effect Swerve's overall appearance much, though. Swerve is very unstable to stand, and I dread leaving him freestanding in display. Of course, with a steady hand and a pinch of patience, the 'toe' and 'heel' kibble can be adjusted so Swerve can stand properly.
Swerve's lower chest-section has a gold-painted Corvette symbol in it, a nice little touch to an already awesome toy. Two golden bone-like horns potrude on the side of Swerve's black-silver stomach, adding to his 'samurai' feel. I can't wait for Voyager class Bludgeon to come out...
The next point of interest is his awesomely designed legs. Fake pistons and springs adorn the knee. When the knee is folded, the pistons move and Swerve's silver knee-guards slide forward like tiny (albeit dull) blades. It's the Mech Alive feature to this mold. Nifty if you have to knee someone in the gut, and a nice little extra that doesn't effect the toy much. His hip joins are fantastic in design. The ball joints are cast in transparent plastic to give an impression of invisibility, I think. Moving rubber pistons are geared to slide when you move the legs.
Each of Swerve's swords is made up of two separate halves that make up a door. Pull half of the sword and the other moves as well through gears. A neat little effect. However, the end result aren't as impressive as it could've been. The swords don't look very threatening. Too thick and the two halves that make up each sword is very evident. It's not so impressive compared to, say, 2007 Movie Wreckage's spring-out swords or ROTF Leader class Prime's swords of face decapitation. Still, the effect is there and he can manage to strike a few cool poses with two swords. A pity that the swords can't separate and be launched towards unsuspecting Sidewayses.
Overall, he's an awesome toy with lots of those little features that makes me adore a toy. Moreover, he has both excellent vehicle and robot modes, which is a rarity. And he's a G1 homage!
Marks out of ten for the following:
Durability 8/10 Swerve's pistons seem to be fragile and might snap off easily. There's the silver paint problem as well. Also, the golden Corvette paint seems to be able to be scratched off quite easily. Otherwise he's sturdy.
Transformation 6/10 Nothing too challenging, standard Deluxe Class transformation. A little tricky for the young 'uns, perhaps, but easy enough. It's no Leader Prime.
Fun 8/10 The swords aren't as impressive as I'd thought (not after seeing what they had done with Prime and Wreckage anyway), which is a shame as the swords define the character. Still, wheel feet!
Price 9/10 This guy is worth the money you're paying him, that's for sure.
Overall 10/10 Swerve is a simply fantastic toy. Certainly more fun than Dead End, to compare. The swords are a little disappointing, but nothing that would detract from the sheer awesomeness of Swerve. If you haven't gotten Sideswipe, get him. In fact, get him anyway. He has a samurai head.
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Metallurgist/Fabricator
Retool of: ROTF Deluxe Sideswipe
Ah, Swerve. The original character was a red-and-white retool of Gears with a more humanoid face. G1 Swerve was released in 1986, during the time of the G1 movie's release. He was supposed to be a metallurgist or scientist or somesuch. Swerve first appeared in the cartoon as part of the Minibot contingent that tried very ineffectively to stop Trypticon from destroying the Ark. They failed, Swerve was stomped to the ground. Poor Swerve. In the Marvel comics, I don't think he ever appeared (save for one scene where Gears was miscoloured red-and-white. Or is that Swerve?). Swerve did appear in Dreamwave's G1 comics, as well as the current IDW comics. The name Swerve would later be reused as repaints. The Cybertron line repainted Clocker as Swerve. Universe repainted Armada Blurr red into Swerve. Universe had another super-exclusive Chevy Swerve mold that you get only if you buy a car. That somehow makes him the most expensive toy EVER. The 2007 Movie card game also had a Swerve character. Finally, more recently, ROTF repainted Sideswipe red as Swerve in deluxe class as well as Legends class, as a homage to G1 and possibly to keep the trademark 'Swerve' in Hasbro's hands. Also, a 'G1 skin' version of Sideswipe in the ROTF Game expansion pack is technically Swerve as well. Damn but he gets around.
So Sideswipe is included in the ROTF movie, as a badass swordsman-on-wheels, with his key scene slicing Sideways into two. But he's silver, unlike the G1 red colours. Like what I've said with Sideways, solid silver is too generic, so I waited for the Swerve repaint to get the Sideswipe mold. After all, they did day that this mold is awesome and all, and I can't resist a GEEWUN repaint. After all, I'm bored of silver cars.
Anywaaaay, I passed Sideswipe after seeing that there will be a red repaint. I got nothing against silver, but it's just not flashy enough. 'Sides, I need more red in my display racks. Too many blues, yellows, blacks and purples.
ALTERNATE MODE
Swerve transforms into a Chevrolet Stingray concept. Due to the whole General Motors bankruptcy and whatnot, the Sideswipe/Swerve mold may be the only way we can see the Stingray for now. Still, the Stingray is an a sleek and hot car, especially in red.
Black round out the colour scheme in the windows and wheels, a little yellow and white on the tail lights, and the Corvette symbol at the front painted in bright golden-yellow.
The license plate is situated above Stingray's four exhaust pipes. Instead of something like 'G1-51D35W1P3' or 'SWERVE', a red Autobot insignia sits snugly in the middle of the white license plate. Detailing is excellent, as with most other licensed vehicle modes in the movie lines. Those little grooves and cuts really give Swerve an Alternators-esque feel.
The robot mode pieces don't hold together very well in this mode, I'm afraid. The doors, each made by two separate pieces of the swords (I'll get to that in a bit) don't latch on very well to the other pieces of the car. Takes quite a bit of fiddling to get them to click on properly. Otherwise, it's an excellent vehicle mode.
Another quibble with Swerve is that it doesn't roll too well. Swerve's knees poke out from his underside. Unlike, other toys like, say Sideways, Swerve's knees are much worse and are practically scraping the floor when I try to roll him around. Not such a big deal for collectors, however. Still, continued play by younger relatives might scrape off the silver finish on the knees.
Overall, a nicely designed and heavily detailed vehicle mode, but not free of problems. Still, it's adequate as the toy focuses more on the-
ROBOT MODE
Swerve's transformation to robot mode is very fun to do, and rather well-designed. Swerve's very impressive, and looks actually sleek and nimble, something 2007 Movie Jazz failed to deliver. The first thing you would notice is the new head sculpt for Swerve. It's a nice thing to know that they actually put effort in making Sideswipe different from Swerve. Swerve's head is completely different from the visored smiling G1 face. Swerve's face seems to be a stern movie-ized samurai face. He has a samurai/martial arts master look with a 'helmet' and a long goatee at the chin. A veeery long goatee. Regrettably the goatee causes the head's articulation to be nearly nullified.
Swerve's front lid separate and become back kibble. The kibble is adjustable, and you can make it stay there as in the instructions, hanging there and hoping not to be noticed. You could also adjust them so they form window-wings like that of G1 Prowl/Bluestreak/Smokescreen, or you could simply point them down. I've heard people making them into chest-armour as well, but I can't manage to do that.
Colours shifted from nearly pure red and added more blacks and a little light gray and yellow to break it up. Swerve's chest is made up from the back of the vehicle, the cabin into the backpack while the front lid separates into the 'wings' and part of his feet.
Yes, his feet. We have to get there sometime, don't we? Swerve's feet, like Sideswipe's, are pure wheels. Now Landmine's and Jazz's wheel-legs are more retractable roller-blades, while Bonecrusher's wheel-legs have those claw-toes to support him. Sideswipe's CGI model made him only with wheels as feet. The deluxe toy makes an effort to be accurate, by making the wheels as the feet. (The legends class toy, in contrast, ignored that and gave Sideswipe/Swerve 'proper' feet) Parts of the car's front end up as stabilizing 'toes'. This doesn't effect Swerve's overall appearance much, though. Swerve is very unstable to stand, and I dread leaving him freestanding in display. Of course, with a steady hand and a pinch of patience, the 'toe' and 'heel' kibble can be adjusted so Swerve can stand properly.
Swerve's lower chest-section has a gold-painted Corvette symbol in it, a nice little touch to an already awesome toy. Two golden bone-like horns potrude on the side of Swerve's black-silver stomach, adding to his 'samurai' feel. I can't wait for Voyager class Bludgeon to come out...
The next point of interest is his awesomely designed legs. Fake pistons and springs adorn the knee. When the knee is folded, the pistons move and Swerve's silver knee-guards slide forward like tiny (albeit dull) blades. It's the Mech Alive feature to this mold. Nifty if you have to knee someone in the gut, and a nice little extra that doesn't effect the toy much. His hip joins are fantastic in design. The ball joints are cast in transparent plastic to give an impression of invisibility, I think. Moving rubber pistons are geared to slide when you move the legs.
Each of Swerve's swords is made up of two separate halves that make up a door. Pull half of the sword and the other moves as well through gears. A neat little effect. However, the end result aren't as impressive as it could've been. The swords don't look very threatening. Too thick and the two halves that make up each sword is very evident. It's not so impressive compared to, say, 2007 Movie Wreckage's spring-out swords or ROTF Leader class Prime's swords of face decapitation. Still, the effect is there and he can manage to strike a few cool poses with two swords. A pity that the swords can't separate and be launched towards unsuspecting Sidewayses.
Overall, he's an awesome toy with lots of those little features that makes me adore a toy. Moreover, he has both excellent vehicle and robot modes, which is a rarity. And he's a G1 homage!
Marks out of ten for the following:
Durability 8/10 Swerve's pistons seem to be fragile and might snap off easily. There's the silver paint problem as well. Also, the golden Corvette paint seems to be able to be scratched off quite easily. Otherwise he's sturdy.
Transformation 6/10 Nothing too challenging, standard Deluxe Class transformation. A little tricky for the young 'uns, perhaps, but easy enough. It's no Leader Prime.
Fun 8/10 The swords aren't as impressive as I'd thought (not after seeing what they had done with Prime and Wreckage anyway), which is a shame as the swords define the character. Still, wheel feet!
Price 9/10 This guy is worth the money you're paying him, that's for sure.
Overall 10/10 Swerve is a simply fantastic toy. Certainly more fun than Dead End, to compare. The swords are a little disappointing, but nothing that would detract from the sheer awesomeness of Swerve. If you haven't gotten Sideswipe, get him. In fact, get him anyway. He has a samurai head.
ROTF Deluxe Class Arcee-[PROOFED]
Name: Arcee
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Gunner; Crowd padding; Female presence
Subgroup: Arcee Bike Gang; ROTF Deluxe Class
Accessories: Sidecar/gun-stand
"Lock and load."
Arcee! She has an identity crisis of sorts. The first movie's lineup was set to include Arcee, who transformed into a Buell Firebolt motorbike. She was dropped from the lineup in favour of Ironhide, as the designers thought she was 'too small' and they can't be bothered to explain gender in the movie. Nevertheless, her design came out in the toyline, like fellow rejected-character Wreckage.
Still, with sequels new characters are introduced, so Arcee made the big screen after all. Apparently she's so awesome that they made THREE of her in the movie. Contrary to what the toy bios say, the novelization and comic adaptation portray them/her as a single character with her mind in three bodies, a la G1 Reflector. The novelization describes her as a 'tripartine' Autobot, and the comic adaptation made her talk like Reflector. No doubt this might be explained in Tales of the Fallen: Arcee. The three bike girls, while at a distance looks almost the same, are actually different designs. The trio are coloured blue, red and purple respectively, and all are unicycles in robot mode, having a wheel instead of legs. It's very reminiscent of Beast Machines' Thrust, and are among the awesome non-humaoid Transformers in the new movie, like Ravage, Rampage, Demolishor and the Doctor to name a few. There are three Arcee bikes, with different alternate modes and slightly different robot modes. In the toyline, Chromia is the blue bike, Arcee the red bike and Flareup or Elita-One is the purple one. And Hasbro just LOVE to mix them up. The Human Alliance and Robot Heroes toys all mix up the character models and colour-schemes. For example, Human Alliance Arcee has Chromia's robot mode but Arcee's bike mode and paintscheme. Robot Heroes Chromia has Flareup/Elita-1's model but coloured like Chromia. The Deluxe class toys are about the only ones who get it correct.
Arcee (I'm sticking with singular in here to reduce confusion) first appeared in her three bike modes, with holographic drivers, in the Shanghai scene. While Ironhide and the human NEST members attacked the massive Demolishor, Arcee and the Twins took off in pursuit after Sideways. The Twins, being bumbling rookies, crashed and separated, but Arcee kept pursuing Sideways, transforming into her three robot modes to shoot Sideways, even when the courier tore through a house, trying their best to fire at Sideways. The chase ended when Sideswipe tore in and bisected Sideways into two equal parts. Arcee appeared later mostly in her bike modes during groupshots. Her next major appearance is during the drop from Stratosphere the Globemaster planes, where she dropped down to Egypt in robot modes. She participated against the Decepticons, and later helped cover Sam and Mikaela's retreat alongside Ironhide. The red and purple bikes apparently got blown up by a Bonecrusher-lookalike. Whether the last blue bike survived the battle is never shown.
The Arcee trio is supposed to combine into a gestalt mode, and it was revealed in the novelization that she would at least use it in the battle against Sideways. The comic adaptation also had a drawing of gestalt-mode Arcee in a groupshot. This gimmick might be carried over to the toys, as the first Arcee bike to be released (Chromia/Blue Bike) and the second toy (Arcee/Red Bike) both have pieces that are practically useless unless... it's part of the combining gimmick. We must wait until the third bike (Flareup/Elita-1/Purple Bike) is released to see whether the combination gimmick is disabled or not.
The name Arcee is first used in Generation 1, as one of the few transformers introduced in the 1986 movie. Arcee's a pink female that changes into a futuristic car. A toy was planned for her, but it never got through the initial stages. In season 4 of the cartoon, Arcee got made into a Headmaster, partnered with Daniel Witwicky. A pink repaint of Chromedome was proposed, but it was dropped as well. Arcee was the Japanese name for Armada Minicon Sureshock. In Energon, a female Omnicon (the 'Queen Bee' of the Omnicons) was named Arcee. She is a Scouts class toy that transforms into a motorbike with an energon crossbow weapon, and got repainted countless times for a lot of other female transformers. The Energon Arcee toy is repainted blue as Movie's Arcee, and Movie introduced a second Deluxe class toy based on the rejected movie design. Animated brought us another Arcee, with a toy that's finally similar enough to G1 Arcee, after 23 years since her character was introduced. Then, the ROTF Movie gave us three Arcees. Or one. Or one-thirds. Whatever.
So, I reviewed deluxe class Chromia some time ago, and she got a very positive verdict from me. I've got a weakness for non-humanoid Transformers, see. Besides, Chromia's design is really similar with BM Thrust, my favourite Vehicon. Arcee, however, is another matter. Concept arts of her really looked as if she had scoliosis and made her look like a snake or somesuch. But being curious (and happy if this has the combination gimmick) I got her anyway. So is she any good? It depends...
ALTERNATE MODE
Arcee's alternate mode is a motorbike. Unlike the first movie's Buell Firebolt or Chromia's Suzuki bike, ROTF Arcee's bike is modeled after a Dugati 848. The main colour for this toy is black and red, with a few metallic red shadings in-between. A massive Cybertronian glyph adorns her sides, just like Chromia.
Arcee's right side seems to be missing a piece. While the left side (the side facing us in the packaging) is highly show-accurate and alt-mode accurate, the right side seems to have a piece missing, so the robot mode claws and spine can be seen. It's not noticeable, but it's there. Detailing is not as impressive as other movie/ROTF toys, but it's there. Arcee rolls rather well on the floor. However, her kickstand is too long and she has a tendency to topple over when the kickstand is deployed. Boo.
Arcee comes with a gun-stand thing, like Chromia. Unlike Chromia's gun-stand, which is cast in black plastic and can be mounted on the back of the bike mode, Arcee's gun-stand marsequerades as a short side-car with two gun-barrels on it. Arcee's side-car has some paint detailing, making it more attractive than Chromia's gun stand. The side-car/gun-stand latches on to the hubcap of the back wheel through a port that is similar to a Minicon plug, but smaller and has an additional groove.
Overall, a satisfying alternate mode, but could be better.
ROBOT MODE
If you could call it a robot, anyway. Unlike Chromia, Demolishor or even BM Thrust (on which the Arcee bikes are based upon, it seems), Arcee is not a unicycle. Both her front and back wheels fold down after a complex transformation, and both become the wheels. They don't peg onto each other, contrary to the instructions. The two side-by-side wheels peg into the sidecar/gun-stand assembly, making the Arcee bikes among the stablest robots out there.
The arms fold out from the side (left arm) and the back of the bike (right arm). The handlebar/windshield assembly becomes a shoulder-guard for the left arm, while the right arm has a shoulder spike made out of the... well, that black piece that holds the gears. I have no idea what that's called. The spine folds out of the twisted black plastic inside the motorbike's body and the result is... very, very odd.
Arcee's left arm is slightly longer than the right, and looks bulkier due to the larger shoulder-guard. The spine has at least three ball joints and form a very twisted feel. When pictures of Arcee first came out, people described her as looking like a snake, or someone struck with scoliosis. To be fair, the character model does have the twisted bundle of a spine, but it's not this pronounced. If you follow the instructions (not stock photography. Hasbro's stock photographers don't know how to transform this toy) you'll get a unique robot mode that's likable. Not as kickass and awesome as Chromia or Demolishor, but it's not as bad as what the stock photos led me to believe.
Gimmicks are okay. Not impressive, but it doesn't get in the way. When you bob Arcee's head, her chest panels move. Um, let's not make inappropriate comments. Also, Arcee has a pop-out spring-loaded energon blade on her right hand. The blue-coloured blade's short, and not as impressive as Chromia's Big Gun, but at least it's there. The head-sculpt is amazing and detailed, moreso compared to Chromia.
Posability. Ah, this is the big question. The head, shoulder and elbow are all on ball joints, and the blade/sheath can spin around. And the spine... with it, she has lots of posability, even if it needs a bit of fiddling around with to get balance. Still, Arcee looks more like a snake (with hands) rearing up instead of a unicycle... now, those who had read some of my reviews of the more exotic designs (Demolishor, Chromia, the Classics Minicon molds) would know that I have a softer spot for non-humanoid transformers. And my all-time favourite non-humanoid designs are those without legs. I mean, four hands (MOV Frenzy) or two heads (G1 Doubleheader) or massive claws or one-arm-is-a-weapon (Lockdown, Megatron) are easy to make into toys. But those with those cool leg designs... From extendable roller blades like Movie Landmine and Jazz, to wheel-feets like Animated Blurr, Movie Bonecrusher and ROTF Sideswipe, to those exotic Vehicon concepts. Single-wheel unicyles, like BM Thrust, the Arcee bikes, and giant 'wheels of doom' Demolishor. Pogo-sticks and centaurs like Rampage. Hovering alien-esque things like BM Jetstorm. Gestalts. Animals like Ravage and insects like Scalpel. And downright bizarre designs like ROTF Hightower. But of all these, Arcee's twisted spine proved waaay too weird for me. Now if her name is Cohrada, it would be a different story. But this is Arcee, a unicycle. It's just way too weird, even for me. But still, an interesting design. Half of me wants to condemn her among the worst toys ever alongside Ultimate Bumblebees and G1 Wheelies, but half of me wants to give her a near-full mark. Really, it's hard for me to be neutral and strike a balance.
Like Chromia, there is the mysterious latch rumoured to be the joint for combination. Whether this gimmick would be enabled or disabled would only be revealed when Elita-One/Flareup is released. Now if Arcee's weirdness is because of a compromise so she could combine, it would be acceptable. If not...
Marks out of ten for the following:
Durability 8/10 Surprisingly, Arcee's quite durable. Her crooked spine is quite thick and unlikely to snap off. Watch out for loose joints, though. Especially in the shoulders and elbows.
Transformation 5/10 Impossible without the instructions, but it's simple with the instructions.
Fun 7/10 Not really as fun as Chromia. After all, the blade's too short and it's a bit frustrating to pose her.
Price 6/10 Meh, I expected less problems with a deluxe class figure. After seeing all the excellent molds in ROTF, at least they could've done something to make her look more cool. I mean, come on! They did an excellent Demolishor toy, which I never thought possible.
Overall I. Have. No. Idea. Honestly... If she is able to combine with her fellow bikes, she would receive a 7/10 or 8/10, for being a unique design. After all, a little compromising for the sake of a gestalt mode is forgivable. If at the end of the day she couldn't combine, she would get a 5/10. She's not bad per se, but there's just too many flaws. Still, being me, I like her design. Chromia still pwns her, though.
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Gunner; Crowd padding; Female presence
Subgroup: Arcee Bike Gang; ROTF Deluxe Class
Accessories: Sidecar/gun-stand
"Lock and load."
Arcee! She has an identity crisis of sorts. The first movie's lineup was set to include Arcee, who transformed into a Buell Firebolt motorbike. She was dropped from the lineup in favour of Ironhide, as the designers thought she was 'too small' and they can't be bothered to explain gender in the movie. Nevertheless, her design came out in the toyline, like fellow rejected-character Wreckage.
Still, with sequels new characters are introduced, so Arcee made the big screen after all. Apparently she's so awesome that they made THREE of her in the movie. Contrary to what the toy bios say, the novelization and comic adaptation portray them/her as a single character with her mind in three bodies, a la G1 Reflector. The novelization describes her as a 'tripartine' Autobot, and the comic adaptation made her talk like Reflector. No doubt this might be explained in Tales of the Fallen: Arcee. The three bike girls, while at a distance looks almost the same, are actually different designs. The trio are coloured blue, red and purple respectively, and all are unicycles in robot mode, having a wheel instead of legs. It's very reminiscent of Beast Machines' Thrust, and are among the awesome non-humaoid Transformers in the new movie, like Ravage, Rampage, Demolishor and the Doctor to name a few. There are three Arcee bikes, with different alternate modes and slightly different robot modes. In the toyline, Chromia is the blue bike, Arcee the red bike and Flareup or Elita-One is the purple one. And Hasbro just LOVE to mix them up. The Human Alliance and Robot Heroes toys all mix up the character models and colour-schemes. For example, Human Alliance Arcee has Chromia's robot mode but Arcee's bike mode and paintscheme. Robot Heroes Chromia has Flareup/Elita-1's model but coloured like Chromia. The Deluxe class toys are about the only ones who get it correct.
Arcee (I'm sticking with singular in here to reduce confusion) first appeared in her three bike modes, with holographic drivers, in the Shanghai scene. While Ironhide and the human NEST members attacked the massive Demolishor, Arcee and the Twins took off in pursuit after Sideways. The Twins, being bumbling rookies, crashed and separated, but Arcee kept pursuing Sideways, transforming into her three robot modes to shoot Sideways, even when the courier tore through a house, trying their best to fire at Sideways. The chase ended when Sideswipe tore in and bisected Sideways into two equal parts. Arcee appeared later mostly in her bike modes during groupshots. Her next major appearance is during the drop from Stratosphere the Globemaster planes, where she dropped down to Egypt in robot modes. She participated against the Decepticons, and later helped cover Sam and Mikaela's retreat alongside Ironhide. The red and purple bikes apparently got blown up by a Bonecrusher-lookalike. Whether the last blue bike survived the battle is never shown.
The Arcee trio is supposed to combine into a gestalt mode, and it was revealed in the novelization that she would at least use it in the battle against Sideways. The comic adaptation also had a drawing of gestalt-mode Arcee in a groupshot. This gimmick might be carried over to the toys, as the first Arcee bike to be released (Chromia/Blue Bike) and the second toy (Arcee/Red Bike) both have pieces that are practically useless unless... it's part of the combining gimmick. We must wait until the third bike (Flareup/Elita-1/Purple Bike) is released to see whether the combination gimmick is disabled or not.
The name Arcee is first used in Generation 1, as one of the few transformers introduced in the 1986 movie. Arcee's a pink female that changes into a futuristic car. A toy was planned for her, but it never got through the initial stages. In season 4 of the cartoon, Arcee got made into a Headmaster, partnered with Daniel Witwicky. A pink repaint of Chromedome was proposed, but it was dropped as well. Arcee was the Japanese name for Armada Minicon Sureshock. In Energon, a female Omnicon (the 'Queen Bee' of the Omnicons) was named Arcee. She is a Scouts class toy that transforms into a motorbike with an energon crossbow weapon, and got repainted countless times for a lot of other female transformers. The Energon Arcee toy is repainted blue as Movie's Arcee, and Movie introduced a second Deluxe class toy based on the rejected movie design. Animated brought us another Arcee, with a toy that's finally similar enough to G1 Arcee, after 23 years since her character was introduced. Then, the ROTF Movie gave us three Arcees. Or one. Or one-thirds. Whatever.
So, I reviewed deluxe class Chromia some time ago, and she got a very positive verdict from me. I've got a weakness for non-humanoid Transformers, see. Besides, Chromia's design is really similar with BM Thrust, my favourite Vehicon. Arcee, however, is another matter. Concept arts of her really looked as if she had scoliosis and made her look like a snake or somesuch. But being curious (and happy if this has the combination gimmick) I got her anyway. So is she any good? It depends...
ALTERNATE MODE
Arcee's alternate mode is a motorbike. Unlike the first movie's Buell Firebolt or Chromia's Suzuki bike, ROTF Arcee's bike is modeled after a Dugati 848. The main colour for this toy is black and red, with a few metallic red shadings in-between. A massive Cybertronian glyph adorns her sides, just like Chromia.
Arcee's right side seems to be missing a piece. While the left side (the side facing us in the packaging) is highly show-accurate and alt-mode accurate, the right side seems to have a piece missing, so the robot mode claws and spine can be seen. It's not noticeable, but it's there. Detailing is not as impressive as other movie/ROTF toys, but it's there. Arcee rolls rather well on the floor. However, her kickstand is too long and she has a tendency to topple over when the kickstand is deployed. Boo.
Arcee comes with a gun-stand thing, like Chromia. Unlike Chromia's gun-stand, which is cast in black plastic and can be mounted on the back of the bike mode, Arcee's gun-stand marsequerades as a short side-car with two gun-barrels on it. Arcee's side-car has some paint detailing, making it more attractive than Chromia's gun stand. The side-car/gun-stand latches on to the hubcap of the back wheel through a port that is similar to a Minicon plug, but smaller and has an additional groove.
Overall, a satisfying alternate mode, but could be better.
ROBOT MODE
If you could call it a robot, anyway. Unlike Chromia, Demolishor or even BM Thrust (on which the Arcee bikes are based upon, it seems), Arcee is not a unicycle. Both her front and back wheels fold down after a complex transformation, and both become the wheels. They don't peg onto each other, contrary to the instructions. The two side-by-side wheels peg into the sidecar/gun-stand assembly, making the Arcee bikes among the stablest robots out there.
The arms fold out from the side (left arm) and the back of the bike (right arm). The handlebar/windshield assembly becomes a shoulder-guard for the left arm, while the right arm has a shoulder spike made out of the... well, that black piece that holds the gears. I have no idea what that's called. The spine folds out of the twisted black plastic inside the motorbike's body and the result is... very, very odd.
Arcee's left arm is slightly longer than the right, and looks bulkier due to the larger shoulder-guard. The spine has at least three ball joints and form a very twisted feel. When pictures of Arcee first came out, people described her as looking like a snake, or someone struck with scoliosis. To be fair, the character model does have the twisted bundle of a spine, but it's not this pronounced. If you follow the instructions (not stock photography. Hasbro's stock photographers don't know how to transform this toy) you'll get a unique robot mode that's likable. Not as kickass and awesome as Chromia or Demolishor, but it's not as bad as what the stock photos led me to believe.
Gimmicks are okay. Not impressive, but it doesn't get in the way. When you bob Arcee's head, her chest panels move. Um, let's not make inappropriate comments. Also, Arcee has a pop-out spring-loaded energon blade on her right hand. The blue-coloured blade's short, and not as impressive as Chromia's Big Gun, but at least it's there. The head-sculpt is amazing and detailed, moreso compared to Chromia.
Posability. Ah, this is the big question. The head, shoulder and elbow are all on ball joints, and the blade/sheath can spin around. And the spine... with it, she has lots of posability, even if it needs a bit of fiddling around with to get balance. Still, Arcee looks more like a snake (with hands) rearing up instead of a unicycle... now, those who had read some of my reviews of the more exotic designs (Demolishor, Chromia, the Classics Minicon molds) would know that I have a softer spot for non-humanoid transformers. And my all-time favourite non-humanoid designs are those without legs. I mean, four hands (MOV Frenzy) or two heads (G1 Doubleheader) or massive claws or one-arm-is-a-weapon (Lockdown, Megatron) are easy to make into toys. But those with those cool leg designs... From extendable roller blades like Movie Landmine and Jazz, to wheel-feets like Animated Blurr, Movie Bonecrusher and ROTF Sideswipe, to those exotic Vehicon concepts. Single-wheel unicyles, like BM Thrust, the Arcee bikes, and giant 'wheels of doom' Demolishor. Pogo-sticks and centaurs like Rampage. Hovering alien-esque things like BM Jetstorm. Gestalts. Animals like Ravage and insects like Scalpel. And downright bizarre designs like ROTF Hightower. But of all these, Arcee's twisted spine proved waaay too weird for me. Now if her name is Cohrada, it would be a different story. But this is Arcee, a unicycle. It's just way too weird, even for me. But still, an interesting design. Half of me wants to condemn her among the worst toys ever alongside Ultimate Bumblebees and G1 Wheelies, but half of me wants to give her a near-full mark. Really, it's hard for me to be neutral and strike a balance.
Like Chromia, there is the mysterious latch rumoured to be the joint for combination. Whether this gimmick would be enabled or disabled would only be revealed when Elita-One/Flareup is released. Now if Arcee's weirdness is because of a compromise so she could combine, it would be acceptable. If not...
Marks out of ten for the following:
Durability 8/10 Surprisingly, Arcee's quite durable. Her crooked spine is quite thick and unlikely to snap off. Watch out for loose joints, though. Especially in the shoulders and elbows.
Transformation 5/10 Impossible without the instructions, but it's simple with the instructions.
Fun 7/10 Not really as fun as Chromia. After all, the blade's too short and it's a bit frustrating to pose her.
Price 6/10 Meh, I expected less problems with a deluxe class figure. After seeing all the excellent molds in ROTF, at least they could've done something to make her look more cool. I mean, come on! They did an excellent Demolishor toy, which I never thought possible.
Overall I. Have. No. Idea. Honestly... If she is able to combine with her fellow bikes, she would receive a 7/10 or 8/10, for being a unique design. After all, a little compromising for the sake of a gestalt mode is forgivable. If at the end of the day she couldn't combine, she would get a 5/10. She's not bad per se, but there's just too many flaws. Still, being me, I like her design. Chromia still pwns her, though.
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Detective Barricade
- Posts: 973
- Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:39 pm
- Location: Middle of Nowhere, Canada
ROTF Jolt-[PROOFED, needs pics]
Name: Jolt
Function: Warrior?
Sub-Group: ROTF Deluxe class
Jolt loves to cause trouble. More than one group of Decepticons have watched in confusion as Jolt, all alone, race around them in circles, taunting them. They’re not used to Autobots acting crazy. Little do they know that it really is just an act - part of a plan to lure his enemies in close where he can deliver a crippling blow with his electro-whips.
Strength: 6 Intelligence: 5 Speed: 4 Endurance: 7 Rank: 4 Courage: 9 Fireblast: 6 Skill: 9
Jolt was a very late/last minute addition to the Revenge of the Fallen movie. So late in fact, that he doesn’t appear in any other form of media revolving around the movie. Not in the comics, not in the games. He had about a small handful of scenes in the entire movie, only two of which in robot mode. A pity, really, since the CGI model for his robot mode looks positively cool. At least Skids and Mudflap got lines. And naturally, Jolt gets a couple of toys! This review will be on the Deluxe class toy. Is it worth it?
Vehicle mode:
Being an Autobot that appeared in the movie, naturally the vehicle mode is some sort of GM car. In this case, Jolt’s a Chevy Volt. Expect to get his name mixed up often. This concept car is a hybrid, meaning it runs on electricity and gas, alternating between the two as needed. Finally, an alternate mode Beachcomber can approve of!
He’s mostly a nice almost metallic blue with translucent blue windows. Bits of black, silver, and red help pick out the details. The Chevy logo is painted gold on the front, but left unpainted in the back. Jolt’s incredibly solid in this mode as well! And unlike his fellow Autobot Sideswipe, he never has clearance issues underneath to keep him from rolling nicely. Although, it looks like Sideswipe got jealous of this, as Jolt has a seam running right through the middle of the car from front to back with the exception of the hood...
Robot mode:
Jolt’s robot mode has quite a unique look to it, even for a movie figure! He’s got some large chunks of kibble, but they mostly stay out of the way or can be adjusted to give him whatever look you want. This is good since because of the recession in 2008, most of Jolt’s paint details for robot mode, especially for his translucent blue chest, were left out to cut costs. In other words, he’s a little plain looking. He features some touches of cyan/sky blue/’AllSpark blue’ here and there, though I think it gives him a suitably more electric look. His articulation is about what you’d expect for a Deluxe, though sadly a triangular piece just behind his head prevents it from fully utilizing the ball joint or his light piping. Why is this piece even here?
Jolt features two Mech Alive gimmicks. The first one has you twist a knob on his wrist to flip out his electro-whips. Personally, they look more like short spears than whips to me... As for the second one, turning his waist turns a gear in his chest the opposite way. It’s tricky to see it, but it’s there.
Marks out of ten for the following:
Transformation: 5 Just hard enough to be interesting.
Durability: 9 Very solid.
Fun: 7 He’s fun to fiddle with!
Price: 7 He’s worth up to $20. I wouldn’t pay much more than that though.
Overall: 7 He’s got his good points and his bad points. If you can see past the few faults, he may just grow on you!
Function: Warrior?
Sub-Group: ROTF Deluxe class
Jolt loves to cause trouble. More than one group of Decepticons have watched in confusion as Jolt, all alone, race around them in circles, taunting them. They’re not used to Autobots acting crazy. Little do they know that it really is just an act - part of a plan to lure his enemies in close where he can deliver a crippling blow with his electro-whips.
Strength: 6 Intelligence: 5 Speed: 4 Endurance: 7 Rank: 4 Courage: 9 Fireblast: 6 Skill: 9
Jolt was a very late/last minute addition to the Revenge of the Fallen movie. So late in fact, that he doesn’t appear in any other form of media revolving around the movie. Not in the comics, not in the games. He had about a small handful of scenes in the entire movie, only two of which in robot mode. A pity, really, since the CGI model for his robot mode looks positively cool. At least Skids and Mudflap got lines. And naturally, Jolt gets a couple of toys! This review will be on the Deluxe class toy. Is it worth it?
Vehicle mode:
Being an Autobot that appeared in the movie, naturally the vehicle mode is some sort of GM car. In this case, Jolt’s a Chevy Volt. Expect to get his name mixed up often. This concept car is a hybrid, meaning it runs on electricity and gas, alternating between the two as needed. Finally, an alternate mode Beachcomber can approve of!
He’s mostly a nice almost metallic blue with translucent blue windows. Bits of black, silver, and red help pick out the details. The Chevy logo is painted gold on the front, but left unpainted in the back. Jolt’s incredibly solid in this mode as well! And unlike his fellow Autobot Sideswipe, he never has clearance issues underneath to keep him from rolling nicely. Although, it looks like Sideswipe got jealous of this, as Jolt has a seam running right through the middle of the car from front to back with the exception of the hood...
Robot mode:
Jolt’s robot mode has quite a unique look to it, even for a movie figure! He’s got some large chunks of kibble, but they mostly stay out of the way or can be adjusted to give him whatever look you want. This is good since because of the recession in 2008, most of Jolt’s paint details for robot mode, especially for his translucent blue chest, were left out to cut costs. In other words, he’s a little plain looking. He features some touches of cyan/sky blue/’AllSpark blue’ here and there, though I think it gives him a suitably more electric look. His articulation is about what you’d expect for a Deluxe, though sadly a triangular piece just behind his head prevents it from fully utilizing the ball joint or his light piping. Why is this piece even here?
Jolt features two Mech Alive gimmicks. The first one has you twist a knob on his wrist to flip out his electro-whips. Personally, they look more like short spears than whips to me... As for the second one, turning his waist turns a gear in his chest the opposite way. It’s tricky to see it, but it’s there.
Marks out of ten for the following:
Transformation: 5 Just hard enough to be interesting.
Durability: 9 Very solid.
Fun: 7 He’s fun to fiddle with!
Price: 7 He’s worth up to $20. I wouldn’t pay much more than that though.
Overall: 7 He’s got his good points and his bad points. If you can see past the few faults, he may just grow on you!
Got a complaint?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
The Complaints department: making complaints disappear since 2009!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
The Complaints department: making complaints disappear since 2009!
I really love the Volt, and Jolt's robot design is nifty - if maybe not so well executed in the toy. Still, he was a figure I was meaning to pick up. However, he has appeared on shelves near me at 15 GBP (another price hike against the previous wave priced at 13 GBP on the same shelves), which I really can not justify for a Deluxe figure - and especially not one which does not seem to deliver brilliantly in robot mode.
Maybe he'll appear somewhere for less...
(A lot of the later Universe waves appeared on sale at the beginning of this year here...)
Still, nice succinct review!
I would love to get a Volt - especially if the fuel economy is as good as they say! Over 100mpg would be very nice, and just a few quid to charge the battery from the mains? Cars like that will seriously reshuffle the global economy! Of course, the electrics are only as clean as the plant's fuel source...
Incidentally, it's a brand new type of 'hybrid' - it uses the petrol to power an electrical generator that recharges the battery. A new way of doing things in a car, and more fuel efficient than a standard engine.
Maybe he'll appear somewhere for less...
(A lot of the later Universe waves appeared on sale at the beginning of this year here...)
Still, nice succinct review!
I would love to get a Volt - especially if the fuel economy is as good as they say! Over 100mpg would be very nice, and just a few quid to charge the battery from the mains? Cars like that will seriously reshuffle the global economy! Of course, the electrics are only as clean as the plant's fuel source...
Incidentally, it's a brand new type of 'hybrid' - it uses the petrol to power an electrical generator that recharges the battery. A new way of doing things in a car, and more fuel efficient than a standard engine.
ROTF Ejector: The Evil Toaster of DOOM!-[PROOFED]
Not really as impressive as he looks like, actually. As a toy, it doesn't deliver much. Still, a toaster!
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Name: Ejector
Allegiance: Neutral (in movie); Decepticon (in toyline)
Subgroup: Appliancebots; ROTF Scouts Class
Alternate mode: Toaster
Ejector is awesome. He turns into a toaster. Unlike the Ice Cream Twins, Ransack or Depthcharge, there is a transformer that transformed into a toaster before in the Transformers' universes. Specifically, in G1, back in the heydays where a third of the characters transformed into handheld applications like boom boxes, handguns, cameras, microscopes, cassettes and toasters. This 'Toaster', as he was known, transformed into a toaster. He didn't have a toy, didn't have a story introducing him and never actually appeared in a story. But he's there. The brother of Blaster according to UK comics' letters page, Toaster is among the Ark crew, and is seen in a flashback being rebuilt halfway by the Ark's computers. He is next seen in a 'dream sequence' cover among the defeated Transformers at Galvatron's feet, in his GIANT toaster mode. Yup, he's super obscure in G1, and would've been passed as a generic had the letters page not given background information about him. Apparently Blaster also has a sister named Karmen who turned into a hair curler set. What a family.
So, anyway, the AllSpark is able to turn normal household appliances into transformers. This was first displayed in the first movie, when it changed a Nokia phone into an 'itsy-bitsy energizer bunny from hell'. At another scene, the AllSpark transformed a Mountain Dew machine (aka Dispensor in the toyline), an XBOX and a steering wheel into robots. They were destroyed, according to Alliance #1. In Revenge of the Fallen, the remaining piece of AllSpark shard caused a whole lot of appliances in Sam's house to go berserk, including a toaster. Now a toaster transformer CGI model had been made for a Mountain Dew commercial or somesuch, I'm not clear on the details, but I think it got reused in ROTF. In any case, we have a toaster transformer. Now, Ejector is unlike the Real Gear Robots from the first toyline, which are all pathetic excuses of toys that try miserably to masquerade as movieverse transformers. They all have stupid names that end with tags like 'X3' or 'F451' or somesuch. Their colour schemes are bland and other than the Laserbeak-y Booster x10 and Night Beat 9, they're all generic and don't even reference older toys. They are still shelfwarming till today. Now Hasbro went through all the effort to get a proper name for the toaster-bot, which is Ejector. I mean, naming someone 'Booster x10' or 'Power Up VT6' isn't as interesting as, say, 'Laserbeak' or 'Rumble'. In fact, the only proper name in the Real Gear Robots are Meantime, Longview and Night Beat 9. Or is it 7? Whatever...
Aside from Scalpel/the Doctor and Reedman, Ejector is the only transformer in ROTF that has an original name. All the others have names that originate from other continuities.
Ejector is armed with a pair of nun-chucks, and attacked Sam along with the other appliancebots (which included a blender, a vacuum cleaner, a microwave oven, a garbage disposal unit, a cappucino machine and several others). Ejector was apparently equipped with a pair of nunchucks. Concept art would later show that two of his hands form the nunchucks. Anyway, Ejector was presumably killed when Bumblebee blew Sam's room up. BOOM!
Not so much of a spotlight, but at least he gets some screen-time and a name. Anyway, Ejector transforms into a toaster. Being a transforming electronic appliance, Ejector hates guinea pigs. He loves toast and Mountain Dew, though.
So, ROTF came through and released a transforming household appliance. Ejector is unique in that his alternate mode isn't something you would expect a warmongering robot race to transform into. I mean, MP3s, cassettes and boom boxes are for communications. Cameras and videocameras are for surveillance. Microscopes are for scientific research and the like. Toasters? Um... warming Megatron's breakfast? Part of a mass-produced army of cappucino makers and toasters ready to take over the world? See what I mean? A toaster. A blender. A cappuccino machine. Even the Mountain Dew. These are creative appliance alternate modes that Hasbro should spend time making, instead of creating those stupid Real Gear Robots.
ROBOT MODE
Ejector looks awesome when his stock photos first appeared on the internet. I was pretty impressed by the designs and character models for him too (he has a nunchuk!). But the toy is a little disappointment, really.
Firstly, the head's just too... weird. It's massive, and takes up nearly half his body, with a gigantic hinged jaw, and oddly-positioned eyes. Doesn't feel really transformer-ey, in my opinion. The final CGI rendition uses a slightly different and more traditional (by traditional, I mean Bayformer) head with proper little red eyes. But like Mudflap, Ejector has a really ugly mug. The posable jaw makes up for it, though...
Ejector has four posable arms. Yeah, four! The two 'upper' arms are hinged and had the fingers molded into kibble, a la Movie Barricade, but the two 'lower' arms are on ball joints and had the fingers on them can move on hinges, so Ejector can have clenched fists or open palms. Shoulders have rotary joints, while hips are on ball joints. The knees are hinged, and the (too-small) feet are hinged as well.
Also, the three-pronged extension power cord hangs out of his butt like a tail. The hand could hold the cord end like some sort of taser, but it's kinda too short to be used as a flail weapon, so let's leave it at tail. To make him character-model-accurate, you could remove one of his ball-jointed hands and use the other hand to grip it and use it as a nunchuck hitting baton.
Ejector's main colours are two shades of gray, as well as a silvery finish. Orange (possibly to resemble the heating filaments in a toaster) adorn the eyes, the lower chest, the crotch and the lower legs. A black Decepticon insignia is tampographed on the right shoulder. Also, the extension cord is white, although really I've never seen a white extension cord. Most of them are black.
Ejector has balance problems due to his tiny feet. He topples over easily, mostly due to his massive, blocky body and head. His feet is even tinier that Sideways!
Detailing, meanwhile, are mediocore for a movie line toy. After being accustomed to a heavy amount of molded detailing in the movie lines' original molds, Ejector just disappoints. He looks like someone made up the toy in half an hour. Seriously, this doesn't do the kickass CGI model justice. There are some 'cheats' in the transformation as well. Character models (could be seen in TFWiki, some links on this site as well as ROTF movie adaptation) have revealed that the bread slots split apart and form the shoulder guards for this little guy. Instead, the bread slots in toaster mode end up on the back as a single piece, although there are molded details on Ejector's shoulders.
Actually, he doesn't look that impressive in person, and rather... ugly, I'm sorry to say. The face's what puts me off, mostly. If they had done a more... normal face, like seen in the ROTF Movie adaptation, it would've improved his look so much more. Overall, a below-average robot mode, compared to most of Hasbro's scout class output. His saving grace is his four hands.
TOASTER MODE
Now, he transforms into a toaster! Not one of those massive, boxy monster toasters, but a more... modern and curved toaster. He's almost entirely silver, and the green-grays are all folded in during transformation. The extension cord's still white, though. Four tiny supports, as well as a faux 'eject' dial are among the molded details on Ejector. A red button and a black knob are painted on one side.
On his top, four slots where you put the bread in are molded, but tragically left unpainted. No doubt kitbashers would provide us who are willing to pay with stickers of breads. Oh, joy.
That's about it, really. Kind of a disappointment. There's a gap on the back of the toaster (where the extension cord stems out from) and you could make out Ejector's horns. Flip him upside down and you could see his folded face.
That's about it, really. It's kind of a letdown after the hype that surrounded this guy. Still, he's a unique toy that transforms into a toaster...
Marks out of then for the following:
Durability 5/10 Ball joints are fragile. The shoulder joints on mine have shown stress after repeated transformation. Silver finish might scratch off, according to some people. Also, Ejector's cord/tail might snap off with rough handling.
Transformation 3/10 Pretty easy, even for a Scouts class figure.
Fun 7/10 A transforming toaster. And he's in the movie. Would get a 10 if he had come with a nunchuck or a flamethrower.
Price 6/10 Meh, he's not as awesome as Scalpel or Ransack.
Overall 4/10 Sadly, despite my love for odd and peculiar transformers, Ejector only gets a four for his toy. His character is funny and the design concepts are wonderful, but the final toy product just doesn't deliver. I'm surprised myself that I'm giving him a negative review, but he's just not that good. Still, he's a toaster...
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Name: Ejector
Allegiance: Neutral (in movie); Decepticon (in toyline)
Subgroup: Appliancebots; ROTF Scouts Class
Alternate mode: Toaster
Ejector is awesome. He turns into a toaster. Unlike the Ice Cream Twins, Ransack or Depthcharge, there is a transformer that transformed into a toaster before in the Transformers' universes. Specifically, in G1, back in the heydays where a third of the characters transformed into handheld applications like boom boxes, handguns, cameras, microscopes, cassettes and toasters. This 'Toaster', as he was known, transformed into a toaster. He didn't have a toy, didn't have a story introducing him and never actually appeared in a story. But he's there. The brother of Blaster according to UK comics' letters page, Toaster is among the Ark crew, and is seen in a flashback being rebuilt halfway by the Ark's computers. He is next seen in a 'dream sequence' cover among the defeated Transformers at Galvatron's feet, in his GIANT toaster mode. Yup, he's super obscure in G1, and would've been passed as a generic had the letters page not given background information about him. Apparently Blaster also has a sister named Karmen who turned into a hair curler set. What a family.
So, anyway, the AllSpark is able to turn normal household appliances into transformers. This was first displayed in the first movie, when it changed a Nokia phone into an 'itsy-bitsy energizer bunny from hell'. At another scene, the AllSpark transformed a Mountain Dew machine (aka Dispensor in the toyline), an XBOX and a steering wheel into robots. They were destroyed, according to Alliance #1. In Revenge of the Fallen, the remaining piece of AllSpark shard caused a whole lot of appliances in Sam's house to go berserk, including a toaster. Now a toaster transformer CGI model had been made for a Mountain Dew commercial or somesuch, I'm not clear on the details, but I think it got reused in ROTF. In any case, we have a toaster transformer. Now, Ejector is unlike the Real Gear Robots from the first toyline, which are all pathetic excuses of toys that try miserably to masquerade as movieverse transformers. They all have stupid names that end with tags like 'X3' or 'F451' or somesuch. Their colour schemes are bland and other than the Laserbeak-y Booster x10 and Night Beat 9, they're all generic and don't even reference older toys. They are still shelfwarming till today. Now Hasbro went through all the effort to get a proper name for the toaster-bot, which is Ejector. I mean, naming someone 'Booster x10' or 'Power Up VT6' isn't as interesting as, say, 'Laserbeak' or 'Rumble'. In fact, the only proper name in the Real Gear Robots are Meantime, Longview and Night Beat 9. Or is it 7? Whatever...
Aside from Scalpel/the Doctor and Reedman, Ejector is the only transformer in ROTF that has an original name. All the others have names that originate from other continuities.
Ejector is armed with a pair of nun-chucks, and attacked Sam along with the other appliancebots (which included a blender, a vacuum cleaner, a microwave oven, a garbage disposal unit, a cappucino machine and several others). Ejector was apparently equipped with a pair of nunchucks. Concept art would later show that two of his hands form the nunchucks. Anyway, Ejector was presumably killed when Bumblebee blew Sam's room up. BOOM!
Not so much of a spotlight, but at least he gets some screen-time and a name. Anyway, Ejector transforms into a toaster. Being a transforming electronic appliance, Ejector hates guinea pigs. He loves toast and Mountain Dew, though.
So, ROTF came through and released a transforming household appliance. Ejector is unique in that his alternate mode isn't something you would expect a warmongering robot race to transform into. I mean, MP3s, cassettes and boom boxes are for communications. Cameras and videocameras are for surveillance. Microscopes are for scientific research and the like. Toasters? Um... warming Megatron's breakfast? Part of a mass-produced army of cappucino makers and toasters ready to take over the world? See what I mean? A toaster. A blender. A cappuccino machine. Even the Mountain Dew. These are creative appliance alternate modes that Hasbro should spend time making, instead of creating those stupid Real Gear Robots.
ROBOT MODE
Ejector looks awesome when his stock photos first appeared on the internet. I was pretty impressed by the designs and character models for him too (he has a nunchuk!). But the toy is a little disappointment, really.
Firstly, the head's just too... weird. It's massive, and takes up nearly half his body, with a gigantic hinged jaw, and oddly-positioned eyes. Doesn't feel really transformer-ey, in my opinion. The final CGI rendition uses a slightly different and more traditional (by traditional, I mean Bayformer) head with proper little red eyes. But like Mudflap, Ejector has a really ugly mug. The posable jaw makes up for it, though...
Ejector has four posable arms. Yeah, four! The two 'upper' arms are hinged and had the fingers molded into kibble, a la Movie Barricade, but the two 'lower' arms are on ball joints and had the fingers on them can move on hinges, so Ejector can have clenched fists or open palms. Shoulders have rotary joints, while hips are on ball joints. The knees are hinged, and the (too-small) feet are hinged as well.
Also, the three-pronged extension power cord hangs out of his butt like a tail. The hand could hold the cord end like some sort of taser, but it's kinda too short to be used as a flail weapon, so let's leave it at tail. To make him character-model-accurate, you could remove one of his ball-jointed hands and use the other hand to grip it and use it as a nunchuck hitting baton.
Ejector's main colours are two shades of gray, as well as a silvery finish. Orange (possibly to resemble the heating filaments in a toaster) adorn the eyes, the lower chest, the crotch and the lower legs. A black Decepticon insignia is tampographed on the right shoulder. Also, the extension cord is white, although really I've never seen a white extension cord. Most of them are black.
Ejector has balance problems due to his tiny feet. He topples over easily, mostly due to his massive, blocky body and head. His feet is even tinier that Sideways!
Detailing, meanwhile, are mediocore for a movie line toy. After being accustomed to a heavy amount of molded detailing in the movie lines' original molds, Ejector just disappoints. He looks like someone made up the toy in half an hour. Seriously, this doesn't do the kickass CGI model justice. There are some 'cheats' in the transformation as well. Character models (could be seen in TFWiki, some links on this site as well as ROTF movie adaptation) have revealed that the bread slots split apart and form the shoulder guards for this little guy. Instead, the bread slots in toaster mode end up on the back as a single piece, although there are molded details on Ejector's shoulders.
Actually, he doesn't look that impressive in person, and rather... ugly, I'm sorry to say. The face's what puts me off, mostly. If they had done a more... normal face, like seen in the ROTF Movie adaptation, it would've improved his look so much more. Overall, a below-average robot mode, compared to most of Hasbro's scout class output. His saving grace is his four hands.
TOASTER MODE
Now, he transforms into a toaster! Not one of those massive, boxy monster toasters, but a more... modern and curved toaster. He's almost entirely silver, and the green-grays are all folded in during transformation. The extension cord's still white, though. Four tiny supports, as well as a faux 'eject' dial are among the molded details on Ejector. A red button and a black knob are painted on one side.
On his top, four slots where you put the bread in are molded, but tragically left unpainted. No doubt kitbashers would provide us who are willing to pay with stickers of breads. Oh, joy.
That's about it, really. Kind of a disappointment. There's a gap on the back of the toaster (where the extension cord stems out from) and you could make out Ejector's horns. Flip him upside down and you could see his folded face.
That's about it, really. It's kind of a letdown after the hype that surrounded this guy. Still, he's a unique toy that transforms into a toaster...
Marks out of then for the following:
Durability 5/10 Ball joints are fragile. The shoulder joints on mine have shown stress after repeated transformation. Silver finish might scratch off, according to some people. Also, Ejector's cord/tail might snap off with rough handling.
Transformation 3/10 Pretty easy, even for a Scouts class figure.
Fun 7/10 A transforming toaster. And he's in the movie. Would get a 10 if he had come with a nunchuck or a flamethrower.
Price 6/10 Meh, he's not as awesome as Scalpel or Ransack.
Overall 4/10 Sadly, despite my love for odd and peculiar transformers, Ejector only gets a four for his toy. His character is funny and the design concepts are wonderful, but the final toy product just doesn't deliver. I'm surprised myself that I'm giving him a negative review, but he's just not that good. Still, he's a toaster...
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Cliffjumper
- Posts: 32206
- Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2001 5:00 am
Jolt's the ****ing bomb - with a mod to the feet. Putting them so the boot halves are rotated means you have to cant his legs so they're about 45 degrees forward from his body; tilting them to "Alternators Smokescreen" position is much better. Or am I just Doing It Wrong? Aside from that, he's awesome, best Movie Deluxe car I've had yet - not as clunky as Barricade/Jazz or as fiddly as Bumblebee/Sideswipe/Mudflap, a good balanced figure. The windows on the legs aren't as bad as the stock photos make them look - though the windshield halves can be a bit of a bugger to line up. Oh, and most of his kibble is flexible and well laid out, which means it can be moved out of the way for lots of poses without looking too obvious, and there's lots of little tweaks you can make to the robot mode.
Though I still think he should have got the Skids name. That'd just work so much better, especially considering his role in RotF...
Numbat, Play.com have the bugger at £11.99 - to my mind this is still a bit too much for any figure this size (only Bonecrusher thus far has really done that IMO)
Though I still think he should have got the Skids name. That'd just work so much better, especially considering his role in RotF...
Numbat, Play.com have the bugger at £11.99 - to my mind this is still a bit too much for any figure this size (only Bonecrusher thus far has really done that IMO)
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Transformer Kamen
- Posts: 571
- Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 11:55 am
Good review, though I have to disagree with you on the silver/red thing. Normally, I'm all for non-silver cars, but I just can't get red to work for this mold. Not sure why. Something just doesn't mesh. However, if he really had the chrome bearings to be pink like he appears in your pictures, I'd pick him up. 
Speaking of, will it be possible to get clearer pictures? The one's you've posted are extremely blurry.
Speaking of, will it be possible to get clearer pictures? The one's you've posted are extremely blurry.
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Cliffjumper
- Posts: 32206
- Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2001 5:00 am
I find it hard to see actual live action Transformers as full recolours - Recon Barricade, the numerous dreadful G1 recolours from the first film, Desert Brawl, etc, etc all look terrible. I find it harder to imagine recolouring a picture as opposed to an animation cel or comic frame in my mind's eye.Transformer Kamen wrote:Good review, though I have to disagree with you on the silver/red thing. Normally, I'm all for non-silver cars, but I just can't get red to work for this mold. Not sure why.
'Swerve' does just seem to be the 'no braincells were harmed' go-to name for any Autobot with a land vehicle mode over the past few years, doesn't it?
Thanks a million, Clay! You're awesome.Clay wrote:I've got this one and can take pictures.
These were taken by a handphone camera, and we know how [sarcasm]good[/sarcasm] they are... Arcee and Ejector has better (non-blur) pictures that I'll upload some time in this weekend...@ Kamen : the pinkish glow is from the surrounding lights in the hotel...
@ Cliffy: Swerve is always a red repaint of any random car. Poor guy never even got a consistent robot mode look...
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RID Scourge
- Posts: 13262
- Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2001 4:00 am
- Location: In ur newz forum. Reading ur newz!
Swerve is quite awesome. I actually keep the blades up. I kinda like the way the kibble looks on him.
Balacing the feet: I usually position the heels so that the wheel and the heel are both touching the ground. I've found that's the best way to balance him.
Balacing the feet: I usually position the heels so that the wheel and the heel are both touching the ground. I've found that's the best way to balance him.
I can see that. I like him a lot. Mainly because he reminds me of some of the cop cars in Massachusetts (no really exact match, but there are plenty of cars that use either the same pattern or similar colors in a different pattern). So it would be like if the decepticons decided to invade my state and sent Barricade to scout it out first.Cliffjumper wrote:Recon Barricade,
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Detective Barricade
- Posts: 973
- Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:39 pm
- Location: Middle of Nowhere, Canada
Oddly enough, even Hasbro can't seem to decide which way is 'correct', as one set of stock photos have the toes rotated vertically while another set has them horizontally. I leave 'em horizontal. I think having the doors sticking out behind his shoulders makes him look a little more accurate to the two scenes he actually appears in the movie. Hard to tell. Blink and you miss them...Cliffjumper wrote:Jolt's the ****ing bomb - with a mod to the feet. Putting them so the boot halves are rotated means you have to cant his legs so they're about 45 degrees forward from his body; tilting them to "Alternators Smokescreen" position is much better. Or am I just Doing It Wrong? Aside from that, he's awesome, best Movie Deluxe car I've had yet - not as clunky as Barricade/Jazz or as fiddly as Bumblebee/Sideswipe/Mudflap, a good balanced figure. The windows on the legs aren't as bad as the stock photos make them look - though the windshield halves can be a bit of a bugger to line up. Oh, and most of his kibble is flexible and well laid out, which means it can be moved out of the way for lots of poses without looking too obvious, and there's lots of little tweaks you can make to the robot mode.
Though I still think he should have got the Skids name. That'd just work so much better, especially considering his role in RotF...
Numbat, Play.com have the bugger at £11.99 - to my mind this is still a bit too much for any figure this size (only Bonecrusher thus far has really done that IMO)
And at least G1 Skids had a bit more of a role in the comics. Jolt's got nothing.
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