Generations Selects Siege Redwing

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Skyquake87
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Generations Selects Siege Redwing

Post by Skyquake87 »

Name: Redwing
Allegiance: Decepticon
Size Class: Voyager
Accessories: Two HPI Null Ray Laser Launchers

Wow. As niche characters go, Redwing takes some beating. Reading up on the hows and whys of this neo-G1 character made me go cross-eyed. Essentially, he was to be an exclusive during the days of the Fun Publications tenure of the Transformers Collector's Club, but to cut a very long story short, it didn't work out. As we're now at the point in the Generations line where any animation error or other non-entity is likely to get a figure, so Redwing got one in the Generations Selects line. Which is a line of funny coloured repaints in the vein of the Japanese e-Hobby line, but without the silly price tag and a better production run. And come in shoe boxes. Basically, they're exclusives that anyone can get, if they want.

I bought Redwing for four reasons. I'm bored to death with the endless trotting out of the classic Seeker line up and he's that rarest of things these days – a new Transformers character . He had the most paint out of the new Siege Seekers and finally, because he's invoked fanboy ire, by 'daring' to have a smirking face that the unimaginative would have preferred on Starscream.


Robot Mode: A surprisingly blocky fellow, Redwing is all boxes and triangles in his humanoid form. The proportions are quite nice, save for the usual Transformers problem of an imbalance on the thigh to shin ratio. Highlighted as usual by having knees (where those white blocks are), but by having the knee joints further up his leg than they should be. He looks rather striking in his bright red plastics and Tipp-Ex paint job, with this marmalade cockpit adding a bit of sparkle. There's some of the Siege scuffs and scrapes present (Which I actually like. Don't tell anyone) and he's framed by these flouncy wings, which can be angled about to make him look all kinds of dashing. Detailing is off the hook – I really do like all the moulded details these Siege figures have – and the only let down, is that smirking face. It doesn't look like a smirk. More of an horrific knife wound.

Vehicle Mode: It's a Tetrajet like in the old cartoon! Except it's not a Tetrajet is it, because that would mean it's got four pointy bits, not three. So it should be a Tessrajet or a Triajet, if I'm remembering my classics correctly. Anyway, it's nice enough except for the huge pile of legs and arms scrunched up underneath. And the awful looking faux cockpit at the back.

Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation Design: Not that far removed from the old Universe Silverbolt/ Darkwing mould, Redwing's entire alt-mode is on his back and just sort of envelopes his crouched up robot mode. It's okay, but highlights the physical reality of trying to get a highly stylised cartoon design to work. The shorthand used in the cartoon was there to save time designing animation models that would be scrapped after 10 minutes of screen time. Anything turning into a flying triangle would really be all sharp angles and sleekness in robot mode, not some fella in boxes who looks more like he'd turn into an F-15. Hasbro have done as good a job as could be expected when working from such source material. Personally, if they were going with cartoon alt-mode as a starting point, I'd have liked to have seen that bleed through into the robot mode, but I'm guessing that's not what folk want or expect out of the Generations line at this point. Do like how the forearms collapse up into these neat little sugar cubes. Top marks for that. 6/10

Articulation: As with everyone else in the Siege line, Redwing meets the definition of an Action Figure. Double-jointed elbows, wrist and waist articulation, anlke tilts, head rotation, a small ab-crunch. This is top flight stuff for a mainline Transformers figure. Full marks. 10/10

Durability: The plastics feel solid, but also let a lot of light through. They don't feel weak or prone to stress fractures, so I'm guessing Hasbro have finally hit on a manufacturing process that keeps the plastic content light, but durable. I don't know, but it's good stuff, whatever. 9/10

Fun: I've got a lot of time for Redwing. He just feels refreshing and way more visually interesting than the other Seekers and I've had a hard time putting him down. Especially when compared to the Rainmakers, who look like bootlegs in their eye-searing one colour paint jobs. The mix of colours just makes him pop and stand out against all the other Seekers. 8/10

Price: Cost me around £30, including postage, which I thought was alright for an 'exclusive'. Aftermarket prices are at bit silly now, sadly, so probably an easy miss for most people. 6/10

Overall: As the sole representative of the Seekers in my Siege collection, I'm really happy with Redwing. He's bright and colourful and adds a bit of joy to the otherwise dour browns, greys and purples of the Decepticon Siege line up. I like that he's a new guy, even if he is just a minor retool and repaint, as it's always nice to get new characters. I do long for the day when we can all move on from thinking that the 1980s are the be all and end all for what Transformers are all about though. If only to get us away from design compromises like this. 8/10
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Tantrum
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Re: Generations Selects Siege Redwing

Post by Tantrum »

Are you including the nose as one of the pointy bits? I assume "tetrajet" counts the pointy bits as the 2 wingtips, top, and nose. Granted, the top isn't pointy due to the thrusters going there in bot mode.

I detached my Nova Storm's backpack from his body, and had a full robot and full tetrajet. But, not enough null rays. He's back together now.

From your pics, it looks like Redwing uses the same paint mask for the damage/weathering as all 3 Rainmakers.

There was a 3P tetrajet mold that did a better job of folding the bot away in the alt mode shell, and used the same cockpit for both modes. But, it was a pain to transform and the tabs that hold the alt mode together break off very, very easily. I think I've had my 3P Thundercracker in bot mode twice since I got him a few years ago. He stays in tetrajet mode since the transformation isn't worth the trouble.

The Siege mold is a much better toy to actually play with. I just wish the legs came together into a single chunk instead of 2 distinct chunks in alt mode. I have the Rainmakers and might get Hotlink if I see him, so I can give him a flamethrower using one of TLK Leader Megatron's flame effect pieces. I would just give the flamethrower to one of the Rainmakers, but their colors are brighter than the fire.
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Warcry
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Re: Generations Selects Siege Redwing

Post by Warcry »

Was Redwing available readily in the UK? In the US the process to get him was silly -- you could only get him at Target and they wouldn't sell him to you unless you used their store credit card, I think? Hence the skyrocketing aftermarket prices.

Toys'R'Us here in Canada eventually got a few in, but from what I heard he was almost impossible to actually get an order in for. It's too bad really, since he's the only Siege Seeker with any appeal to him...
Tantrum wrote: Fri May 08, 2020 4:50 pm From your pics, it looks like Redwing uses the same paint mask for the damage/weathering as all 3 Rainmakers.
I think all seven used the same battle damage mask. I remember it being pretty jarring when I saw them all lined up together.
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Skyquake87
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Re: Generations Selects Siege Redwing

Post by Skyquake87 »

The main body of the jet is one piece to me from the boosters to the nose, hence my comments. Redwing popped up at IDtoys and Kapow over here, but I can never be bothered with pre-orders (although I'm finding now I have to be bothered, otherwise you just can't get hold of stuff after the initial flash of imports) so missed the boat and picked up off ebay from a seller in Taiwan, I think. Which, as it turned out, was the cheapest way to get him.

UK retail in general isn't great with stocking Transformers, and hasn't been since Combiner Wars. Sales really seem to have really dropped off. Supermarkets have completely given up, with just the pre-school Rescue Bots and young children aimed One Step changers.

Only Smyths seems to be a reliable source of Transformers. I find them frustrating though, they're generally in awkward to get to out of town retail barns like TRU and their website is always, always out of stock of Generations figures. They just get scalped the minute they get stock in.

The Entertainer … I don't know what's going on with them. Action figures across the board seem to be really struggling for them (outside of wrestling figures), and everything's been onsale forever. I think they were expecting the Star Wars sequels to turn into a sales bonanza for them, but they've just ended up with a load of stock they can't shift and Transformers is the same. They had a fantastic run with the Studio Series, but haven't bothered to carry the line beyond the first 2 waves (which is odd, as it seemed to be selling well enough) - possibly because they seemed to have bought Europe's entire supply of SS Thundercracker - and the approach they've had to Siege has been bizarre. They bought in the Siege Targetmasters and nothing else for over a year, then we got the voyager wave with Springer in and nothing else.

Discounters Home Bargains and B&M haven't really had much either over the last few years - a few Combiner Wars figures that didn't make it to retail (including that boxed set with Quickswitch), the Alpha / Bravo figures - which must be a tough sell when they've got 'proper' figures on the pegs for around the same price (!) - the first wave of POTP deluxes and a random wave of Studio Series deluxes.

Forbidden Planet carries stuff, has a wider selection online (at regular RRP) , and hilariously marked up stock in store (who is paying nearly £30 for a Studio Series figure? And nearly £40 for one of those retro He-Man figures? Madness...).

I still think Transformers has too many lines for many retailers to give a shit and the enforced US waves system never worked here, choking shops with vast quantities of the same handful of figures, leading to stagnation in sales. Interest in the films isn't as big as it used to be (I can tell this by the way Bumblebee is now being used to hawk insurance for Direct Line, barely a year after his film came out, in much the same wave Hanna Barbera's stable of characters was used to sell financial services for the Halifax) and toys in general seem to be slowly winding down as a thing kids actually want over here. More and more, the shelves are given over to pocket money blind bag things, stuff for pre-schoolers and infants, Funko Pops, Sylvanian Families and Lego. Even things like Barbie dolls are rarely seen and I was sad to learn things like Bratz and Monster High have died in recent years.
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