WFC: Kingdom Autobot Tracks

Hey, it’s been a minute since my last blog post, and I am sorry about that. I just couldn’t come up with any ideas for this one plus my free time was lacking this past week and any free time I had, I was just exhausted. As a result this one might not be my best work but I want to get it done so I can move on. This time I am looking at a figure that a lot of people really hate for one reason in particular. I understand it, but the fix is straightforward and so I find the hate overblown. Anyway I am looking at Kingdom Tracks.

As I stated, Tracks here gets a lot of hate for his legs, which I can partially understand since he has a misassembly that makes his legs really loose and floppy. Now there are multiple fixes for the legs (this is the one I used) and all of them are pretty easy. He has a few other minor issues but I will cover them when I get there, but I think he is on par with figures like ER Trailbreaker and Siege Sideswipe. I guess now is as good a time as any to get in to why.

His head is the best Tracks head we have ever gotten on a mainline figure of the character. The stark white helmet makes all the details visible and I love that the head crest feeds directly into the side spike slopes. The red face is present as it is iconic to the characters design and is looking as good as ever. It is very round and smooth compared to the rest of the head but it works well. The eyes are a nice lavender blue but I would have gone with a brighter blue so they stand out more. Head articulation is pretty limited because of the shape of the head and collar so it can only move about 40 degrees left or right.

The torso is pretty wide but not unproportionately so. He does have a faux chest which works really well and I think if it wasn’t fake he would be way out of scale with the rest of the WFC gang. The fake windows are painted in a nice metallic sand blue and he has his traditional yellow badge block in the center of his chest. Now the torsos itself is pretty two-dimensional because of transformation but you can really only tell from certain angles. He does have quite a large backpack which is almost entirely clear plastic since it is the entire top and back of the car, but this doesn’t bug me. His design requires him to have a backpack and it doesn't get in the way of any articulation at all.

Moving on to Tracks’ arms which are pretty nice. His shoulders have both the wings and wheels on them, and similarly to ER Trailbreaker, the wings are attached to the shoulders but they are not nearly as awkward looking as those panels. I do really like the red and yellow details on his forearms as they bring some much-needed color. Articulation here is pretty standard; shoulder rotation, outward shoulder movement, bicep swivel, and 90 degree elbow. Nothing in the wrist unfortunately, but he does have a bit of a backwards butterfly joint thanks to transformation.

Finally we are onto the legs, and while I have already covered the rampant QC issue with them, they have some other issues besides that and most of it has to do with the articulation and joints used. The actual design and shape of the legs is pretty good. I do think they could use some more colors as they are primarily grey and black with only the blue side panels to break it up. Now lets move onto articulation and I will point out my issues as we get to each one. Starting at the top with the waist which has a full rotation despite the large backpack. These hips have soft ratchets for outward movement which is a choice but not a big deal. The issue I have with them is the the back and forth movement are mushroom pegs, which aren’t the most stable. Thigh swivels and knees are what you have probably come to expect from a modern day figure. The ankles are my other main issue and while the range of motion they have is excellent, they are ball jointed so they could end up becoming loose over time. On top of that they are attached to the side panel not the actual main leg, which means if you haven’t done the fix it is very hard for him to stand.

His Weapons are pretty simple, just his gun and his missile pods. Tracks gun is a reference to his gun in the original cartoon and it looks good even if it is just a detailed cone. Of course it can be plugged into either hand or any of the other various 5mm ports around him. The missile pod is neat and, like the gun, is based more off the show appearance than the original toy. The main difference is obviously the smaller missiles but also detail wise they are much more akin to the animation model. The missiles are obviously meant to plug into the top of the backpack so they rest right above his head but they can of course be plugged in anywhere.

Transformation is neat and for the most part pretty simple. The only confusing part can be the legs, but the engineering is actually really cool, you just need to make sure everything is lined up correctly while doing it. The corvette mode itself is beautiful, the blue is stunning and I love the flame detail on the hood even if it is a bit basic. I also appreciate that the rims are painted silver, it really brings the whole thing together. Tracks is famous for his flying car mode which is incredibly stupid looking, but also extremely fun and lovable and of course this toy can do it. It is just as dumb as every other time it has been done but pulls it off almost as convincingly as the Masterpiece figure. Both the weapons can be stored in these modes, just plug them together and plug them onto the back. I think my only issue with this figure is the lack of a flight stand port in vehicle mode, seems like an oversight not to include one on a figure with a flying alt mode

So that is Kingdom Tracks in his full glory. Once I fixed the legs I really started to enjoy this figure and his engineering. Like I said in the beginning he is just as good as Earthrise Trailbreaker and Siege Sideswipe so it should come as no surprise that he gets the same rating. 6.5/10.

I know this post took way too long to do, especially for how short it is. I just had a lack of time and energy to write these past couple weeks. Unfortunately that may continue into the new year, or at very least the next month or so. I will try and get a new Gallery up every week as they are pretty easy to do and I have a bunch of figures I want to sell off or know I won't do reviews on and that way I am still updating the website every week. On the topic of galleries, Tracks gallery has already been up for a about a week so check that out. With that all said, I will see you all when I see you.

WFC: Kingdom Rodimus Prime

If you read last week's blog, this week's subject should have been obvious since it continues this Kingdom train we have been on and it is also Commander Class. Since there is only one Commander class per toyline, I am reviewing Kingdom Commander Class Rodimus Prime, who is probably the most controversial of all the commanders so far but what he lacks in height he makes up for in playability.

As I have stated previously, Rodimus is my first Commander Class figure. I skipped both Siege Jetfire and Earthrise Sky Lynx as I wasn’t interested in them. I have T30 Jetfire which is the perfect Jetfire for me and I just don’t care for Sky Lynx both as a design and character. To be honest, I actually wasn’t planning to get Rodimus either for pretty much the same reasons, I have SS86 Hot Rod already and no real attachment to the character. Although the closer we got to his Rodimus’ release and the more in hand shots we got of him the more convinced I became that I should experience this figure. He ended up being my most expensive impulse buy, probably, and I have yet to regret it. Let’s get right into it and take a close look at why I think this guy is well worth the price of admission.

As always we look at the head and this head is absolutely INCREDIBLE, and I know I have probably said that before but I really mean it this time. The red duo tone helmet gives off big gladiator vibes, especially with the cheek guards and mohawk. The face is excellent with this stern aged look and it is all done up in this flat silver that really brings out all the angles and details. The eyes look nice painted in a metallic blue but I think they could have been a bit brighter as they tend to get lost at certain angles. Articulation is great as the head is on a ball joint and the neck can actually rock back and forth to allow for more up and down movement.

The torso is a very dense chunk of plastic parts all compacted quite nicely. His chest is his traditional flame decaled hood, which really pops thanks to the black outline around the flame itself. He also has his iconic collar which doesn’t affect the head articulation as much as you might think. You can actually open up his chest and find the matrix tucked away inside. Turning him around you will see he doesn’t have much of a backpack, just his windshield and the back section of the car mode including his absolutely ENORMOUS spoiler. This back panel gives me a bit of trouble where it can come untabbed pretty easily but it stays put for the most part.

Visually these arms are pretty simple but there is a lot going on mechanically. The shoulders have some slight butterfly joints in both directions which makes his poses much more dynamic. They also have your standard shoulder articulation, which can be a little limited by the spoiler but not enough where it is a real problem. My favorite part of the shoulders is actually the wheel because they slide into the arms slightly with the fronts hinging up and tab into the shoulders. The forearms are just as good as the shoulders with double hinge elbows and full bicep rotation and on the aesthetic side he has his iconic long exhaust pipe arm blasters. His hands are probably his main attraction as not only do they have some inward movement but his fingers are articulated. And I mean Masterpiece articulated, with the trigger finger being individually articulated, and the other 3 being one piece. Each section actually has 2 points of articulation, one where they connect to the palm and another at the first knuckle.

Legs aren’t anything special, just lots of joints connecting the larger chunks. The waist and hips have full range of motion except for backwards movement due to the shape of the shape of the parts and the waist is hindered by the backpack but like the shoulder, it is not enough to complain about really. He has full thigh swivels and double-jointed knees and his ankles have excellent forward and inward tilt but essentially nothing in either of the other directions. That is pretty much it for the legs, they look good but there just isn’t a lot going on with them.

Alright then with the robot mode all finished up, let’s take a look at all the accessories this guy comes with, cause there is A LOT. First off, just to get them out of the way, is all the blast effects he comes with. He comes with 10 total; 2 smoke effects, 1 matrix effect, 3 identical gun blast effects and 4 modular gun blast effects that are all different shapes and sizes. You can combine these 4 effect parts together in a variety of ways such as 1 large blast effect or 2 asymmetrical smaller blasts effects or any combination you can come up with. Since we have already touched on it, he does have a Matrix of Leadership which is hidden in his chest. It can be removed and he can even hold it like in the film. Next up is probably my favorite accessory which is the Sword of Primus. It just looks super cool and fits in his hand really well, plus it has a flip out peg allowing it to be stored on his back. The only unfortunate thing is that because of how it is designed it can only be held by figures who have opening hands, and at the moment that is only 3 figures, including Rodimus Prime himself. He also comes with his classic rifle the “Photon Eliminator”. It is quite long, coming up to about 2 thirds of Rodimus’ height and he can hold it with both hands. If you don’t want him holding it, it can fold up and store on his back.

Onto the two large accessories, the turret and the trailer. Starting with the turret as it is the simplest of the two. The turret head can rotate around fully and aim up and down. Rodimus can hold onto both of the handles and man the turret, just like his G1 toy and of course the blast effects can be plugged into either of the two main cannons. If you don’t want the cannon deployed, you can collapse it down and store it in the trailer or interestingly, in what seems to be an undocumented feature, you can actually plug the turret onto Rodimus’ back as a sort of backpack gun emplacement. Moving onto the trailer which can clearly unfurl into a makeshift base. This thing is absolutely loaded with 5mm ports; having 36 on the inside, 4 on the back, 3 on each side, right in between the wheels, and 1 on each of the side walls plus the one that is center aligned in trailer mode making for a total of 49. It also has an AIRLOCK connector so you can add it to any of your cityscapes, if that is of interest to you. Turning this thing into a trailer is really simple, unfortunately there seems to be a running issue where the trailer won’t hold together properly as there is not enough friction in one of the tabs. From what I have heard it is an easy fix and I do plan on doing it, I just figured I should do it after I put it up here. Like I stated before the turret can be stored here or you can attach it to the roof for some extra firepower in this mode. Instead of the turret you can fit one of the modern autobot car molds in there. A couple of last things about the trailer, he has this compartment in the front that I am uncertain what it is for, you can store some of the thinner blast effects in here though. Speaking of hidden compartments he actually has a storage compartment for the matrix and smoke effects that just slides out from the underside of the trailer. It also has a couple of 5mm ports both inside and out.

Well that took longer than expected to cover but let us wrap this review up by looking at the transformation and vehicle mode. Transformations a super interesting and intuitive with lots of different rotations, collapsing and extending joints and I enjoy 90% of it. When we get to the legs it is scary because of the amount of force you need to apply to get the wheels in the right positions, both going to and from the robot mode. Overall I enjoy it but I understand why others don’t. Now the car mode itself I absolutely LOVE. Just this bulky, offroad version of Hot Rods sleek car mode. The wheels raise the car up, giving him lots of clearance underneath, and allowing him to roll incredibly well. The clearance allows you to store the sword underneath the car mode, but you have to angle the foot up if you don’t want the hilt to drag on the ground. Speaking of storing weapons, you can also store the gun in this mode. Just fold it in half and plug it into the side of the car. You can kind of attach the smoke effects to the exhaust pipes but they don’t stay on very well thanks to how close the attachment points are to the car. The main function in this mode is of course connecting to the trailer for the full space-age Winnebago experience. You can attach the smoke effects to the exhaust pipes on the trailer which is clearly where they are supposed to go. You can also attach a couple of effects to the rear as some extra thrusters.

Ok I think that is everything, if I did miss something please feel free to let me know either in the comment section below or on Twitter, @Mythic_Gears. Overall I absolutely love this figure, he is so much fun to mess with and pose. All the accessories he comes with really just add to the enjoyment. Except that leg transformation and the QC issues, he is easily one of my favorite figures I have gotten this year and VERY worthy of the Commander Class title. 9/10 easily. This one took longer than expected, but luckily the one I had wanted to do next did show up when anticipated so it allowed me to take some extra time on this one, so I hope you all appreciate this gallery. Next week we look at one of the most mediocrely received figures in all of Kingdom. SO see you all next week.

War for Cybertron Mirage Mayhem

I am not going to beat around the bush this time, if you read last week's blog all the way to the end you know that this week I am looking at Kingdom Mirage. This is because he comes packed with Grimlock in the first Battle Across Time Set. Now I did say that there would be a twist this week as well, and it came about while I was talking to a friend. I realized I had an opportunity to do a couple figures in my backlog and while it did triple my workload as far as pictures go, but I am really happy with how everything turned out. So not only am I doing Kingdom Mirage this week but I am also looking at Siege Mirage and Siege Holo Mirage.

If you recall, a while back I did a full review of WFC Trilogy Decepticon Mirage, and because of that I won’t be doing full reviews of any of these figures just to make sure I don’t repeat myself. I will for sure be skipping the articulation and transformation unless it is something I forgot to go over before or in Kingdom Mirage’s case new articulation entirely. I am also going to be skipping the weapons as they all have the same ones just in different colors. With all that out of the way let’s get right into it starting with…

Siege Mirage

Siege Mirage here was the only retail release of the mold, and is done up in his standard colors of white, blue and silver with some black and red accents. This color scheme is absolutely gorgeous on this figure. The head sculpt looks flawless in this royal blue and silver but I wish the eyes stood out more. The stark white chest with the fake car front looks quite nice and is broken up by the giant Auto-badge and silver front wing. Something I did forget to mention on my previous look at this mold, is that thanks to transformation he does have some forward butterfly joints, but they can look a bit wonky depending on how far out you move them. Not much going on in the arms, but the black and silver are a nice break from the white and blue of the rest of the figure. I know a lot of people worry about his legs since his shins are made of translucent plastic but I really like them. I think the clear blue on top of the white plastic just looks really nice, as it adds some nice depth and color variation. Vehicle mode also looks incredible in these colors and I especially love the cybertronian writing on the sides of the car. Luckily this version does not have the paint chipping issue Con Mirage does but he also doesn’t have nearly as much paint though.

Siege Holo Mirage

Moving on to Holo Mirage, who was released via the Amazon exclusive Fan Vote 3 Pack, which came with him, a Decepticon version of Impactor and Aragon, a character that NO ONE saw getting a new toy. Usually I would review multi-packs together but I sold the Impactor right away and since Aragon is just a Cog repaint I think splitting them up like this is just easier. Clear Mirage deco’s have become a staple of Mirage molds since they are pretty easy and make sense since his canon ability in the original cartoon was invisibility. This one is notable as it is done up in translucent blue instead of the smokey translucent plastic they have used on the others. Interestingly it is actually a different blue than the one used on the retail release as it is slightly lighter, also they used a solid light blue plastic for most of the joints which I think is smart as it should prevent breakage. The major difference here is the toy accurate head which has yet to be used on any other figure and that is a shame as it is incredible looking. He does have clear tampographs in various places, such as the chest and spoiler, but they are hard to make out unless they are in the right lighting. I should mention that the shoulder ports on my copy have both cracked just from putting the launcher in, I am not expecting any more cracks there as the launcher fits quite well now. Nothing too spectacular in car mode, just a two-tone blue space race car.

Kingdom Mirage

Finally we reached the main event, Kingdom Mirage. This figure is actually quite a bit different from the Siege mold but still uses a lot of the same engineering and, if my counting is correct, the two molds share about 20 parts. The one part I can’t tell if it is remolded or not is the head, as it looks slightly thinner, which would make sense considering the new chest transformation but it might just be the brighter blue used making it look that way. His chest is significantly thinner, leading to a better proportioned robot mode. He does still have the fake chest but this time in an Earth mode flavoring, and thanks to transformation this figure has an ab crunch which is SUCH a fantastic addition. The arms are probably the most changed, specifically the shoulders since they are a big part of the new transformation scheme mentioned above. Not only are the spoiler shoulder pads (spoiler pads) in the new Earth aesthetic, you can untab the shoulders from the torso to give him more fluid looking butterfly joints that go in both directions. This does come with a caveat though, because of these new joints, he no longer has any shoulder ports for his launcher, but he does have some ports on the back of his shoulders and I actually don’t mind this look. The legs aren’t that much different. A substantial amount of the parts are new but they all function the same. The first thing you will probably notice is that the lower legs are no longer made of clear plastic, they are solid blue. While it is a nice shade of blue they feel kind off plain and I think they could have done from some more paint such as the silver on the knee pads. Overall I don’t have a lot of complaints about this robot mode. My 2 main ones would be the 5mm port on his back is too big to hold anything, but that might just be my copy. My other one is more of a long term concern, as this figure has a lot of paint, specifically the chest, forearms and thighs are all white paint on blue plastic. I have already chipped some off the fake spoiler when I first transformed him, but it doesn’t seem or feel as fragile as the paint on Decepticon Mirage. Transformation is the same as far as the legs go, but the arms are the main difference, even though they end up in essentially the same spot. Vehicle mode is very nice, the back is much cleaner and thinner than the Siege version. The colors are very nice in this mode too but like in robot mode I find the blue kinda barren. You have probably already noticed that the autobot tampograph on the front of the car is off center, which is unfortunate but easily fixable. You can plug the guns in this mode, they go on the sides of the car now which I actually like a lot better than on top of the spoiler.

Overall I think that Siege Mirage has the better colors but Kingdom Mirage is the better figure overall. And Holo Mirage exists if that is more your style. That being said though all of these are good figures so take your pick of any of these and I am sure you will be happy. As for ratings, base Siege Mirage gets a 6.5 from me, Holo Mirage gets a 6, and Kingdom Mirage gets a 7. As far as this Battle Through Time set with Grimlock and Mirage the score averages out to a 6.5/10 which is pretty fair, nothing too special going on but the figures are good.  And with that I have covered every version of the Siege Mirage mold, as well as done galleries for all of them. If you want to check those out then you can click here, here and here for the 3 I covered today and here for the Con Mirage Gallery I did back in May. As for next week it is the first Commander Class figure I have bought and I am having a hell of a time with him. I hope you are all looking forward to it and I will see you all next week

WFC: Kingdom Maximal Grimlock

Welcome back, this week is the beginning of my first ever 2-part review. This means that I will be taking a look at a single set of figures with each one getting its own blog post. This review is also kicking off Kingdom Month (and a half), where each week I will be looking at a different Kingdom figure, in some capacity, and provided they all come on time. Last week I promised we would be “continuing on the dinobot train” and that is exactly what I am going to do. So without further adieu let’s kick this off and look at Kingdom Maximal Grimlock.

This figure comes from the first of 2 Amazon exclusive box sets for Kingdom. They got the name the Battle Across Time Collection, as each one came with a repaint/remold of a Beast Wars Kingdom figure and an earth mode version of a G1 character we got in Siege. This specific set came with Maximal Grimlock and Autobot Mirage and the other set features Maximal Skywarp and Autobot Sideswipe. Grimlock here is a repaint of the Kingdom Dinobot mold with a new head, which makes sense as that is what his original toy was. This figure got a lot of backlash when it was revealed as it has some questionable paint choices. I will detail all of them as I get to each section, but I liked that they tried combining the 2 BW Grimlock decos that got released(The original Beast Wars version and the Dinobots subline version). It is an interesting idea that could have been executed better, but enough talking about this figure's history, let’s get into it and you’ll see what I mean.

As always we look at the head and I would be lying if I said this isn’t one of my favorite head sculpts I have ever seen. Just absolutely stunning. The helmet is cast in this beautiful black plastic, on either side you have these spade shaped panels that have diamond shaped panels on top of them that wave molded vents on them. In the middle is this giant mohawk that goes all the way across the head and even continues down the back a bit. On the front it has this vertical drop off that actually tiers inward slightly as to not fully connect with his angled brow. His face plate is painted in this fantastic shade of grey plus it has his titular chin spike. Interestingly on the original toy his face plate was white and the Dinobots one was red. I find the fact that it is grey here kind of odd but I am not going to let that distract me from how good it looks. To top it all off are the bright green eyes that pierce through both of the dark colors. They are set in more than I might like but they can end up looking pretty dramatic thanks to the head articulation. Speaking of which, the head is on a ball joint and there is nothing around to hinder its movement so you end up with a pretty full range of movement

The torso is a pretty basic block despite his animalistic alt mode. The chest is odd to say the least. So it is supposed to be the Dinosaur head but slightly flattened thanks to Dinobot(the character)’s show model. You can see the top of the actual Dino mode head in the middle but the area around it makes no effort to match it. It is our first instance of “missing” paint as at the very least I think that the fake dino eyes should have been painted green. I am unsure about the rest of the fake head as the original never had this much black it was just spotted, but I think the added black would have looked nice and broken up the primarily white chest. The back isn’t too bad as it is just dino parts that condense down nicely, nothing too special here.

Moving onto the arms, which are the design’s traditional raptor leg arms. There isn’t a lot going on here other than lots of articulation and some very nice texturing, which is present throughout the entire figure. Like I said these arms have tons of articulation; double upward shoulder joints, full shoulder rotation, full bicep swivel, 90 degree elbow, full wrist rotation, back and forth wrist movement and the hands can open up thanks to the hinges on both finger sections. You may have noticed that the shoulders are white but the forearms and hands are grey and this is what I was talking about when I said this toy takes inspiration from both BW Grimlock decos. The original toy had fully white arms but the Dinobots one had the hands all the way up to the biceps grey similarly to this one, albeit this one stops at the elbow.

Now we get to the legs and you can probably already tell they are a kind of a mess, visually at least. All the articulation you would expect for a modern figure is here; ankle tilt both inward and backwards, 90 degree knees, full, but rather tight, thigh swivels, full range of motion in the hips, but the back movement is a bit restricted by the shape of the back of the crotch piece, and a waist rotation but it is off center so going too far in either direction makes it look wonky. Now onto the visuals of the legs and this vertical white and bronze split really isn’t working. I get the idea cause anything in white is visible in dino mode so they wanted it to match with the rest. The least they could have done is painted or molded the other halves in white so they match.

As for accessories, the raptor tail opens up and becomes two. You get this sword which can plug into either hand but because of how it is designed it can’t be used by other figures. The rest of the tail can also be plugged into either hand as a sort of rotating shield. I don’t really get it but it looks kinda cool and it can rotate thanks to the full wrist rotation. You can combine both accessories together to get this large wrist sword/lance/bow and arrow thing. Again looks cool but that is about it. The tail weapon can be stored on his back and obviously the sword can be stored inside the tail.

Transformation is kinda interesting but at the same time, nothing special. It is cool how the entire back of the dino unfolds from the torso, but it is so simplistically designed that after the first time it becomes boring. As for the Velociraptor mode itself it looks cool but that is about it.  The colors are a neat combo especially for a raptor, and you can really tell they took this design from the Dinobots version. The original Beast Wars Grimlock was just white with black spots so it makes sense to liven up the design a bit more, I do wish there were more spots throughout the whole dino mode though. There are a few spots on the neck and they stop right before the thighs but I do think they could have gone further with them. He doesn’t have anything in the way of features and his articulation in this mode is limited. His head can look down, his jaw can open, the shoulders are on universal joints, the elbows go about 90 degrees and the hands are on ball joints but are molded in this downward position. The knees can bend forward a bit and the feet have all the same articulation as the robot hands, since that is what they are.

I think that is pretty much it for Kingdom Grimlock, he is oddly boring as a figure and tries to make up for it with looks but doesn’t quite go hard enough to pull it off, 6/10. I am still not quite sure what to do with this guy, but I am thinking I might keep him and make him my first big custom project to see if I can make him reach his full potential. As always gallery for this guy is up and next week I am obviously going to be looking at the second part of this set, Kingdom Mirage, but I still have a couple surprises in store, so see you all then.

Transformers War for Cybertron: Earthrise Trailbreaker

New week, new blog, and after looking at older figures over the past couple of weeks we’re headed back to modern times with today’s figure. Now if you haven followed me for a while, you might know I used to do Transformers reviews on YouTube, I didn't do very many, they were a lot of time and effort that i didn’t think was worth it in the long run. One of the figures I reviewed was Earthrise Hoist, and while that is not today’s subject he is VERY similar so apologies for those that have seen that video, this review might sound a bit similar. So let’s take a look at War for Cybertron Earthrise Trailbreaker.

Trailbreaker is interesting because I feel like he is one of the more forgotten members of the original cast, even though he did show up in the beginning of the original 1984 show quite a bit. He would just kinda show up, use his force field ability and then leave for like 3 episodes before showing back up. His design is somehow both unique and uninteresting, I really don’t know how to describe it so I guess I should just jump right in and look at the figure in detail.

As always, let’s start with the head, which is primarily a block like helmet with facial features and a visor. The helmet itself is fine, it has got some simple details and lines to give it some definition and from the top you can tell it has a subtle roundness. On either side you have these trapezoidal ear sections as well as some small helmet mutton chops. The face has some good definition to it, allowing to make out the nose and mouth and his expression is pretty standard for Trailbreaker I feel, a stern neutral combination. The head is on a ball joint meaning you have a full rotation as well as some rocking left and right and back and forth. Not a lot due to the shape of the head but enough. 

The torso is his usual brand of uniqueness, with the windshield mono-pectoral, and the truck hood gut. His back is pretty simple, just the canopy cover for the truck mode. He does have his 2 back mounted contraptions, on the left you have a simple missile/gun and on the right you have his famous radar scanner, or as the show depicted it, his force field generator. Now you may have noticed, that while his torso looks the part from the outside, the inside is very hollow and everything is connected via a single support beam which is a third translucent plastic, which doesn’t bode well for this toy's longevity. 

The arms are detailed blocks connected via the various articulation points, and I know I have used this analogy before in the Deep Cover review but it still rings true here. Full rotation at the hand well over 90 degrees in the elbow, and a full bicep rotation. Now we get to the shoulders which are… odd. First thing you notice is that they are on an angle because of the wheel wells in his torso, which is fine honestly, the shoulders can move down to sit straight. Speaking of shoulder movement, the outward movement is really good, able to go a full 180 despite the joint being odd. As for back and forth movement it is unhindered and can go a full 360, but the panel that sits behind his arm is attached at the same joint meaning it comes with the arm when you move it. Most of the time it doesn’t look too bad but at certain angles and poses it looks awkward and unappealing. 

Legs are just as, if not more, chunky than the arms. The molded details here are really nice and none get lost in the paint or plastic, which is always a bonus, and the silver paint on his shins really pops. I do appreciate the red knee caps and the red in the hips as a way to homage the original toy. He has your standard modern day articulation in the legs, with a few surprises; around 80 degree ankle tilt, double hinge knees, full thigh swivel, full outward hip movement as well as full forward hip movement. The back movement on the hips is limited by the design of the waist, but you get a good 30 degrees, and speaking of the waist it also has a full rotation. 

As for accessories he technically has two. First off is this gun/missile piece, It looks really good with the silver section paying homage to the OG toys missiles. On the topic of homage the gun is designed to fit over his hand to again reference the original toy, where you could replace its hands with missiles. This piece can go over either hand, although the cartoon did give him a cannon hand on his left arm, so that is the go too spot for most people. The other accessory is his canopy. It can be removed from his back, and attached to either arm as a sort of shield, but because of it’s design it limits articulation and it has to go on the arm opposite the gun. You can attach it to the shoulder as well but again, severely limits articulation.

Transformation is very simple, the only part that sometimes catches me up is the arms, but that is mainly my own fault for forgetting to rotate them around before bringing them down. Also make sure you rotate the fists so the thumb is facing up, otherwise they will drag across the ground. The vehicle itself is a very nice black pick-up truck. I really like the silver stripe that goes across the side as well as the yellow, orange and red accents to help break up the black. The front bumper is also fully painted silver and has translucent blue headlights, although I don't know if they were worth having the entire hood section be molded translucent plastic, but who knows maybe it couldn’t be helped. Now you may have noticed that the color matching in this mode is off, and that is because the plastic color they use is closer to a very dark brown then it is black, like the paint. It is not the most egregious job of color matching they have done in the whole of WFC, and I find it much more noticeable here in truck mode than robot mode. He rolls well in this mode and you can plug the gun into the canopy as a sort of weapon storage.  

All in all Earthrise Trailbreaker is a very solid deluxe, he has a couple of flaws but nothing I can’t get over. Robot mode is fun, transformation is simple and truck mode looks nice, can’t really ask for much else. 6.5/10. As always the gallery is up as well if you want to check that out, while you're there feel free to check out any of the other galleries that are up if they interest you or feel free to go back and read any of my previous reviews. Next week is a figure I am not a fan of, and he will probably be my lowest ranking figure for a very long time, see you all then. 

Transformers Reveal the Shield Lugnut

I teased this one slightly at the end of last week's blog, but this is a figure I have been wanting to get for a VERY long time, and I definitely wasn’t expecting to write about it pretty much as soon as I got it, so forgive me if I sound more biased than usual. Without further adieu, It is time to look at what I believe to be one of the most well received figures, even by today’s standards, in a decade, let’s look at Reveal the Shield Lugnut. 

This is such a unique figure. I know I said that before with Springer, but I really mean it this time. This is a main line Generations figure of an essentially brand new character, Lugnut was introduced in Transformers Animated, only 3 years prior to this toy's initial release in 2010. To put that into perspective, his Autobot counterpart Bulkhead, who was also essentially a brand new character at the time still hasn’t gotten a Generations update. (He did end up being in Transformers Prime though, but that isn’t really the same). The only characters I have found with a shorter turnaround from first appearance to Generations toy are comic characters like Drift and Windblade, but I don’t really count those cause Generations is the only toyline they can go in. 

Enough about other characters, let’s get back to Lugnut here and as always let’s start with the head. It should be very obvious that this is not your standard head in both shape and design. It is obvious his main feature is his large cycloptic red eye, which is quite unique all on it’s own but he also has 2 smaller eyes on either side of his head, for a total of 5 eyes, which is even more unique. His other main feature is his large jaw, which is actually moveable. It isn’t a lot of movement but enough to get the point across, unfortunately the jaw does hinder the rest of the head's articulation, meaning you can only really open it when he is facing straight ahead. Speaking of articulation the head is on a ball joint giving him a bit of up and down and side to side, but even without the open jaw the articulation is limited by the shape of the head, but he has enough to get by. Since he is the first figure I have reviewed to have it, I obviously need to mention his light piping. All of his eyes and the inside of his mouth are all light piped but it doesn’t really work the greatest. The main eye gets most of it and that is about it, luckily he doesn’t have “dead eye syndrome” like most figures that use light piping, and I am assuming that is because of the plastic used. 

The torso is a very interesting shape, as he has a hunchback like appearance with the head being sunken into the chest and the shoulders being positioned both above and behind it. The chest is primarily this thin purple pillar and on either side you have these cockpit halves that help fill out the chest, each one of those cockpit panels has a small turret that is fully rotatable and can fit blast effects on them. These sections are spring loaded and because of that they have a tendency to slide back from their proper positions, it makes the chest a bit wider and a bit more dynamic now that the windows are on an angle, it isn’t really a bad look, so I can completely understand if someone might prefer it over the regular configuration. He does seem to have quite a long torso because of his stature which almost seamlessly goes into his backpack which is just the entire tail section of the plane mode. It does end up going pretty far down his back meaning it can hinder leg articulation but it is on a rail and a hinge so it can be moved out of the way pretty easily. 

Moving on up to the arms, or well more specifically the shoulders. The large section right behind the head is where the shoulders connect, now this part doesn’t connect super well and tends to wobble a bit. The shoulders themselves are made up of the main turbines which is both accurate to the character and super cool, what is even better is that the entire middle section of the turbine is ratcheted allowing for outward arm movement. As for forward and back movement, that’s where it gets kind of weird, because of how the shoulder rotation is designed he doesn’t have any at the shoulder propper, but they did add a joint right beneath the turbine that is both a bicep swivel and a hinge that gives him some semblance of shoulder movement even if it is only 90 degrees of forward movement. Almost right below that joint is his elbow joint, which goes just under 90 degrees, and right after that you have his massive hands. Lugnut’s hands are quite spectacular and that is all because the fingers are articulated, the thumb is on it’s own separate hinge then, one for the whole palm and then the fingers are individually articulated. The main section of the hand is also on a rotation but that is mainly for transformation. 

The legs don’t have a lot going on, full waist rotation, hip ratchets and thigh swivels, knees go well beyond 90 thanks to a double hinge and a lot of clearance. The lower legs are considerably chunky but that shouldn’t be a surprise considering the rest of the figure. I think the feet are the most interesting part of his legs because of how much articulation they have, albeit most of it is left over from transformation, the heels and toes can move inward almost like bird claws, the ankles are on ball joints as well as a separate hinge for more forward movement, although that one is critical to his balance. 

Lugnut doesn’t come with any accessories, but he does have quite a few features and gimmicks. First off is the spring loaded missile launcher that hides in the plane's tail and is the main reason the tail doesn’t fold away better. Now I got this figure second hand, and he didn’t end up coming with the missile, which is fine by me as it does not hinder my enjoyment of this figure in the least, but I can still deploy the launcher as ridiculous looking as it is. Next up is the plethora of 3mm brackets, in just the shoulders and arms he has 10, 16 if you move a couple panels out of the way, plus the 1 on the missile launcher and the 2 on each leg. This guy can be a walking armoury if you have the resources, which I unfortunately don’t. Finally both of his fists are spring loaded to simulate his famous P.O.K.E, or Punch Of Kill Everything, attack. This unfortunately only works on one of my fists because I had to take the spring out of the other one as it was misaligned and was keeping the arm from transforming properly. Oh and before I forget since Lugnut was released in Reveal the Shield, he has a rubsign on his left hand which reveals he is of course a Decepticon when heat is applied. 

This transformation is pretty rad, with the way the main torso extends out, the arms unfolding into the wings and the legs collapsing up to form the bomb bay and leave essentially no undercarriage, which is usually a big problem with jet formers. The jet mode itself is absolutely FANTASTIC, it is an amalgamation of a few different WWII Bombers, mainly the B-25 Mitchell, B-24 Liberator, and B-17 Flying Fortress plus some more modern technological updates like having turbines instead of propellers. There are so many little things on this plane mode that really put it above the rest. The translucent red cockpit windows, the fully rotatable guns, the shark teeth pattern, the caution stripes on the turbines, the leetspeak version of his name on the wings and tail fin as well as the little molded gunner section at the very back. As for features in the is mode the launcher can still function just as well as it could before and he still has almost all of his 3mm brackets available to use at your desire. Oddly enough though he can actually roll, and rather well i might add, thanks to 4 tiny wheels on his underside. 

There was a lot to cover with this figure but I think I have covered pretty much all of it. I absolutely love this figure and am SO glad he is finally a part of my collection as incomplete and “broken” he may be, none of those things really hinder my enjoyment at all. This could very well be the last Lugnut figure we ever get and I would be ok with that. He is a decade old figure that stands right alongside modern day figures in terms of quality and general playability, not to mention size. Reveal the Shield Lugnut is an easy 9/10 and can really only be described in one word. Glorious. 

Hope you all enjoyed that one, and feel free to check out Lugnut’s photo gallery for more pictures, you won’t be disappointed. Next week we are going older than this weeks with a figure that I think is pretty cool and holds up almost as well as Lugnut but has a few flaws holding him back, so see you guys then.

Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege Springer

I hope you all enjoyed last week's review, it was a bit of a departure for me in all honesty but I thought it turned out rather well. Enough about that, let’s move onto this week's subject matter, which was decided with the help of some friends, Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege WFC-S38 Springer. Don’t forget to check out the full gallery afterwards for 126 pictures of Springer in all his glory.

For as much of a prominent character Springer was in the 1986 movie and third season of the G1 cartoon he hasn’t really gotten as many toys as one might expect and when he did reappear in the late 2000’s he was stripped of his main gimmick, which was triple changing, and he was relegated to be just a green repaint of existing figures that had similar alt-modes to one of his. Of course that all changed in 2013 with the Thrilling 30 figure, and as good as that toy looks, it is not the one I am covering today, even though I am sure I will eventually.

Siege Springer here is a one of a kind figure in multiple ways, he is the first G1 cartoon accurate Springer figure we have ever had and he is the only use of this mold, which seems very rare for Transformers figures nowadays, with most figures getting at least one repaint at some point. With that being said though, his design is pretty unique and doesn’t really share a lot of traits with other characters and his colors haven’t really changed all that drastically either so I can understand why the mold hasn’t been used again. 

On the topic of unique, Springer’s head sculpt is one of the most unique parts of his design and this toy absolutely NAILS IT. From the head crest that continues back to form the sides, to the thin mohawk-like section on top, to the cheek vents being a darker green than the rest of the head (plus the insides are even painted yellow). The face is done up in a very nice pale green that really separates it from the rest of the head. The sculpting here is very nice as well but I find that the mouth gets lost in the paint a bit and the eyebrows get lost underneath the helmet, at least it is not the eyes getting lost this time as they are done up in a nice royal blue, making them really standout from the rest of the head. The head is on a ball joint but because of the head shape and the length and size of the neck plate you don’t get a lot of back and forth or side to side movement.

His chest is technically the standard hood chest, but his is much more compact and angular looking than most, thanks to his very mid 80’s space age-esque alt-modes. It obviously has some of the almost universally disliked “ Siege battle damage” and you guys can have your own opinions about it, but I personally really enjoy it as I think it gives some character to the figures without going too overboard. Springer here is no exception and I think he is one of the better examples of it as it is in places that makes sense for the figure. Moving to the back which has one of my bigger issues with the figure, and that is the backpack. It doesn’t really like to sit still, the main section just kinda flops around as it doesn’t tab in anywhere and it can cause the hinge that is keeping it upright to untab. Other than that though it looks very nice and has storage for all of his weapons/accessories. Not much in the way of articulation here other than the waist swivel but even that is limited from going a full 360 by a transformation hinge, although it is enough to get some decent poses with. Before moving onto the arms I would like to mention that you should be weary attaching the arm struts to the back, as the panel they attach to is made entirely of translucent plastic and one of my tabs has sheared off. Luckily this doesn’t affect stability, as the arms also clip in at the top but figured it was something worth mentioning.

The arms don’t have a lot going on other than some rather good articulation including full wrist and bicep swivels and elbows that go slightly over 90 degrees. The shoulders are where they get a bit limited, the shoulder rotation is hindered by the arms transformation struts, but they can rotate 90 degrees in either direction which is good enough in my opinion and his signature shoulder pads stop the shoulders outward movement just shy of 90 degrees. While we are on the topic of the shoulder pads I know some people take issue with them as they can not rotate outwards to be fully cartoon accurate, and while I understand that complaint I don’t think it could have been done justice without sacrificing stability or some of the more necessary engineering already in the shoulders. 

The legs don’t feel quite as hindered as the arms in terms of articulation. He has full hip articulation and the engineering used for the hips is the best they have ever done, and I am very happy they carried it over through both the Earthrise and Kingdom lines. There is a full thigh rotation and I do believe the thighs are cast in green plastic entirely painted in the same pale green as the face but it is quite hard to tell, they may very well be cast in a pale green plastic. The knees bend just over 90 but are stopped due to the molding on both the thighs and lower legs. This is where another one of my bigger issues lie, which is that the shins like to untab from the strut the knee joint is on, while not the biggest deal it can get pretty annoying when trying to pose the figure. The shins themselves look very nice in the sand blue plastic with a couple of silver paint apps and battle damage, as well as the black from the wheels to help break it up. Now here is where we get to a section of the figure a lot of people seem to have issues with which is the ankles. Now supposedly Springer here can have loose ankle joints, which I can see why that might take away some enjoyment, but I guess I got lucky cause I don’t have those issues at all and he is extremely stable. He has incredible ankle tilt both forwards and to the side and it is a shame that some people can’t really experience that.

Last thing I am going to cover before transformation to the car mode is the weapons and accessories. He comes with two identical swords, two distinct looking guns and the rotor blade housing for helicopter mode. Now all the weapons have INCREDIBLY dumb yet great names, cause that was a thing they decided to do during Siege I guess. You have the “W-10 Airslice Chopper Blades” which are obviously the swords, the “JF-10 Warp Blaster” which is the more greebly looking gun with the tabs and 5mm port on the back, and the “C-10 EM Void Blast Capacitor” which is the other smoother looking gun. You can put any of these weapons wherever there are 5mm ports and like I said before you can plug everything on the back for storage, the swords even tab into the sides but it isn’t the greatest connection. The weapons can also plug together in all sorts of ways for a variety of larger rifles or swords. 

Transformation to car mode from robot mode isn’t too tricky. Your main issues are going to be flipping the chest piece up over the head especially since that entire apparatus is attached to clear plastic and that joint seems unnecessarily stiff, at least on my copy, and then getting the entire waist assembly shifted forward. This step is necessary to get arms and legs in the right positions otherwise you will end up with a lackluster and unsecure car. Oh and don’t forget to take the back fins out of the legs, while not necessary it is important for the accuracy and aesthetic. If you have gotten all those steps down, you should end up with a very solid, hefty and relatively accurate car mode. This car mode looks like one hell of a bruiser but also looks like it could break the sound barrier if needed. All of the newly revealed details are what really sell that look with the armoured plating around the cockpit area and the thrusters and fins at the back, not to mention the blast effect ports on the back to really help sell the illusion that this thing can cruise. As for functionality, it rolls well enough and it has all the same ports from robot mode so you can equip the weapons however you like.

Onto the final mode, the helicopter mode. Getting to this mode from car mode isn’t too hard and mainly involves extending the legs out to create the tail section, which is one of my favorite parts of Springer’s engineering, and of course creating the rotor using the swords and the housing. There isn’t a lot of visual difference between this mode and the car mode seeing as the main section doesn’t really move. The legs extend and the arms move back slightly, you do get some sort of wings/stabilizers from the forearm panels and obviously the main rotor section. Despite that you end up with is another solid mode, although there are quite a few small gaps especially in the back. This mode does have a free spinning main rotor which is EXTREMELY nice and the back rotor spins pretty well too, but then again they are just the back wheels, so that is kind of expected. You can also plug the guns in in almost all the same spots as car mode, the exception to that being the ones under the rotor as they can stop the rotor from spinning. To counteract this, you can now use the ones from the robot mode forearms, and attach the guns to the side of the helicopter, and while this is the official way to display them in this mode I prefer them on the front beside the cockpit. I totally didn’t forget they were supposed to go there for helicopter mode till after I took all the pictures. 

I think that is it, I think I covered everything, Springer has a quite lot more going on than Deep Cover so apologies if I missed anything, not to mention I feel like I went much more in depth on him but at the same time this will probably be my only time looking at the mold so i guess it makes sense. He is a really good figure and a great representation of the G1 character if that is what you're looking for. Speaking of looking, have a look through the gallery if you have the time, you might find a picture you really like.

Now for something new, well new for this place. If you know me, you will know I love to rank things so i figure I would give each figure a rating out of 10, and maybe rank each figure in a given toy line against one another, not sold on that one yet though, plus I should probably wait till I review more than one figure per line to start that. Getting back on track I give Springer here a solid 7.5/10, he is a very fun figure with some great engineering and play value, he just has a couple things that bring him down. I guess I should retroactively give Deep Cover a ranking too, so I will update his post to give him his, so check it out if you're curious. Anyways, that is all for now, see you all next week.

Transformers Generations Selects Deep Cover

Welcome all to my first official MythicTF.ca blog review, I do hope you enjoy and don’t forget to check out the figures gallery afterwards. Now without further adieu let’s get to it and take a look at one of my favorite figures I have gotten this year, Transformers Generations Selects WFC-GS23 Deep Cover. 

Now this toy is based on the original Deep Cover toy which was a E-Hobby repaint of the G1 Sideswipe mold that was released in 2003. As soon as I learned about this guy he has been one of my favorites, from his colors to his ability to shrink like a transformers version of Ant-Man. I just wish he got put in some Transformers media so we would have more to go off of personality wise than just his OG toy’s bio-card.

Getting back to the figure at hand, he is obviously a repaint of the Siege Sideswipe mold, the 7th use of the mold to be exact(well 8th if you count Gigawatt) so he has every positive and negative that mold has, plus quite a few more positives. That being said he is closer to the Covert Clone Sideswipe use of the mold with the color layout being the same, just swap the red for a deep blue and some red accents to help break it all up. 

The head is you standard Sideswipe affair cast in this glorious deep blue, with the trapezoidal prism triangle making up the general face shape with the small horns/fins/ears on the sides and the head crest on top, for which he is the only one out of all the mold uses to have it painted and in silver no less. On the topic of silver, his face is done up in it and it looks really nice, my only gripe with this face sculpt would have to be the eyes, more specifically the color used. The color they used is a metallic, almost pearlescent blue, which while nice, but they just kinda get lost cause it doesn’t really stand out enough from the blue or silver surrounding it. At least the head is on a very nice ball joint, meaning you can get some good poses out of it. 

The chest is your standard hood chest carbot variant, that being said I do like the shape of the chest with the subtle curves at the bottom and sides, but then the top has these nice angles so that the head is visible, while also giving a sort of jacket vibe, especially with how the wheels end up hidden and the white sections beside his head giving off a collar like vibe. The back is just the entire windshield of the car but that is par for the course for Sideswipe’s design, But because of how wide it is it is visible from the front or at least partially. Like most kibble on transformers this doesn’t really bug me as it gives the character/mold a unique look and feel, plus it doesn’t get in the way of the wait swivel, or any of the other articulation for that matter, or make him back heavy.

The arms are your pretty standard affair, just a series of boxes attached via a multitude of joints, including full shoulder movement, bicep swivel, and a 90 degree elbow. No wrist articulation unfortunately, due to transformation. There is quite a bit of detail present on the forearms and because of the white plastic used none of it really gets lost which is always nice. The legs are in a similar boat to the arms, just boxes connected via joints; Full hip movement, thigh swivels(slightly limited by their design) 90 degree knees and a decent amount of ankle tilt. All this articulation means he can pull off quite a few good poses and he has decent enough balance to pull off a high kick and a running pose of sorts. 

I guess the final thing to address in robot mode would be the accessories. Deep Cover comes with the Sideswipe missile launcher parts, both molded in black, the launcher section has silver trim on one side while the missile is fully painted white. He also comes with the “Red Alert Gun'' this time painted in silver. It is just a standard rifle but it does have a 5mm hole on the back for you to plug the launcher into if you so choose. Seeing as this was a Siege toy to begin with you can plug the weapons into any of the 5mm ports available or you can plug the missile launcher into either side of the shoulder for a more traditional look, but personally i chose to either store the launcher on his back or attach it to the side of his arm as a sort wrist mounted rocket or a drill. 

Transformation is a pretty simple affair, nothing complicated at all but nothing super inventive either. That being said, I constantly forget to keep the side panels folded up to give the legs the clearance they need. Now the vehicle mode is a sort of cybertronian supercar, similar to what a space age Lamborghini might look like, and probably the best looking out of all the uses of this mold. The slight glossiness of the black and the blue highlights (that are mainly just remnants from robot mode) really compliment each other, and the added accents like the golden badge tampographs, and painted rims, headlights and taillights really bring this everything together. You can of course plug the weapons into either side of the car or the roof if you would like.

I think that about covers everything I have to say about this figure. I just really love his whole vibe from the car mode to the bomb ass colors to the excellent articulation he is all around just a very fun figure and the best looking version of a mold that has been used many times over. Now if only we could get his brother Clampdown for the final use of the mold, but until then I will make due.

I hope you all enjoyed my first actual blog post review, and are looking forward to more, hoping for these to be weekly but that is dependent on my work schedule so if some are late or possibly early, blame that and don’t forget to check out the full gallery of pictures for Deep Cover (click here) before heading out. I will be adding pictures to pre-existing galleries down the road when I use said figure again for comparison with other figures, so look forward to that. Figured I should add that at the end before I forgot, even though it doesn’t really apply quite yet. Anyways, that is all for now, see you all next week.

(Edit)May 16th,2021
With my Siege Springer review, I have started giving figures a rating out of 10, so I am retroactively adding one for Deep Cover. I give Deep Cover a 8.5/10 mainly based on his colors and simplicity but the ability to just pick him up and mess with him without really worrying about anything, and my love of the character does factor into that score as well.