Zob's Thoughts on the Revenge of the Fallen Robot Heroes Multi-Packs
Zobovor
reviews. You have my permission to pity me. Now, please humor me and
read.
I have gone on record as being completely in love with Robot Heroes.
Transformers has gone through a lot of permutations over the years,
but one word that very rarely describes the franchise is "cute." Even
though I like that the Transformers fiction generally takes itself
pretty seriously and isn't loaded down with ridiculous humor, some of
my favorite toys have been the cute ones—the original Bumblebee, with
his super-deformed Penny Racer proportions; the adorably chunky
Throttlebots; the Seacons—and despite my dislike of the Armada cartoon
I still bought the toys, primarily because of those adorable little
Mini-Cons. Robot Heroes are just innately appealing to me—
particularly the G1 characters, who I've been a fan of since I was a
kid. I'm slightly less receptive to the movie characters done in this
format since I don't have as much invested in them emotionally (and I
suspect the movie franchise will simply become another forgotten
footnote in the Transformers mythos when all is said and done, just
another iteration of the franchise that nobody really talks about,
like Beast Machines), but I do get a kick out of seeing how these
super-realistic, insanely-detailed designs get translated into tiny,
cuddly two-inch rubbery figurines.
With that said, I'm really very disappointed in the multi-packs. I
think the decision to do vehicle-mode versions of the characters was a
mistake. Now, maybe kids think the concept is really exciting (though
judging from how badly these things warm the shelves, I would say
probably not), and indeed it may have been a calculated response to
possible consumer complaints that the Robot Heroes are Transformers
products that don't transform. It could have also been a desperate
attempt to mix things up and come up with multi-packs that are filled
with the same figures that have been sold previously, plus maybe one
or two redeco figures, which has been the case with a lot of the
previous Galactic Heroes multi-packs and the one previous Robot Heroes
multi-pack (the awesome "Decepticon Sneak Attack" set with Skywarp and
see-through Mirage). Given what Robot Heroes has been in the past,
though, it just strikes me as a wrong-headed move. The line isn't
called Vehicle Heroes, after all. (Then again, it's quite possible
that it's just the movie characters who disinterest me, and that I'd
gobble up super-deformed vehicle-mode versions of Sunstreaker and
Wheeljack and Prowl. Of course, I'd love to see G1-themed RPM toys,
too.)
BATTLE FOR THE ALLSPARK
This set is based on a scene from the 2007 movie, which seems like an
odd marketing decision. It's also the only multi-pack of the four
planned sets not to include a super-sized figure, which makes it kind
of the oddball of the set for a couple of reasons. It comes with
seven toys (which works out to be about $2.85 per character), four of
which are completely new (Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and Starscream,
all in vehicle mode, plus Sam Witwicky) and two of which are redecos
of figures available previously (Brawl and Megatron). Ratchet sort of
straddles the fence since he's technically a completely new sculpt,
but he's so close to what's been offered previously that he might as
well have been a recycled figure.
Starscream is probably the best of the lot, a super-deformed cartoony
jet fighter that's swooping from out of the clouds leaving a bright
orange thruster trail behind him. He's also most likely the only
Starscream toy we're ever likely to get with absolutely no
undercarriage kibble to speak of. Bumblebee is lunging foward, with
the front of his car mode arcing downwards in a ridiculously cartoony
way—and the underside of his vehicle form is also completely hollow in
a very disappointing and very obvious cost-cutting move (though this
may have been the only way to get him to "stand" unsupported).
Optimus Prime is by far the most strangely-proportioned of them all,
rendered here in a similar style to the Hot Wheels "Fatbax" assortment
that was available around 2004, with grossly-oversized rear wheels
that nearly dominate the truck form. His windshield is also styled as
if it were his eyes, similar to how the Disney/Pixar Cars are
designed, with one side of the windshield larger than the other and
his visor "eyebrows" cocked as if he were making a perplexed face. I
can appreciate that an attempt was made here to do something
differently than just basic-looking non-transforming vehicles, but I
just don't think it works very well here.
Sam Witwicky is too large to be in scale with the rest of the
characters, and his proportions are understated as compared to other
humans done in this format, like the Star Wars Galactic Heroes. He's
in mid-run, clutching the AllSpark in one arm and looking terribly
happy about it. His head is articulated, but that's it. The problem
with scene-specific toys like this is that you really can't use him
for anything else except one scene from the 2007 movie, but this is
also the only Robot Heroes version of Sam we're likely to get.
Brawl is the same sculpt, but the plastic of green used on him is
slightly more vivid, and although the same paint masking was used,
this time his treads and fists are done up in glossy black instead of
muted dark grey. Megatron appears to have the exact same colors this
time around—the explosion caused by his flail is more yellow than
orange on my new one, but that's probably just an artifact of being
part of a different production run with a different airbrush artist
doing the deco. Ratchet is really interesting, because even though
the new figure is in exactly the same pose as the one that comes in
the Ratchet vs. Barricade set, it's an entiely new figure. It's
almost like somebody at Hasbro said, "Make this toy the same as the
old one, only with a different weapon" but instead of swapping out one
of the arms, they just started with the same control art and did a
totally new figure from scratch. The gun-arm has been replaced with a
buzzsaw blade, of course, and his left hand is open ths time instead
of balled up into a fist, but there are plenty of other differences,
too—he's missing that trio of prominent headlights or guns or whatever
those are supposed to be on his front grill, for starters. A visual
comparison between the two reveals lots of little details that are
similar-but-not-identical. The paint operations are different, too—
his face is silver now instead of gunmetal, and his Autobot symbol is
now on his right shoulder instead of his left forearm. This is also
the second time that Hasbro has resculpted Robot Heroes characters for
no real reason—the tail-end of the Robot Heroes assortment from the
first movie also included resculpts of characters like Barricade and
Bumblebee and Starscream who arguably didn't need new figures.
Ratchet is particularly odd because despite being an all-new toy, it
really doesn't bring anything new to the table.
BATTLE OF THE FALLEN
This set only comes with four characters (so you're paying $4.99 a
pop), but they're all new toys this time, plus they're substantially
larger than your typical Robot Heroes toy so I guess it's a trade-off.
This time you get The Fallen (measuring over four inches tall),
Jetpower Optimus Prime, and vehicle-mode versions of Ironhide and
Megatron. The next two sets, Shanghai Shootout and Desert
Devastation, will also come with a large-scale figure (Demolishor and
Devastator, respectively) which is the main reason I tend to think of
the Battle for the AllSpark set as something that was thrown together
at the last minute.
The Fallen is of course the main draw for this set—approximately the
same size and feel as one of the old Ninja Turtles figures, with his
big arms and short little legs. He's articulated at the shoulders and
head, though the way the cables in his armpits are sculpted makes it
clear that the default position for his arms is with one of them
pointing down and the other raised menacingly. Unlike the
transformable versions of the character, this one isn't bogged down
with vehicle-mode kibble of any sort—indeed, he doesn't look like he
should be able to transform into anything at all. An oddity of his
design is that while The Fallen normally has six digits on each hand
(four fingers and two thumbs), being a Robot Heroes toy means that one
finger gets lopped off, so he just ends up with normal-looking hands,
at least by human standards. He's got those bizarre cables that
attach his torso to his arms, but they're understated here and
actually go from his midsection to his armpits, so they won't
interfere with the movement of his arms. They probably could have
given him more articulation, considering his size (even some of the
early Galactic Heroes had rotating wrists), but overall it's a good
sculpt that really captures the alien feel of the character.
Jetpower Prime is also bigger than most of the other Robot Heroes
toys, due mainly to his gigantic wing backpack and the figure stand
that's permanently attached to him and is apparently made of bubbling
hot chocolate. I think the permanent base really detracts from the
appearance of these figures—on rare occasions it's absolutely
necessary, generally when a character is standing on one foot and
couldn't be supported otherwise (like with G1 Starscream or G1 Arcee
or Sam Witwicky) but there's no reason to have done this with Prime,
who's got both feet firmly planted on the ground. His rockets are in
a state of mid-ignition, so it's understandable that they'd kick up a
little bit of dust, but not so much that it would completely surround
his feet in a perfectly concentric circle. It just makes him less of
an action figure and more of a perpetual diorama display piece, and I
dislike that.
Ironhide has got the same goofy windshield-for-eyes thing going on
that the vehicle-mode Optimus Prime did, only it's much more
pronounced here. He's even "smiling" with his front bumper. This is
not completely unprecedented in Transformers (Bumblebee and Bulkhead
did it with a fair degree of regularity in Transformers: Animated) but
to me it's not really a logical extension of the Robot Heroes design
philosophy when applied to vehicle modes—"the robots have large heads
and fists and feet, so therefore the vehicles must have faces!" Like
Bumblebee, the underside of his vehicle form is completely hollow,
though it's not quite as bothersome since he's not leaping off the
ground the way Bumblebee is.
Tank-mode Megatron has got a chunk of broken asphalt stuck to him,
which makes absolutely no sense in a desert setting, leading me to
wonder if they came up with these toys independantly and then decided
which box sets they would be stuffed into. (In a bizarre paint deco
oddity, the yellow stripes on the chunk of road were painted on both
the top and the bottom of the toy, despite the fact that the asphalt
isn't painted black on the underside. Of course, the broken dotted
line should actually be white; only a double yellow line would be
painted yellow. What, don't these paint deco artists ever drive?
It's like making a stop sign green. How can you not know what color
this is supposed to be?) Like movie Soundwave, Megatron's robot head
is visible in vehicle mode, and the Robot Heroes version reflects
this. Now that we've got a robot-mode Megatron, a mid-transformation
Megatron, and a vehicle-mode Megatron, I'm tempted to come up with an
animation of him transforming. I doubt I'll ever get around to it,
though.
I really do think they need to ditch the vehicle-mode designs and
stick with the robot modes. The personality of the characters just
doesn't come through when they're transformed, even with the goofy
faux faces, and it seems like a waste of labor when they could be
doing new sculpts of characters who have yet to be rendered in this
format (like Wheelie, Jetfire, the other two motorcycle Autobots, the
and the rest of the Constructicons). Of course, there are also
literally dozen of G1 characters I still want to see made into Robot
Heroes, too. I even came up with a completely made-up list of the
characters I envision being produced, being very careful to pack
certain characters together who I would buy duplicates of, either
because of the repaint possibilities (like Omega Supreme or Sideswipe)
or their potential armybuilder value (like Scourge or Reflector).
Anybody want me to post it?
Zob
Gustavo Wombat
> I'm home sick today with the stomach flu, so I'm catching up on toy
> reviews. You have my permission to pity me. Now, please humor me and
> read.
That which does not kill you makes you stronger. Except stomach flus
-- those just leave you weak, feverish and dehydrated.
> I have gone on record as being completely in love with Robot Heroes.
> Transformers has gone through a lot of permutations over the years,
> but one word that very rarely describes the franchise is "cute." Even
> though I like that the Transformers fiction generally takes itself
> pretty seriously and isn't loaded down with ridiculous humor, some of
> my favorite toys have been the cute ones—the original Bumblebee, with
> his super-deformed Penny Racer proportions; the adorably chunky
> Throttlebots; the Seacons—and despite my dislike of the Armada cartoon
> I still bought the toys, primarily because of those adorable little
> Mini-Cons.
All of the Armada toys have a bit of cuteness to them. Hot Shot, of
course, and Blurs widdle motorcycle helmet, and Megatrons adorable
widdle bunny ears.
Robot Heroes are just innately appealing to me—
> particularly the G1 characters, who I've been a fan of since I was a
> kid. I'm slightly less receptive to the movie characters done in this
> format since I don't have as much invested in them emotionally (and I
> suspect the movie franchise will simply become another forgotten
> footnote in the Transformers mythos when all is said and done, just
> another iteration of the franchise that nobody really talks about,
> like Beast Machines), but I do get a kick out of seeing how these
> super-realistic, insanely-detailed designs get translated into tiny,
> cuddly two-inch rubbery figurines.
The appeal of Robot Heroes to me is that they are instantly
recognizable as characters that I love, rendered cute and silly. But I
don't love the Movie characters, so I don't see the point.
(I don't even *know* the Movie characters -- the movies focus so much
on the humans, we don't get much character development for the robots)
> though, it just strikes me as a wrong-headed move. The line isn't
> called Vehicle Heroes, after all. (Then again, it's quite possible
> that it's just the movie characters who disinterest me, and that I'd
> gobble up super-deformed vehicle-mode versions of Sunstreaker and
> Wheeljack and Prowl. Of course, I'd love to see G1-themed RPM toys,
> too.)
I would buy Beast Machines vehicles done as Robot Heroes. Or even the
beasts.
> Tank-mode Megatron has got a chunk of broken asphalt stuck to him,
> which makes absolutely no sense in a desert setting, leading me to
> wonder if they came up with these toys independantly and then decided
> which box sets they would be stuffed into. (In a bizarre paint deco
> oddity, the yellow stripes on the chunk of road were painted on both
> the top and the bottom of the toy, despite the fact that the asphalt
> isn't painted black on the underside. Of course, the broken dotted
> line should actually be white; only a double yellow line would be
> painted yellow. What, don't these paint deco artists ever drive?
> It's like making a stop sign green. How can you not know what color
> this is supposed to be?)
Unless I am completely misunderstanding you, I wonder where you drive
that you have never seen a dotted yellow line.
Very common up in Seattle, less common in New York State, and I have
no idea how often it is used elsewhere. It means that you're probably
supposed to be on the right side of the line, but feel free to cross
it to pass someone, but if you get killed, well, don't come crying to
me. Or something.
> and the rest of the Constructicons). Of course, there are also
> literally dozen of G1 characters I still want to see made into Robot
> Heroes, too. I even came up with a completely made-up list of the
> characters I envision being produced, being very careful to pack
> certain characters together who I would buy duplicates of, either
> because of the repaint possibilities (like Omega Supreme or Sideswipe)
> or their potential armybuilder value (like Scourge or Reflector).
> Anybody want me to post it?
Why wouldn't you post it? Deathy posts his stream of conciousness,
Black Mystic Ranger (or whatever) posts every thought that comes into
his head, I post my bits of an unfortunate ROTF3 fanfic, Mr. Cypher
posts his crap... Really, could it be so bad it brings down the level
of quality in the group?
Gustavo!
Zobovor
> That which does not kill you makes you stronger. Except stomach flus
> -- those just leave you weak, feverish and dehydrated.
On the upside, I lost five pounds! (It's probably all water weight,
though.)
> (I don't even *know* the Movie characters -- the movies focus so much
> on the humans, we don't get much character development for the robots)
Yeah. It's funny how it used to be—I would buy a toy like BW Rattrap
or BM Jetstorm before I'd ever seen the characters on TV, so
essentially the toys were a blank slate to me—it was only afterwards,
after the characters were fleshed out, that they became truly
meaningful to me. I did the same thing with movie toys like Rampage
and Sideways and Demolishor, expecting to eventually be able to
associate them with their on-screen counterparts. Now, when I look at
the toys... well, they're still all blank slates, basically. (Except
now I can point to the movie on DVD and go, "Oh, he's the guy who was
in that one scene.")
> Unless I am completely misunderstanding you, I wonder where you drive
> that you have never seen a dotted yellow line.
Maybe I spoke too soon, then. We certainly don't have them in my neck
of the woods.
> Why wouldn't you post it?
And so I shall.
Zob