Trailbreaker at last!

[David Connell]

I just picked up CW Trailbreaker last night, and love it! After the barely-recognizable Trailcutter, this guy is awesome.

It's shocking what a difference the right head sculpt can make. Trailcutter, while designed as Trailbreaker (albeit the IDW version for whom I don't give an airborne fornication) fails in large part due to the face looking like neither the G1 toy nor the animation model. Yet the CW figure, despite being developed as a different character entirely, pulls it off perfectly. He may not have the forcefield emitter behind his head, or the beer gut, but the head sells it as Trailbreaker in a way that overrides the other differences.

The fact that he has decent deco in vehicle mode helps, too. The stripes on Trailcutter were too much an afterthought to sell that figure as the classic character. At best, he's Trailbreaker's brother.

So that's yet another Classics/Generations figure effectively replaced in my collection by a CW remold. Along with Prowl, Ironhide, Sunstreaker, Hound, Wheeljack. And I'd never bothered with Classics Mirage in the first place.

Now, if we can just convince Hasbro to do a retail version of CW Ratchet . . .

[Zobovor]

On Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at 9:09:33 AM UTC-6, David Connell wrote:

> I just picked up CW Trailbreaker last night, and love it! After the barely-
> recognizable Trailcutter, this guy is awesome.

Yeah! Trailcutter was a marginally acceptable update to me, but he was on the outer fringe of how far they could reasonably deviate from the character's G1 look. I, too, quite prefer the Combiner Wars toy.

> So that's yet another Classics/Generations figure effectively replaced in my
> collection by a CW remold. Along with Prowl, Ironhide, Sunstreaker, Hound,
> Wheeljack. And I'd never bothered with Classics Mirage in the first place.

I still kinda like the old Prowl from 2008. The newer Mirage is definitely better than the Classics toy, especially if you swap his fists around so he can wear the front of the car as his chest.


Zob (wondering when we'll get a redeco as Indy Heat/Skid-Z)

[David Connell]

Nice to see someone else who thinks the solid CW versions are as good (or even better in some respects) as the Classics versions. While the Classics toys generally nailed the traditional look apart from Trailcutter and the other IDW-verse guys, the CW figures are often more fun. The simpler transformations make the figures more stable in both modes, and while they often don't look 100% G1, they frequently manage to capture the spirit of the character.

And if we get Skid-Z, then I hope we get an entire RiD-themed gestalt. The franchise is woefully under-represented in Generations.

[banzait...@gmail.com]

This shocks me. The CW toy is not even the right vehicle, he is a truck! Further, he is missing one of the most important pieces in Transformers history!! (Without his force field accessory, all the autobots would have barreled into the sun.) He is also missing the dual missiles sticking up on his back in robot mode.
You got me on the head, but it's black - so it's kinda hard to tell anyway. I also like that the CW toy has a missile fist (to be fair, this is optional).
Over all, I think the Generations toy is a better representation of G1 trailbreaker. I know, to each his own...

-Banzaitron

[Gustavo Wombat]

Had they molded the force field thing into the inside of the front end
kibble that sites behind his head, and painted it silver, I could totally
accept this as the better Trailbreaker.

But, it's like an Optimus without pectoral windows -- something is missing,
and it doesn't quite look right. Optimus has a more distinctive color
scheme, so he can still be recognizable without them in a pinch, but this
doesn't look like Trailbreaker.

--
I wish I was a mole in the ground.

[David Connell]

Hmm. What about painting his bumper silver to suggest the forcefield emitter? I did try to stick his HFG with the silver claw fingers behind his head to suggest the emitter, but it just didn't fit decently.

Still, it is a valid complaint. My issue with `Cutter was that he had the emitter and a vaguely similar altmode to Trailbreaker, but the overall silhouette and headsculpt were totally wrong. And being based on the IDW version was a major strike against him (now that FP's licence has been revoked, Hasbro needs to do the same to IDW!)

While CW Trailbreaker's mold is clearly not originally meant to be him, the deco and head go a long way to selling him as the character. And being an "original" reimagining rather than IDW's makes it _a_lot_ easier for me to accept. Even if the CW figures are being featured in the comics, they're clearly Hasbro's designs rather than IDW's. I couldn't even tell you if the figure were used in the comic he comes with - I throw them all out.

In my own mind, I can see Wheeljack finding a way to refit existing `bots with the Scramble City combiner tech (no "Enigma of Combination" needed here!), and Trailbreaker, having doubts about his value to the cause, would likely be one of the first in line for the upgrade. So this Trailbreaker is not only an acceptable update, but one that makes sense in the context of Combiner Wars.

[Zobovor]

On Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 8:50:30 AM UTC-6, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:

> Over all, I think the Generations toy is a better representation of G1
> trailbreaker.

I had to dig Trailcutter back out and examine him just to make sure I was giving him a fair shake. I really think it's the head sculpt. It's the most disappointing thing about the Generations toy, but it's the best thing about the Combiner Wars toy. The design of the Trailcutter toy is so far removed from G1 Trailbreaker that the presence of that unfamiliar head just makes him look like a different character to me.

In a world (cue Don LaFontaine) where we've gotten toys that look NOTHING like the original character EXCEPT the head sculpt (Machine Wars Megatron, Alternators Shockwave, Universe Onslaught) it becomes clear how important assigning the correct head to a toy can really be.


Zob (now, say, if the Combiner Wars head could be installed on the Generations toy somehow...)

[Matthew Percy]

I agree that the CW head is a much better overall sculpt. However the IDW head has excellent, striking light-piping. It's too bad Hasbro abandoned that feature for the CW toys.

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

Alternators Shockwave also has the gun arm, and the front of the car is weirdly reminiscent of the front of his traditional robot chest. There are tiny spots of lavender that get revealed in robot mode that somehow make his dark blue plastic seem a lot more purple. He is weirdly, shockingly Shockwavey, despite so few details being Shockwave.

It's a feat that makes him one of my favorite Shockwave toys. I mean, any toy can resemble Shockwave if it actually *looks* like Shockwave, that's not impressive at all.

[David Connell]

On Monday, April 18, 2016 at 8:55:05 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:

> Zob (now, say, if the Combiner Wars head could be installed on the Generations toy somehow...)

Considering how tiny Cutter is, I think Breaker's head would be a bit oversized on Cutter's body. Best to just sell Trailcutter and consider CW Trailbreaker the "real" one. Or make Cutter his brother, like I do.