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Dave's Transformers Rant: Generations Voyager Whirl
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Dave Van Domelen
Apr 6, 2014, 5:03:19 PM4/6/14
to
Dave's Generations Rant: 30th Anniversary Voyager Wave 4
Autobot Whirl (Helicopter)
Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/VWhirl
Another singleton release (seems to be shipping with Doubledealer),
which I picked up at HTS rather than wait to see if the local stores would
finally clear out their remaining Blasters and Springers and get in some new
stock.
WARNING: I have heard horror stories about the knees being fragile.
Having identified the danger joint, I've avoided breaking mine, and I'm going
to treat that joint as fused rather than risk it.
CAPSULE
$20 price point.
Autobot Whirl: Good robot mode, decent vehicle and heloped (gerwalk)
modes, decent transformation. Some joint stiffness/looseness issues of
significance. Comes with stickers, which you may find more of a negative
than I did. Recommended.
RANT
Packaging: Same basic layout as other Thrilling 30 Voyagers.
Doubledealer is the cosell on the bottom, and Whirl has the "3 MODES!"
callout on the front. They decided to make the gerwalk mode official,
calling it a "Heloped".
AUTOBOT: AUTOBOT WHIRL
Series: 02
Number: 006
Altmodes: Helicopter, Heloped
Transformation Difficulty: Intermediate (2)
Previous Name Use: Gen, Uni, Movie1, DotM
Previous Mold Use: None
Weapon: Null-Ray Cannon
Function: Aerial Assault
Motto: "If used logically, madness is...oh, just die already!"
The daredevil flying style of AUTOBOT WHIRL might make it look like he
could crash at anymoment, but he's in total control. The mere sight of him
over the battlefield is enough to send enemies running for cover, trying to
reach a safe distance before he crashes. Any DECEPTICONS unlucky enough to
stick around give him a chance to take his Null-Ray Cannon out for a spin.
STR 6 INT 6 SPD 8 END 8 RNK 6 COUR 10 FRB 6 SKL 10 Avg 7.5
Odd that they didn't use the G1 numbers, which make him stronger and
smarter.
Packaging: Rather than rattan strings, he's held into the blister with
those t-bar-tipped plastic strings like they use to keep pairs of socks
together on a cardback. I recommend nail trimmers to cut 'em. Five hold the
robot in place, each of the four weapons has one of its own.
The legs are as flat as they can go and the toes pointed down, but you
need to bend several joints to stand him up for the first time, providing an
immediate chance to break the knees.
The decal sheet (yes, it has one) is tucked into the instructions sheet.
The instructions for the details are fairly clear, but some of the stickers
are kinda stupid: like a mostly clear and black one that you're supposed to
put on a black part. One of them in very tiny writing identifies the pilot
as William S. Hardy, CWO-4 (Chief Warrant Officer), 04-20-87 (the Whirl toy
came out before that, so this might just be William's birth date this year:
27 is reasonable for a pilot). That's Wild Bill from GIJoe. The vehicle
itself is identified as a VH-64MR. "AH" is Attack Helicopter, "MH" is Marine
Helicopter, and "VH" is a fictional designation for Variable Helicopter. Not
sure what the MR is in reference to, as Whirl's original toy came from
Dorvack, not Machine Robo. Stickers on the arms proclaim it to be "AUTOBOT
GYROTRON AUTOMATED WEAPON:
Annoyingly, there's two different stickers labeled 17, and two different
labeled 18. In each case, there's one version with two copies, and those go
on the legs. The singleton 17 is the Wild Bill sticker, and goes on the
cockpit window. The singleton 18 goes on the upper right arm.
Robot Mode: While this is clearly based on the G1 toy, but interestingly
they went with the more organic shape of the More than Meets the Eye head.
Sadly, one place they stayed true to G1 was in the spindly strut shoulders,
which rely on really good quality control that Hasbro simply can't deliver.
The right shoulder on mine is very loose and requires significant tinkering.
(I did a few things and it worked overall, but I suspect merely tightening
the screws holding the upper arm together might be enough in a lot of cases.)
Undocumented feature: the struts actually have two positions to snap in. The
outer sockets are needed for vehicle mode, but the inner sockets are more
stable for robot mode. The instructions ignore this distinction. Anyway,
probably the most significant departure from the G1 design is in the legs,
which are now digitigrade (chicken-legged, so the backwards "knees" are
actually ankles) with feet that have two long toes in front and a heel spur
in back, rather than G1's ski feet.
The IDW continuity has come up with an explanation for Transformers
without faces or hands, like Whirl (and Shockwave). A cruel punishment of
the corrupt old regime, called Empurata, involved removing the accused face,
hands, and emotions, reducing them (in theory) to a drone. They got
cycloptic faceplates and claws instead. (Shockwave was later given new
forearms by Megatron, and Whirl later regained something like emotions but is
still on the sociopathich side.)
Exact height depends on which click you keep the "knees" on, between 6"
(15.5cm) and 6.5" (16.5cm) tall. Mainly light blue, medium blue and black,
with some silver, yellow and amber. Light blue plastic is used for the
torso, kibble backpack, upper arms, lower arms, thighs, and shins. Medium
blue plastic is only found on the hips, elbow joints, and heel spurs, but the
commonly found medium blue paint is a good match. The rotors (main and tail)
and some ankle struts are bright yellow plastic. The head, hand-claws, toes,
weapons, shoulder struts, collar area, knees, and some internal torso bits
are black plastic. The cockpit window and head lightpiping are amber
plastic. The antenna on the head is a separate piece of black plastic that
can be flipped forward, raising a shield that blocks the lightpiping input.
Stealth mode?
Medium blue paint is probably the most common, used on the head, wrists,
and shin fronts. The thighs are dipped in silver paint, which is otherwise
not seen in this mode. The shoulder tops, landing skids, and cockpit
interior are painted gloss black, as are the halves of the turbofan exhaust
on the backpack. There's a band of red paint on the tail, mostly covered in
this mode. The rest of the details depend on stickers. Annoyingly, while
they made the rotor stripes extra long to wrap around several times, the tail
rotor stickers on mine are peeling off on their own. Trimming helps, but
shouldn't have been necessary.
The head is on a ball joint, which itself is on an inexplicable strut
that can lift up about 45 degrees. It doesn't seem to be necessary for any
transformation stuff, although I suppose it could have been added to solve a
breakage problem that showed up in initial testing. The waist does not turn,
although it does have a slider so you can make him wear his belt around his
chest or something for Old Man Whirl. The shoulders are universal joints on
the end of ball-jointed struts, so you can get a lot of range of motion out
of them, but have to be careful you leave the universal joints in the right
positions for transformation. There's swivels right above the double-hinge
elbows (so they can bend 180 degrees). The claws are geared so that swinging
one in or out makes the other move in mirror image. Universal hips with
smooth swivels below them. The knees are stiffly ratcheting dual hinges: the
top hinges are so stiff I haven't dared actually bend them yet, it feels like
this is the threatened snapping danger. The feet have several transformation
joints, but really only one snapped-in configuration. The cockpit opens up,
but is very hard to get open without a pry tool or very strong fingernails.
While the claws can't really hold anything firmly, there's 5mm peg holes
on the undersides of the forearms, and the Null Ray Cannon is designed to fit
over his forearm stump when that arm's claws are folded back. Additionally,
Whirl brings back 3mm clips and rods in a big way. He's even got attachment
points that none of his weapons will fit on. The landing skids on his boots
are 3mm rods, and there's 3mm rod segments built into the backs of the
tailfin-ish pieces on the tail (covered in robot mode), and there's 3mm rods
behind the 5mm peg holes on the forearms. Heh, there's even some on the heel
spurs, very much not accessible in this mode.
The Null Ray Cannon has two sets of 3mm clips (one on each side) and a
3mm bar on the bottom. I suppose if you got four of them you could make a
square out of 'em. The tribarrel cannon has a 5mm peg in a traditional grip
location, another one sticking up at the back so it can be plugged in under
the nose in vehicle mode, a 5mm hole on the underside of the "stock", 3mm
clips on either side, and three 3mm rods (top and either side). The
minimissile pod has three sets of 3mm clips and a single 5mm peg. One of the
clips is designed for use on the boot rails in robot mode, the other two are
for vehicle mode. The rocket rack has four 3mm clips (two for each
direction) and two 5mm pegs. Basically, Whirl beats up Cyberverse figures
and steals their C-clip weapons for himself.
Transformation to Heloped: The joints in the tail are pretty stiff, so
you have to be careful pulling it out and down. You probably want to pull
the shoulder struts out so that when you slide the pelvis back the arms don't
sit too close to the hips.
Heloped: It turns out this isn't just canonizing an obvious gerwalk
mode. The pelvis is designed to slide backwards specifically for this mode,
and there's a peg on the underside for securing the tail. Height to the top
of the rotors is 5.5" (14cm) and the truncated helicopter fuselage with tail
tucked between its legs is 5.25" (13cm) long. The rotor diameter is 7.5"
(19cm).
Articulation is pretty close to robot mode, but with no head present to
turn. Range of motion is a little limited by having the shoulders right over
the hips, and popping the shoulder joints out does make them looser. The
rotor spins freely. So does the tail rotor, inviting lewd comments since
it's between his legs.
Transformation to Vehicle: Fold the tail back, slide the pelvis
forward. The arms need to be folded in a very specific way to make the
weapon pods, but the tabs and slots provide guidance. The legs are tricky,
because they have to link up under and inside the arms, with tabs that take a
little practice to get in place without struggles.
Vehicle Mode: Pretty close to being an Apache AH-64, hence the MH-64
designation. The tribarrel is supposed to connect under the nose, but
unfortunately it's too tall and its hand-grip 5mm peg sticks down too low.
About 8" (20cm) long, around 1:90 to 1:100 scale. Other than the rotors
being more prominent, the color balane is about the same as robot mode.
Reasonably stable, both rotors spin and the cockpit can be opened.
This mode removes the landing skids from being practical weapon mounts,
but between the forearms and heel spurs there's two more 3mm rods on each
weapon pod, plus short rods on the tail fins. The forearm 5mm peg holes are
on the weapon pods, and there's a 5mm hole under the nose.
Overall: A really nice update that preserves the essence of the G1
character while adding a lot of modern features. It suffers from some joints
being too loose and others too stiff, including the broken knee hazard, but I
don't think we'll ever get a decently-articulated figure from Hasbro that
doesn't have joint tightness problems.
Dave Van Domelen, had this on his desk for a couple weeks, taking a back
seat to other projects. Kreons are on deck.
Autobot Whirl (Helicopter)
Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/VWhirl
Another singleton release (seems to be shipping with Doubledealer),
which I picked up at HTS rather than wait to see if the local stores would
finally clear out their remaining Blasters and Springers and get in some new
stock.
WARNING: I have heard horror stories about the knees being fragile.
Having identified the danger joint, I've avoided breaking mine, and I'm going
to treat that joint as fused rather than risk it.
CAPSULE
$20 price point.
Autobot Whirl: Good robot mode, decent vehicle and heloped (gerwalk)
modes, decent transformation. Some joint stiffness/looseness issues of
significance. Comes with stickers, which you may find more of a negative
than I did. Recommended.
RANT
Packaging: Same basic layout as other Thrilling 30 Voyagers.
Doubledealer is the cosell on the bottom, and Whirl has the "3 MODES!"
callout on the front. They decided to make the gerwalk mode official,
calling it a "Heloped".
AUTOBOT: AUTOBOT WHIRL
Series: 02
Number: 006
Altmodes: Helicopter, Heloped
Transformation Difficulty: Intermediate (2)
Previous Name Use: Gen, Uni, Movie1, DotM
Previous Mold Use: None
Weapon: Null-Ray Cannon
Function: Aerial Assault
Motto: "If used logically, madness is...oh, just die already!"
The daredevil flying style of AUTOBOT WHIRL might make it look like he
could crash at anymoment, but he's in total control. The mere sight of him
over the battlefield is enough to send enemies running for cover, trying to
reach a safe distance before he crashes. Any DECEPTICONS unlucky enough to
stick around give him a chance to take his Null-Ray Cannon out for a spin.
STR 6 INT 6 SPD 8 END 8 RNK 6 COUR 10 FRB 6 SKL 10 Avg 7.5
Odd that they didn't use the G1 numbers, which make him stronger and
smarter.
Packaging: Rather than rattan strings, he's held into the blister with
those t-bar-tipped plastic strings like they use to keep pairs of socks
together on a cardback. I recommend nail trimmers to cut 'em. Five hold the
robot in place, each of the four weapons has one of its own.
The legs are as flat as they can go and the toes pointed down, but you
need to bend several joints to stand him up for the first time, providing an
immediate chance to break the knees.
The decal sheet (yes, it has one) is tucked into the instructions sheet.
The instructions for the details are fairly clear, but some of the stickers
are kinda stupid: like a mostly clear and black one that you're supposed to
put on a black part. One of them in very tiny writing identifies the pilot
as William S. Hardy, CWO-4 (Chief Warrant Officer), 04-20-87 (the Whirl toy
came out before that, so this might just be William's birth date this year:
27 is reasonable for a pilot). That's Wild Bill from GIJoe. The vehicle
itself is identified as a VH-64MR. "AH" is Attack Helicopter, "MH" is Marine
Helicopter, and "VH" is a fictional designation for Variable Helicopter. Not
sure what the MR is in reference to, as Whirl's original toy came from
Dorvack, not Machine Robo. Stickers on the arms proclaim it to be "AUTOBOT
GYROTRON AUTOMATED WEAPON:
Annoyingly, there's two different stickers labeled 17, and two different
labeled 18. In each case, there's one version with two copies, and those go
on the legs. The singleton 17 is the Wild Bill sticker, and goes on the
cockpit window. The singleton 18 goes on the upper right arm.
Robot Mode: While this is clearly based on the G1 toy, but interestingly
they went with the more organic shape of the More than Meets the Eye head.
Sadly, one place they stayed true to G1 was in the spindly strut shoulders,
which rely on really good quality control that Hasbro simply can't deliver.
The right shoulder on mine is very loose and requires significant tinkering.
(I did a few things and it worked overall, but I suspect merely tightening
the screws holding the upper arm together might be enough in a lot of cases.)
Undocumented feature: the struts actually have two positions to snap in. The
outer sockets are needed for vehicle mode, but the inner sockets are more
stable for robot mode. The instructions ignore this distinction. Anyway,
probably the most significant departure from the G1 design is in the legs,
which are now digitigrade (chicken-legged, so the backwards "knees" are
actually ankles) with feet that have two long toes in front and a heel spur
in back, rather than G1's ski feet.
The IDW continuity has come up with an explanation for Transformers
without faces or hands, like Whirl (and Shockwave). A cruel punishment of
the corrupt old regime, called Empurata, involved removing the accused face,
hands, and emotions, reducing them (in theory) to a drone. They got
cycloptic faceplates and claws instead. (Shockwave was later given new
forearms by Megatron, and Whirl later regained something like emotions but is
still on the sociopathich side.)
Exact height depends on which click you keep the "knees" on, between 6"
(15.5cm) and 6.5" (16.5cm) tall. Mainly light blue, medium blue and black,
with some silver, yellow and amber. Light blue plastic is used for the
torso, kibble backpack, upper arms, lower arms, thighs, and shins. Medium
blue plastic is only found on the hips, elbow joints, and heel spurs, but the
commonly found medium blue paint is a good match. The rotors (main and tail)
and some ankle struts are bright yellow plastic. The head, hand-claws, toes,
weapons, shoulder struts, collar area, knees, and some internal torso bits
are black plastic. The cockpit window and head lightpiping are amber
plastic. The antenna on the head is a separate piece of black plastic that
can be flipped forward, raising a shield that blocks the lightpiping input.
Stealth mode?
Medium blue paint is probably the most common, used on the head, wrists,
and shin fronts. The thighs are dipped in silver paint, which is otherwise
not seen in this mode. The shoulder tops, landing skids, and cockpit
interior are painted gloss black, as are the halves of the turbofan exhaust
on the backpack. There's a band of red paint on the tail, mostly covered in
this mode. The rest of the details depend on stickers. Annoyingly, while
they made the rotor stripes extra long to wrap around several times, the tail
rotor stickers on mine are peeling off on their own. Trimming helps, but
shouldn't have been necessary.
The head is on a ball joint, which itself is on an inexplicable strut
that can lift up about 45 degrees. It doesn't seem to be necessary for any
transformation stuff, although I suppose it could have been added to solve a
breakage problem that showed up in initial testing. The waist does not turn,
although it does have a slider so you can make him wear his belt around his
chest or something for Old Man Whirl. The shoulders are universal joints on
the end of ball-jointed struts, so you can get a lot of range of motion out
of them, but have to be careful you leave the universal joints in the right
positions for transformation. There's swivels right above the double-hinge
elbows (so they can bend 180 degrees). The claws are geared so that swinging
one in or out makes the other move in mirror image. Universal hips with
smooth swivels below them. The knees are stiffly ratcheting dual hinges: the
top hinges are so stiff I haven't dared actually bend them yet, it feels like
this is the threatened snapping danger. The feet have several transformation
joints, but really only one snapped-in configuration. The cockpit opens up,
but is very hard to get open without a pry tool or very strong fingernails.
While the claws can't really hold anything firmly, there's 5mm peg holes
on the undersides of the forearms, and the Null Ray Cannon is designed to fit
over his forearm stump when that arm's claws are folded back. Additionally,
Whirl brings back 3mm clips and rods in a big way. He's even got attachment
points that none of his weapons will fit on. The landing skids on his boots
are 3mm rods, and there's 3mm rod segments built into the backs of the
tailfin-ish pieces on the tail (covered in robot mode), and there's 3mm rods
behind the 5mm peg holes on the forearms. Heh, there's even some on the heel
spurs, very much not accessible in this mode.
The Null Ray Cannon has two sets of 3mm clips (one on each side) and a
3mm bar on the bottom. I suppose if you got four of them you could make a
square out of 'em. The tribarrel cannon has a 5mm peg in a traditional grip
location, another one sticking up at the back so it can be plugged in under
the nose in vehicle mode, a 5mm hole on the underside of the "stock", 3mm
clips on either side, and three 3mm rods (top and either side). The
minimissile pod has three sets of 3mm clips and a single 5mm peg. One of the
clips is designed for use on the boot rails in robot mode, the other two are
for vehicle mode. The rocket rack has four 3mm clips (two for each
direction) and two 5mm pegs. Basically, Whirl beats up Cyberverse figures
and steals their C-clip weapons for himself.
Transformation to Heloped: The joints in the tail are pretty stiff, so
you have to be careful pulling it out and down. You probably want to pull
the shoulder struts out so that when you slide the pelvis back the arms don't
sit too close to the hips.
Heloped: It turns out this isn't just canonizing an obvious gerwalk
mode. The pelvis is designed to slide backwards specifically for this mode,
and there's a peg on the underside for securing the tail. Height to the top
of the rotors is 5.5" (14cm) and the truncated helicopter fuselage with tail
tucked between its legs is 5.25" (13cm) long. The rotor diameter is 7.5"
(19cm).
Articulation is pretty close to robot mode, but with no head present to
turn. Range of motion is a little limited by having the shoulders right over
the hips, and popping the shoulder joints out does make them looser. The
rotor spins freely. So does the tail rotor, inviting lewd comments since
it's between his legs.
Transformation to Vehicle: Fold the tail back, slide the pelvis
forward. The arms need to be folded in a very specific way to make the
weapon pods, but the tabs and slots provide guidance. The legs are tricky,
because they have to link up under and inside the arms, with tabs that take a
little practice to get in place without struggles.
Vehicle Mode: Pretty close to being an Apache AH-64, hence the MH-64
designation. The tribarrel is supposed to connect under the nose, but
unfortunately it's too tall and its hand-grip 5mm peg sticks down too low.
About 8" (20cm) long, around 1:90 to 1:100 scale. Other than the rotors
being more prominent, the color balane is about the same as robot mode.
Reasonably stable, both rotors spin and the cockpit can be opened.
This mode removes the landing skids from being practical weapon mounts,
but between the forearms and heel spurs there's two more 3mm rods on each
weapon pod, plus short rods on the tail fins. The forearm 5mm peg holes are
on the weapon pods, and there's a 5mm hole under the nose.
Overall: A really nice update that preserves the essence of the G1
character while adding a lot of modern features. It suffers from some joints
being too loose and others too stiff, including the broken knee hazard, but I
don't think we'll ever get a decently-articulated figure from Hasbro that
doesn't have joint tightness problems.
Dave Van Domelen, had this on his desk for a couple weeks, taking a back
seat to other projects. Kreons are on deck.
William A. Rendfeld
Apr 7, 2014, 6:57:27 PM4/7/14
to
On Sunday, April 6, 2014 5:03:19 PM UTC-4, Dave Van Domelen wrote:
> The IDW continuity has come up with an explanation for Transformers
>
> without faces or hands, like Whirl (and Shockwave). A cruel punishment of
>
> the corrupt old regime, called Empurata, involved removing the accused face,
>
> hands, and emotions, reducing them (in theory) to a drone. They got
>
> cycloptic faceplates and claws instead. (Shockwave was later given new
>
> forearms by Megatron, and Whirl later regained something like emotions but is
>
> still on the sociopathich side.)
I think you're mixing things up. Empurata was indeed the removal of the face and hands, but messing with the brain and emotions was a separate procedure. Whirl isn't angry and sociopathic because he got his brain messed with, he's that way because he lost his hands.
> The IDW continuity has come up with an explanation for Transformers
>
> without faces or hands, like Whirl (and Shockwave). A cruel punishment of
>
> the corrupt old regime, called Empurata, involved removing the accused face,
>
> hands, and emotions, reducing them (in theory) to a drone. They got
>
> cycloptic faceplates and claws instead. (Shockwave was later given new
>
> forearms by Megatron, and Whirl later regained something like emotions but is
>
> still on the sociopathich side.)
banzait...@gmail.com
Apr 7, 2014, 9:59:22 PM4/7/14
to
> Recommended.
I have been reading your toy reviews for longer than I can remember, and I would like to formally register a complaint. I "never" see you NOT recommend a toy. (mildly recommended is still a recommendation). It's no fun when everything is recommended. Where is the "this toy is complete crap, do not waste your money" recommendation. I am sure you have before, but I honestly cannot remember you not recommending a transformer. there have been plenty of swill put out by Hasbro in recent years (T30 Blitzwing, any number of remolded BH Prime, etc)
Sorry if I come off like an internet a-hole (not my intention). But hey, at least I care enough to have an opinion, right?
-Banzaitron
p.s. Agree on your Whirl recommendation, great toy
I have been reading your toy reviews for longer than I can remember, and I would like to formally register a complaint. I "never" see you NOT recommend a toy. (mildly recommended is still a recommendation). It's no fun when everything is recommended. Where is the "this toy is complete crap, do not waste your money" recommendation. I am sure you have before, but I honestly cannot remember you not recommending a transformer. there have been plenty of swill put out by Hasbro in recent years (T30 Blitzwing, any number of remolded BH Prime, etc)
Sorry if I come off like an internet a-hole (not my intention). But hey, at least I care enough to have an opinion, right?
-Banzaitron
p.s. Agree on your Whirl recommendation, great toy
Dave Van Domelen
Apr 8, 2014, 12:20:51 AM4/8/14
to
In article <98b84ce6-ff02-4b44...@googlegroups.com>,
shelf, but it does happen. Just looking at recent lines ( TF:A, TF:Prime,
Generations, Power Core Combiners and the movie lines):
Legends TF:A Prowl (neutral), Activators Lockdown (neutral), Target
exclusive TF:A Sunstorm ("Not even really worth the five bucks I paid."),
TF:P Legends Quickstrike Bumblebee (neutral), Legends Rippersnapper
(neutral), TF:P PRiD Bumblebee (neutral), Beast Hunters Soundwave (neutral),
TF:P Prowl (don't bother unless a completist), Voyager Predaking (neutral),
Thundertron ("This toy may be WHY they made no more Star Seekers, it's that
bad"), Generations Bumblebee with Blazemaster (neutral), WfC Cliffjumper (not
even worth clearance price), Double Clutch with Ralleybots (Avoid), Stakeout
with Protectobots (only get if at half price), a whole lot of the 2007 movie
Legends class toys (neutral), Fast Action Battlers Ironhide (Avoid), Robot
Replicas Barriade (mild avoid), Digital Dagger (neutral), Cyber Stompin'
Optimus Prime (neutral), 2007 Leader Megatron ("Overpriced failure"),
2007 Ultimate Bumblebee (not even worth the 1/3 retail price I paid), RotF
Legends Skids (avoid), Legends Jolt (neutral), non-combining Legends Rampage
(neutral), RPM in general (neutral), Road Rival Showdown (crap quality
control, avoid), Deluxe RotF Rampage (avoid), Deluxe RotF Mudflap (AVOID in
all caps), RotF Arcee (Avoid), Activators RotF Megatron (Avoid), Voyager
Fallen retool (neutral), RotF Leader Optimus Prime (the toy that put me off
Leader Class entirely for years, and I never DID get it back into truck
mode), DotM Activators Topspin (only if completist), Nitro Bumblebee
(neutral), DotM Mudflap (actually managed to be worse than the RotF
version!), Drag Strip with Master Disaster (neutral), Cyberverse Optimus
Prime Armored Weapons Platform (avoid).
Moral of the story? Movie toys kinda suck.
Dave Van Domelen, has also been buying progressively fewer toys from
each movie line, since the movie toys DO kinda suck.
<banzait...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Recommended.
>
>I have been reading your toy reviews for longer than I can remember, and I
>would like to formally register a complaint. I "never" see you NOT
>recommend a toy. (mildly recommended is still a recommendation). It's no
>fun when everything is recommended. Where is the "this toy is complete
>crap, do not waste your money" recommendation. I am sure you have before,
>but I honestly cannot remember you not recommending a transformer. there
>have been plenty of swill put out by Hasbro in recent years (T30 Blitzwing,
>any number of remolded BH Prime, etc)
It's rare, in part because the real turkeys I tend to leave on the
>> Recommended.
>
>I have been reading your toy reviews for longer than I can remember, and I
>would like to formally register a complaint. I "never" see you NOT
>recommend a toy. (mildly recommended is still a recommendation). It's no
>fun when everything is recommended. Where is the "this toy is complete
>crap, do not waste your money" recommendation. I am sure you have before,
>but I honestly cannot remember you not recommending a transformer. there
>have been plenty of swill put out by Hasbro in recent years (T30 Blitzwing,
>any number of remolded BH Prime, etc)
shelf, but it does happen. Just looking at recent lines ( TF:A, TF:Prime,
Generations, Power Core Combiners and the movie lines):
Legends TF:A Prowl (neutral), Activators Lockdown (neutral), Target
exclusive TF:A Sunstorm ("Not even really worth the five bucks I paid."),
TF:P Legends Quickstrike Bumblebee (neutral), Legends Rippersnapper
(neutral), TF:P PRiD Bumblebee (neutral), Beast Hunters Soundwave (neutral),
TF:P Prowl (don't bother unless a completist), Voyager Predaking (neutral),
Thundertron ("This toy may be WHY they made no more Star Seekers, it's that
bad"), Generations Bumblebee with Blazemaster (neutral), WfC Cliffjumper (not
even worth clearance price), Double Clutch with Ralleybots (Avoid), Stakeout
with Protectobots (only get if at half price), a whole lot of the 2007 movie
Legends class toys (neutral), Fast Action Battlers Ironhide (Avoid), Robot
Replicas Barriade (mild avoid), Digital Dagger (neutral), Cyber Stompin'
Optimus Prime (neutral), 2007 Leader Megatron ("Overpriced failure"),
2007 Ultimate Bumblebee (not even worth the 1/3 retail price I paid), RotF
Legends Skids (avoid), Legends Jolt (neutral), non-combining Legends Rampage
(neutral), RPM in general (neutral), Road Rival Showdown (crap quality
control, avoid), Deluxe RotF Rampage (avoid), Deluxe RotF Mudflap (AVOID in
all caps), RotF Arcee (Avoid), Activators RotF Megatron (Avoid), Voyager
Fallen retool (neutral), RotF Leader Optimus Prime (the toy that put me off
Leader Class entirely for years, and I never DID get it back into truck
mode), DotM Activators Topspin (only if completist), Nitro Bumblebee
(neutral), DotM Mudflap (actually managed to be worse than the RotF
version!), Drag Strip with Master Disaster (neutral), Cyberverse Optimus
Prime Armored Weapons Platform (avoid).
Moral of the story? Movie toys kinda suck.
Dave Van Domelen, has also been buying progressively fewer toys from
each movie line, since the movie toys DO kinda suck.
Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats
Apr 10, 2014, 2:06:03 AM4/10/14
to
On Monday, April 7, 2014 9:20:51 PM UTC-7, Dave Van Domelen wrote:
> In article <98b84ce6-ff02-4b44...@googlegroups.com>,
Aww. I like Nitro Bumblebee. Of the 80 or so movie Bumblebees, he's the only one that is at all distinctive.
> In article <98b84ce6-ff02-4b44...@googlegroups.com>,
G.B. Blackrock
Apr 14, 2014, 2:01:51 PM4/14/14
to
On Sunday, April 6, 2014 2:03:19 PM UTC-7, Dave Van Domelen wrote:
> Autobot Whirl: Good robot mode, decent vehicle and heloped (gerwalk)
>
> modes, decent transformation. Some joint stiffness/looseness issues of
>
> significance. Comes with stickers, which you may find more of a negative
>
> than I did. Recommended.
I'm definitely one of those put off by stickers. I finally saw the toy at TRU yesterday, and my distaste for stickers pushed me over the edge toward NOT getting it immediately. I may still reconsider.
> Autobot Whirl: Good robot mode, decent vehicle and heloped (gerwalk)
>
> modes, decent transformation. Some joint stiffness/looseness issues of
>
> significance. Comes with stickers, which you may find more of a negative
>
> than I did. Recommended.
That said, I'm especially annoyed to learn that they not only saddle us with stickers (I really can't express how much that bugs me), but that they can't even label them properly to give instructions on how to use them. There really isn't any excuse for this kind of thing....
My two cents,
G.B. Blackrock
Zobovor
Apr 14, 2014, 6:34:35 PM4/14/14
to
On Monday, April 14, 2014 12:01:51 PM UTC-6, G.B. Blackrock wrote:
> I finally saw the toy at TRU yesterday
*cries*
> I finally saw the toy at TRU yesterday
Zob
Dave Van Domelen
Apr 15, 2014, 11:06:27 PM4/15/14
to
In article <d257f286-11e7-4118...@googlegroups.com>,
I saw Whirl and Rhinox at TRU in Council Bluffs IA on Sunday. And the
first wave of Battle Masters (Rock'em Sock'em TFs).
Dave Van Domelen, picked up the new Voyager Predaking (inspired by
Commander class) and the new $8 Rescue Bots figures during the trip too.
first wave of Battle Masters (Rock'em Sock'em TFs).
Dave Van Domelen, picked up the new Voyager Predaking (inspired by
Commander class) and the new $8 Rescue Bots figures during the trip too.
Zobovor
Apr 22, 2014, 8:06:58 PM4/22/14
to
On Sunday, April 6, 2014 3:03:19 PM UTC-6, Dave Van Domelen wrote:
> Packaging: Rather than rattan strings, he's held into the blister with
> those t-bar-tipped plastic strings like they use to keep pairs of socks
> together on a cardback.
I loved this! I opened the toy while waiting at the train station and I didn't need tools at all. I just ripped 'em out. Mattel uses these same plastic strings on Monster High dolls and some of the My Little Pony stuff. I wish they would do this all the time. I hate the damn rattan ties.
> Packaging: Rather than rattan strings, he's held into the blister with
> those t-bar-tipped plastic strings like they use to keep pairs of socks
> together on a cardback.
> Undocumented feature: the struts actually have two positions to snap in. The
> outer sockets are needed for vehicle mode, but the inner sockets are more
> stable for robot mode. The instructions ignore this distinction.
Zob
Dave Van Domelen
Apr 22, 2014, 11:18:23 PM4/22/14
to
In article <f20a8ebe-25d2-4bb5...@googlegroups.com>,
So, the black struts for the shoulders, which have a ball at the inner
end. There are two sockets inside the torso. Push the struts in, and you
get the inner socket which is more stable. But you need to pull them out to
the outer sockets for vehicle mode stuff to all line up properly.
Dave Van Domelen, doesn't mind rattan strings since he's figured out how
to untie them easily.
end. There are two sockets inside the torso. Push the struts in, and you
get the inner socket which is more stable. But you need to pull them out to
the outer sockets for vehicle mode stuff to all line up properly.
Dave Van Domelen, doesn't mind rattan strings since he's figured out how
to untie them easily.
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