Dave's PRiD Rant: Legion Wave 4

[Dave Van Domelen]

Dave's Prime:RiD Rant - Legion Wave 4

Night Ops Bumblebee (Bumblebee redeco)
Patrol Strongarm (Strongarm redeco)
Ultra Magnus (Optimus Prime redeco)

http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/PRiD/Legion4

Redecos of all of wave 1 except for Steeljaw, two of which are just
"alternate outfit" decos. Hitting stores at about the same time as the TRU
exclusives, that gives two white-heavy decos of Optimus and two darker decos
of Bumblebee on shelves at the same time.
Based on the assortment numbers, I wonder if Bumblebee was originally
planned to come out sooner as part of a running change to the Fixit wave.

http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/PRiD/Legion1 - Original versions


CAPSULES

$6 price point.

Night Ops Bumblebee: Original mold was recommended. This is the fairly
standard "black with yellow stripes" deco that various Bumblebees have been
getting for almost a decade, but for some reason they decided to replace the
black with light gray so that the wheels ended up light gray. Mildly
recommended.
Patrol Strongarm: Original mold was strongly recommended. It's a decent
redeco, although the all-white grille/bumper/headlight section is a bit
bland. Recommended.
Ultra Magnus: Original mold was recommended. Very effective use of the
paint budget. Recommended.


RANTS

Packaging: Same as wave 3. Bumblebee and Strongarm have the same art as
their Wave 1 versions, but Ultra Magnus gets new art that is based on the
actual toy (albeit with a new head that doesn't match the un-remolded toy).
None of them have ties, and all have a small shell piece behind them to
help support the figure and avoid it rattling around. I'll only mention
packaging below if there's something notable.


AUTOBOT: NIGHT OPS BUMBLEBEE
Assortment: B2976
Altmode: Sportscar
Transformation Difficulty: 5 steps
Previous Name Use: None with this particular epithet
Previous Mold Use: PRiD
Function: Night Ops
Motto: "At night, all cats are gray...no, Grimlock, there aren't any actual
cats here, stop freaking out."

Packaging: As with the TRU deco, either the prototypes used a much
darker gray plastic, or they photoshopped the pictures to make it darker on
the package.

Color Swaps: Black becomes light gray, yellow becomes black. The darker
gray seen in the photos would have been a lot better, and even leaving those
pieces black so the entire toy was black plastic would've been an
improvement. Fortunately, since the wheels are snap-on rather than pinned,
it was fairly easy to pry them off so I could toss 'em in the dye vat.
(Well, the "dye pill bottle".) UNfortunately, the plastic doesn't take due
very well, and my black dye just made them tires more of a dark greenish
gray, so I gave up and painted the wheels black.

Paint Apps: The front and side windows are painted cayman blue (which I
know because that's the paint I used to match them for the rear window), with
the bits on the arms painted well so that the windows aren't missing bits in
vehicle mode. Cayman blue is also used for the eyes, the vent in the
forehead crest, and the headlights. The face and thighs are silver, and
there's yellow stripes on the roof (flanking the head in robot mode) and on
the hood (bits on the kneecaps visible in robot mode, otherwise on the soles
of the feet).
I added rear window paint, and after I painted the wheels black I made
the hubs dark gunmetal. http://www.dvandom.com/kitbash/PRiDbees.JPG

Other Notes: While the thighs are painted in the "mask it off and hit
from all sides" style that looks pretty good in general, the masking is a bit
sloppy. If you have the opportunity to check multiple copies on the shelf,
check for the best paint masking.

Overall: Well, the obligatory black with yellow stripes and blue windows
deco is decently delivered, but the light gray wheels just don't work for
me.


AUTOBOT: PATROL STRONGARM
Assortment: B3046
Altmode: Police SUV
Transformation Difficulty: 4 steps
Previous Name Use: None with this epithet
Previous Mold Use: PRiD
Function: Patrol
Motto: "Anything to get some distance from Sideswipe."

Color Swaps: It's all black plastic now.

Paint Apps: Lots of white paint, on the fronts of the shoulders, outer
forearm panels, shins, boot sides, faceplate (somewhat sloppily painted on
mine). A slightly darker blue paint than Bumblebee's is used for the helmet,
windows (front and side only), sternum, abdomen and eyes. The helmet crest
is painted yellow, the light bar bits are red and a different medium blue.

Other Notes: Vehicle mode looks vaguely like it would fit into a
cow-themed group. :)

Overall: Goes a little overboard on the white, and I'd say the original
deco is still superior, but it's still a good mold.


AUTOBOT: ULTRA MAGNUS
Assortment: B3047
Altmode: Tractor-trailer
Transformation Difficulty: 5 steps
Previous Name Use: Yes
Previous Mold Use: PRiD
Function: City Commander
Motto: "Strange, this Earth device thinks I'm Optimus Prime."

The app game calls this "Ultra Magnus Optimus Prime" in the same way
there's "Night Ops Bumblebee" and "Patrol Strongarm". Heh.

Color Swaps: Black stays black, red becomes white, and blue becomes a
brighter blue.

Paint Apps: Yes, there's a third shade of light/bright blue here, this
one lighter than Bumblebee's. The paint is a very good match for the blue
plastic on this toy, and is used for the front windshield, chest fake
windshield, helmet, shoulders (top, front, back), forearms (front, outer
sides, but not inner). The thighs, faceplate, and head strut are painted
thickly with white paint, so for once there isn't a miscolored stripe in the
center of the grille in vehicle mode on this mold. I think they painted the
eyes blue over white, and it's kinda sloppy. Red paint on the shins.
There's no paint on the smokestacks, and the backs of the arms are unpainted
so that the trailer ends up a mix of blue and white.

Other Notes: Too bad they didn't commit the budget for a slight head
remold, that would have been the icing on the cake.

Overall: After the disappointment of Clash Optimus Prime (and the rather
goofy Ultra Magnus redeco of the older Legion Optimus Prime I got at Family
Dollar), this is a breath of fresh air. It may still look more like Optimus
Prime than Ultra Magnus, but it does clearly look like it's supposed to be
Magnus.


Dave Van Domelen, generally prefers solid opaque white plastic over
pearly semi-translucent white plastic....