Dave's Prime:RiD Rant: Legion Wave 1

[Dave Van Domelen]

Dave's Prime:RiD Rant - Legion Wave 1

Bumblebee (sports car)
Strongarm (police SUV)
Steeljaw (offroad vehicle)
Optimus Prime (truck)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/PRiD/Legion1

"Wait, isn't Optimus Prime dead?" you might ask. Yeah, like that stops
him for long, ever. And even if he stays dead for the entire first season,
that's no reason not to keep him in the toyline! That is not dead which can
eternal be a registered trademark, annat.

http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/PRiD/TradeDress for discussion of
packaging and general class-level stuff.


CAPSULES

$6 price point.

Bumblebee: Interesting transformation, reasonably good in both modes,
one of the few Legion toys to have all the windows painted. Recommended.
Strongarm: Looks good in both modes, decent transformation, very good
articulation, great clearance in vehicle mode. Strongly recommended.
Steeljaw: Somewhat odd proportions in robot mode hurt articulation,
otherwise okay. Mildly recommended.
Optimus Prime: Not to scale with the others, not even remotely, but
quite well done. One of the better tiny Optimi. Optimera? Recommended.


RANTS:

They're all held into form-fitting blisters with a tray behind them, no
ties or rubber bands.


AUTOBOT: BUMBLEBEE
Assortment: B0891
Altmode: Sports Car
Transformation Difficulty: 5 steps
Previous Name Use: Yes
Previous Mold Use: None
Function: Rookie Leader
Motto: "Ironically, I can't think of a thing to say now."

Packaging: Oddly, the stock photo has LESS paint than the toy. The car
photo is missing the taillight paint (although the robot mode photo has it).
Also, the insert photo is mirror flipped, since it's missing the faction logo
code circle. The prototype shown has different wheels than the actual toy.

Robot Mode: A more leader-y body for BB, with broader shoulders and a
smaller head (although he doesn't get the battlemask treatment that some
Legion do). He has a windshield chest and an enlarged forehead crest that
make him feel vaguely Prime-like. Wheels on shoulders and boots.
2.75" (7cm) tall, in the usual black and yellow with some silver and
red. The torso core, shoulder struts, and wheels are black plastic,
otherwise bright yellow plastic. There's matte black paint on the windows
(ALL of them, for once) and the toes, silver on the face and thighs, blue
eyes, and red taillights on the shoulderpads. The code circle/faction symbol
sticker is on the right arm, even with the hand (passenger side door).
Ball joint shoulders and hips. The shoulder joints are on struts that
swing back and can help a little with range of motion. The toes swivel up,
but without knees there's not much use for foot articulation. The hands can
hold 3mm pegs, although no accessories are included, and the door panels
interfere with the use of shorter-pegged borrowed weapons.

Transformation: Getting the head in and out is the tricky part of the
transformation, and will make any fan-repaints run the risk of scraping. The
boots become the car front end and the arms become the sides, but the torso
transformation is a clever departure from the usual...the head effectively
pokes up through the center of the roof. It tabs together very solidly for
vehicle mode.

Vehicle Mode: A fantasy muscle car of the "long hood, short trunk"
variety, with hood vents and taillights that are almost fins. The several
panels that meet on the sides don't QUITE line up properly, leading to uneven
side windows, but at least they did paint all the window bits. The really
cheap snap-on wheels look somewhat Dollar Store, but with almost no ground
clearance this wouldn't be rolling much no matter the wheel type.
2.75" (7cm) long, a little shorter and wider than a typical Hot Wheels
car, but still approximately the same scale. The entire body shell is yellow
plastic, and as noted above all the windows are painted matte black. The
only new paint visible in this mode is the blue on the headlights.
There's 3mm peg holes on the rear fenders.

Overall: The plastic quality feels good, the design is interesting.
Articulation is a bit on the low side, and the lack of accessories is
disappointing, but given how empty the $6 price point is getting these days
(even the 3.75" superhero figures originally introduced to fill that point
are now $10), I suppose one must adjust expectations.


AUTOBOT: STRONGARM
Assortment: B0892
Altmode: Police SUV
Transformation Difficulty: 4 steps
Previous Name Use: Energon
Previous Mold Use: None
Function: Rookie Cop
Motto: "Freeze! FREEZE! Why do they always run?"

Packaging: The stock photo has the rooftop lights swapped (it's not
mirror-flipped, because it shows the correct side as far as logos go).

Robot Mode: Battle-mask-wearing, with bulky shoulders and boots and a
riot vest design to her chest, but still recognizably female. She has a
Prowl-style helmet crest, suggesting that the designers consider that kind of
crest to be a police thing now. The vehicle doors are on the forearms and
look like small riot shields, while the windows form wings attached to the
shoulderpads...and they can be swung back or even together in back if you
prefer that look. The wheels on the shoulders are pinned in place, the ones
on the boots are the cheaper snap-on variety. The front end of the vehicle
is split to make the shoulderpads.
2.5" (6.5cm) tall at the head, a little taller at the wings. A mix of
medium blue, black, white, and silver, plus some accent colors. The
wheels, thighs, and shoulder struts are black plastic, the rest is medium
blue plastic. The grille and bumper of the shoulderpads are painted silver,
as is the faceplate. The top and inner face of the forearms are painted
white, the shin fronts are white, and there's white stripe detail from the
vehicle mode on the outsides of the arms and boots. There's black paint on
the waist and the sternum (it lifts and separates, as it were), yellow on the
Prowl-crest, more white on the helmet sides (eyes are left unpainted blue
plastic), and the faction/code sticker is on the left arm shield.
Pretty good articulation for a Legion class. The shoulders and hips are
ball joints, and the shoulders are on struts that lift up so the shoulderpad
kibble isn't a big deal. There's hinges where the arms connect to the
shoulderpads, halfway between shoulder and elbow, but they work decently
thanks to the shoulderpads obscuring the joint. Hinge knees that bend all
the way. While there's no foot articulation, a pretty good range of action
poses are possible.
The hands can hold 3mm pegs, and are not blocked by any panels. If you
don't mind the chance of some stress marks, you can give her a gun stolen
from a Kreon (GIJoe Outback's machine pistol looks good in her hand).
http://www.dvandom.com/images/strongarmpose.JPG

Transformation: Shoulders lift up over her head and peg together, then
arms swing down to the sides. Boots do the standard "clip together and bend
at the knees to make the rear half" trick, but you have to do it before
swinging the arms down. Wing windows can fold back at any point.
Going back to robot mode you need to make sure you swing out the arms
first, or you could pop the legs off entirely (like I did the first time)
trying to straighten them.

Vehicle Mode: This is less a regular SUV and more a pickup with the bed
sealed off, but she's generally described as an SUV (the package says nothing
one way or another). There's a 3mm peg hole in the roof, but it's too solid
to cheat and put Kreon accessories in.
A little under 2.5" (6cm) long, a bit smaller than a similar vehicle
would be as a Hot Wheels car. Same set of colors as robot mode, but without
yellow and with some red. The white shins become the trailer bed lid, and
there's a sigmoidal stripe in white along each side. The lightbar on top has
red on the left (driver's) side and bright blue on the right, with the 3mm
peg hole between them. The symbol/code ends up on the driver's side door.
The front and front side windows are painted matte black, but the rear and
rear side windows are unpainted.
Rolls very well and has good clearance.

Overall: Best of the wave, and a very well-made Legion figure. About
the only improvements it needs are painted rear windows and a weapon. I can
fix the first easily enough, and fixed the second by carefully shaving down
Outback's gun so it'll fit without strain in the hand and fit in the roof.


DECEPTICON: STEELJAW
Assortment: B0893
Altmode: Offroad vehicle
Transformation Difficulty: 4 steps
Previous Name Use: G1, DotM, Gen
Previous Mold Use: None
Function: Rogue Decepticon
Motto: "Go where no one else does, and no one will find you."

Steel Jaw is one of the Decepticons with a vehicle mode, a robot mode,
and probably also a beast mode, but so far he's only been seen with robot and
vehicle (including in the app game).

Packaging: The prototype on the package photo is missing a red paint app
on the rear fender, has a smaller code circle than the real toy, and has
entirely different wheel attachments.
He's packaged with his tail folded up, since it won't fit otherwise.

Robot Mode: A bit of a weird one, I actually yanked a leg off trying to
straighten it to full extension before I realized that the legs are simply
very short. Sort of a gorilla proportioning, with long arms and short legs.
If only the head could tilt upwards, the figure could go on all fours and
make it look like a passable beast mode. And in addition to the odd
proportions, he's simply very short. Like, Wolverine-parody short.
2.25" (5.5cm) tall at the head, 2.5" (6.5cm) tall at the vehicle spoiler
on the backpack. The main colors are metallic medium-light blue-gray and
black, with some small accents in white and red. The wheels, feet, thighs,
and shoulder struts are black plastic. The rest of the toy is slightly
metallic medium-light blue-gray plastic. The snarling face is painted white
with the eyes left unpainted. There's also white on the belt and the three
inside facings of the upper arm. A fake windshield on the chest is painted
matte black, and the faction symbol/code circle sticker is on the left
forearm.
The shoulders are ball joints on shrugging transformation struts, the
hips are ball joints. The knees are hinges, but lack much range of motion.
The ankles are hinged and can point up, but not down. The tail is on a hinge
that can lift up or down, and it can work as a third support for more dynamic
poses. The hands can hold 3mm pegs without much restriction from door
paneling.

Transformation: Toes flip up and the figure squats a little to make the
legs into the front end of the vehicle. The arms shrug up and in, with tabs
on the panels fitting into slots on the boots to lock the front end
together. The tail flips up into the roof.

Vehicle Mode: The large and treaded rear wheels suggest this is meant to
be some sort of off-road vehicle, and otherwise it looks like a cross between
a robotic wolf head and Acceleracers drones RD-04 and RD-09. The sort of
vehicle mode you'd expect in Power Rangers, basically. The rear wheels are
snap-on, but the front ones are pinned.
2.5" (6cm) long, a bit smaller than an equivalent Hot Wheels car, but
taller and pretty chunky. Mostly blue in this mode, although the tops of
the feet are merged with black paint on the rest of the front end for a sort
of "car bra" look. The real windshield and side windows are painted matte
black. To the extent the design has a discernable rear window, it's
unpainted. There's red strips on the fronts of the rear fenders, and red
bits on the rear spoiler that are turn signals. Hey, you can't be a jerk and
deliberately not signal if you don't have turn signals in the first place!
Two 3mm peg holes on the roof, over the driver and passenger seats. The
car rolls well, although clearance is fairly minimal.

Overall: A bit of an oddball in robot mode, and may be setting the trend
that Decepticons with vehicle modes have very beasty vehicle modes. A decent
toy, but the weird proportions do hamper it somewhat.


AUTOBOT: OPTIMUS PRIME
Assortment: B0894
Altmode: Truck
Transformation Difficulty: 5 steps
Previous Name Use: Yes
Previous Mold Use: None
Function: Former Autobot Leader
Motto: "The Seeds of the Future...er, wait."

Packaging: Either they went too far with the photoshopping, or the air
cowling on top of the cab was red plastic in the prototype, not the black of
the actual toy. The wheels are also different.

Robot Mode: While limited by the class in terms of how tall it can
actually be, they pull out every trick in the book to make this one look
taller than the rest. Tiny head, broad shoulders, shins much longer than
thighs. It's a new design for Optimus Prime, but that's to be expected...he
usually gets a new body when he returns from being temporarily
inconvenienced. All of the wheels are of the snap-in variety.
2.75" (7cm) tall and the usual Optimus Prime colors. Bright red plastic
on the arms, backpack, and chest. Medium blue for the head and legs, black
for the wheels, torso core, and pelvis. The fake windshield on the chest is
painted matte black, as are the toes. The upper arms and thighs are painted
silver (all the way around on the thighs, only front and inside for the
arms), the forearms/hands are painted blue (only the front and outside, so
the thumbs are mostly unpainted). The faceplate is silver, as are the eyes,
and there's silver on the underarm-mounted exhaust pipes. The faction
symbol/code sticker is on the front of the left shoulder.
The shoulders are ball joint struts, with the balls on the shoulder
parts rather than on separate struts. The arms can lift to the side on
hinges. Ball joint hips, and the figure can bend at the waist on a
transformation joint. The hands can hold 3mm pegs, but the bottoms are
sealed off so long pegs will result in the weapon sticking out/up.

Transformation: Unsnap the head from the torso and swing it back on a
strut to go inside the nose of the cab (backpack). The waist joint bends all
the way down so the backpack wheels line up with the legs. The arms lift up
and join together to form the top of the back end.
To go back, you need to separate the nose of the truck from the body a
bit so you can get the head pulled out.
Both modes peg together very firmly.

Vehicle Mode: This is sort of partway between a 10-wheeler moving van
and a proper semitractor. There's only six wheels, but the rear ones are
larger and thicker so can sort of pass as wheel pairs. While there's a lot
of "science fiction" elements to the design, based on the cab part I'd call
it somewhere between N-scale (1:160) and Z-scale (1:220).
2.75" (7cm) long, a bit scattered in color. The upper part of the rear
is red, the lower is blue...it might've looked better in this mode if they'd
simply dipped the forearms in blue paint so that more of the box was blue.
The black torso core plastic is visible as the aero cowl on top of the cab.
The faction symbol is hidden in this mode. There's no paint on the front
grille or headlights, but the smokestacks are properly painted. (A quick mod
would be to paint silver on the grille/bumper and the wheel hubs, and yellow
on the headlights).
Rolls well with decent clearance. There's 3mm peg holes on the sides of
the box.

Overall: Definitely one of the better Optimus Primes at this scale,
especially impressive because it's a regular Legion and not a Commander.

Dave Van Domelen, spending Christmas Eve eating bacon, reviewing
Transformers, and painting a Stormwall Colossal up as Metroplex. Happy
Holidays!

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

very little glue, tons of tape connect the blister to the card. The cardback has no co-sells, or pics of the bot, or specs, it's all legalese in 4 languages about the app game and danger small parts. The back of the instructions is even more legalese. OMG so much legal disclaimers for a little plastic robot.

>
> AUTOBOT: STRONGARM
> Assortment: B0892
> Altmode: Police SUV
> Transformation Difficulty: 4 steps
> Previous Name Use: Energon
> Previous Mold Use: None
> Function: Rookie Cop
> Motto: "Freeze! FREEZE! Why do they always run?"

Where do these functions and mottos come from?

> Overall: Best of the wave, and a very well-made Legion figure. About
> the only improvements it needs are painted rear windows and a weapon. I can
> fix the first easily enough, and fixed the second by carefully shaving down
> Outback's gun so it'll fit without strain in the hand and fit in the roof.
>

I like Strongarm, I do agree and find it odd there's no weapons.

>
> DECEPTICON: STEELJAW
> Assortment: B0893
> Altmode: Offroad vehicle
> Transformation Difficulty: 4 steps
> Previous Name Use: G1, DotM, Gen
> Previous Mold Use: None
> Function: Rogue Decepticon
> Motto: "Go where no one else does, and no one will find you."
>

> Robot Mode: A bit of a weird one, I actually yanked a leg off trying to
> straighten it to full extension before I realized that the legs are simply
> very short. Sort of a gorilla proportioning, with long arms and short legs.
> If only the head could tilt upwards, the figure could go on all fours and
> make it look like a passable beast mode. And in addition to the odd
> proportions, he's simply very short. Like, Wolverine-parody short.

It's definitely a weird one, it's so intentionally a tiny hunchback that they limited it's joints to make sure you play with it as a tiny hunchback,

> Transformation: Toes flip up and the figure squats a little to make the
> legs into the front end of the vehicle. The arms shrug up and in, with tabs
> on the panels fitting into slots on the boots to lock the front end
> together. The tail flips up into the roof.
>
> Vehicle Mode: The large and treaded rear wheels suggest this is meant to
> be some sort of off-road vehicle, and otherwise it looks like a cross between
> a robotic wolf head and Acceleracers drones RD-04 and RD-09. The sort of
> vehicle mode you'd expect in Power Rangers, basically. The rear wheels are
> snap-on, but the front ones are pinned.
>

Reminds me of Vehicons, could very well be an army builder, after AoE established Steeljaws as such.

The robot chest looks like a windshield, I wonder if later versions will have different transformations.

[Dave Van Domelen]

In article <8c67168d-a22d-479b...@googlegroups.com>,

Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. <Ob1k...@att.net> wrote:
>On Wednesday, December 24, 2014 7:50:47 PM UTC-6, Dave Van Domelen wrote:

>> http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/PRiD/TradeDress for discussion of
>> packaging and general class-level stuff.

The above answers the below.

>Where do these functions and mottos come from?

Dave Van Domelen, figures his final exam average would have been at
least 5% higher if students actually read instructions.

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

Sorry, missed the link, just got to the end of a 214 page report on the server crash Tuesday, which I had to approve and file on the crashed server in question when I got fed up and popped open the Strongarm and Steel jaw I bought on the way to way to work.

[Patriarch]

Concerning Steeljaw's paint: Mine has the eyes painted yellow,
suggesting a simple painting error on yours...

--
Patriarch
^_^ oO(trying not to be pedantic)

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
http://www.avast.com

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Wednesday, December 24, 2014 at 5:50:47 PM UTC-8, Dave Van Domelen wrote:
>
> "Wait, isn't Optimus Prime dead?" you might ask. Yeah, like that stops
> him for long, ever. And even if he stays dead for the entire first season,
> that's no reason not to keep him in the toyline! That is not dead which can
> eternal be a registered trademark, annat.

Perhaps Optimus will have his El Cid moment, where Bumblebee digs up his corpse from somewhere, and then sends the dead body into battle to inspire the troops.

In this case, he could be a mindless drone, rather than propped up on his saddle. Maybe even spout out random phrases, like an electronic toy.

> Bumblebee: Interesting transformation, reasonably good in both modes,
> one of the few Legion toys to have all the windows painted. Recommended.
>
> Strongarm: Looks good in both modes, decent transformation, very good
> articulation, great clearance in vehicle mode. Strongly recommended.

> AUTOBOT: BUMBLEBEE

> Motto: "Ironically, I can't think of a thing to say now."

I sort of think he would just make little noises and try to fake it.

> Ball joint shoulders and hips. The shoulder joints are on struts that
> swing back and can help a little with range of motion.

I keep tearing his arms off during transformation. Sure, I am a large, clumsy man, but it makes me worry about how this toy would hold up to a child.

> The really
> cheap snap-on wheels look somewhat Dollar Store, but with almost no ground
> clearance this wouldn't be rolling much no matter the wheel type.

This wheels really look bad.

> There's 3mm peg holes on the rear fenders.
>
> Overall: The plastic quality feels good, the design is interesting.
> Articulation is a bit on the low side, and the lack of accessories is
> disappointing, but given how empty the $6 price point is getting these days
> (even the 3.75" superhero figures originally introduced to fill that point
> are now $10), I suppose one must adjust expectations.

I think the holes in the doors and the hand grips show these were originally designed to have weapons, but they were dropped at the last minute.

I refuse to believe that this is really worth $6. I like him, quite a bit, but it really feels like a $4 toy at most, even with inflation. Maybe $5, since packaging and shelf space is a lot of the cost.

> AUTOBOT: STRONGARM

> Function: Rookie Cop
> Motto: "Freeze! FREEZE! Why do they always run?"

Nothing about forcing confessions out of the innocent? Sigh. What else could Strongarm mean in this usage?

> Robot Mode: Battle-mask-wearing, with bulky shoulders and boots and a
> riot vest design to her chest, but still recognizably female.

I have a psuedo-niece who might really like this. She's fond of Legends G2 Megatron and Legends Bumblebee (G1).

> The front end of the vehicle
> is split to make the shoulderpads.

And again I tear off an arm.

> Going back to robot mode you need to make sure you swing out the arms
> first, or you could pop the legs off entirely (like I did the first time)
> trying to straighten them.

Well, at least I didn't do that.

> Rolls very well and has good clearance.

Yey!

> Overall: Best of the wave, and a very well-made Legion figure. About
> the only improvements it needs are painted rear windows and a weapon. I can
> fix the first easily enough, and fixed the second by carefully shaving down
> Outback's gun so it'll fit without strain in the hand and fit in the roof.

Really quite a nice little toy.

[Dave Van Domelen]

In article <60a202a5-d2ed-4b01...@googlegroups.com>,

Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats <Gustav...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>I refuse to believe that this is really worth $6. I like him, quite a
>bit, but it really feels like a $4 toy at most, even with inflation.
>Maybe $5, since packaging and shelf space is a lot of the cost.

One of the downsides of longevity in a fandom, we turn into "I remember
when X cost $Y" old people at a far greater rate.

Except for Hot Wheels collectors, the bastards. "Why, I remember when
you could get a Hot Wheels car for 99 cents." "You mean, right now?" "Yep."

Dave Van Domelen, wonders if Mattel has a painting in the attic of a $5
standard toy car.

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Wednesday, December 24, 2014 at 5:50:47 PM UTC-8, Dave Van Domelen wrote:

> Steeljaw: Somewhat odd proportions in robot mode hurt articulation,
> otherwise okay. Mildly recommended.

Aww, he's adorable. Doesn't the ability to be adored count for something?

> DECEPTICON: STEELJAW

> Motto: "Go where no one else does, and no one will find you."

> He's packaged with his tail folded up, since it won't fit otherwise.

That tail just wants to fold up. I fiddle with him a little bit, and then I see that the tail has folded up just to get out of the way.