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Zob's Thoughts on Kingdom Core-Class Megatron and Starscream
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Zobovor
Mar 22, 2021, 9:10:27 PM3/22/21
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Wave two of Kingdom is making it to retail stores now—not only on time, which puts its distribution well ahead of Earthrise, but actually a bit earlier than expected. I had pre-ordered both these guys from Hasbro Pulse, but since I found them at retail first (Walmart), I'll just cancel the pre-order.
I arguably don't need tiny version of the G1 characters, but I'm buying these with the expectation that they'll be compatible with the Titan-class Ark playset when it comes out. Obviously, we're not going to get the entire crew complements for the Ark and the Nemesis at this scale, but hopefully we get most of the important characters, at least (and I guess I can use various Legends-scale toys from years past as well).
MEGATRON
I guess the relatively simple transformation scheme for Siege/Earthrise Megatron means that it's not a difficult transformation to scale down to a smaller size. (The artwork on the front of the card is clearly the Voyager-class Earthrise toy, though, and not the Core-class toy at all. I guess the Core-class version wasn't ready. Also, the Decepticon symbol on the artwork is a layer that was cut-and-pasted after the fact, and it's hilarously off-center, like early Marvel Comics illustrations. I'm choosing to believe it's a deliberate homage.)
In robot mode, Megatron is about 3 1/2" tall at the head. He's got some great, big shoulder pads, and tank tread parts directly behind them, since they don't fold down on this version. His styling is similar to the Voyager-class Siege and/or Earthrise version of the character, which means he's pretty close to the Sunbow cartoon design, at least in robot mode. The robot face sculpt is very accurate, and ironically is much better than the head sculpt on the Earthrise toy. He's got ball-and-socket joints for his shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, and his head and waist both swivel.
He's got a fusion cannon permanently attached to his right forearm, and it swivels as required for the transformation. He also comes with a tiny pistol which is almost certainly meant to represent G1 Megatron in what Hasbro now calls his "blaster" form. It's not quite one and a half inches long and is entirely gunmetal-colored plastic. So, while it's techically an accessory for Megatron (and becomes part of his vehicle mode), I almost think this weapon is meant more for other Core-class toys to carry like Starscream, Soundwave, etc.
Transformation to tank mode is strongly inspired by the Siege/Earthrise version: The front tank treads fold down and cover the robot head; the arms swing back and snap together to form the tank turret; the legs assume a cowboy stance to form the rear treads. There are some tiny transformation details that the Core-class toy can't achieve (the robot feet don't fold up or tuck away at all) but it gets the job done. Comically, the tiny gun-mode Megatron becomes part of the tank-mode Megatron, plugging into the fusion cannon to form the main tank cannon.
As a tank, he's about three inches long from end to end, though the gun barrel adds maybe half an inch to that. He's almost all black in this form, with silver-painted treads and a partially gunmetal turret. I almost get the feeling they were planning to paint a bit more of him, but they ran out of budgeted paint apps. The fact that the tank barrel looks like Megatron in gun mode is a very weird meta-design. He has no working wheels, not even falsies.
The gun turret can rotate freely, and the main cannon can pivot up and down a bit, like the larger Siege/Earthrise toy. Such a cute little tank. It's not really an authentic-looking miniaturization, but it's cool enough in its own right. Honestly, I'm surprised they didn't try to make him a tiny little gun (or a "submarine"). I don't imagine a toy this tiny would ever be mistaken for a real firearm.
STARSCREAM
We've gotten some tiny Starcream toys before, over the years, but none of them has been such a phenomenal miniaturization of an existing toy. I was fully prepared to be underwhelmed by most of the Core-class offering, but I actually love this tiny toy so much.
Robot mode is three and a half inches at the head. His styling takes strong cues from the Voyager-class Earthrise toy, right down to the flattened chest canopy. However, you can see how the price point only allowed for so many paint operations. They got a lot of his color mapping right—the toy is grey plastic; the cockpit is painted schoolbus yellow; the robot head is painted black; the Studio Ox chest fans and face are silver; the upper chest and eyes are red; the gauntlets and feet and stabilizer fins are light blue. Despite this, there are a handful of details that remain unpainted, like the pelvis and the jet boosters on the fronts of his shins. He doesn't look unfinished, though. He looks really good.
This toy wouldn't have been able to transform the same way as the Earthrise toy, so they had to invent a different way of getting him into a jet shape. The sides of the chest separate and swing out to either side (with the entire faux cockpit attached to the left side, so there isn't a seam down the middle). The entire backpack assembly, including the wings and robot chest parts and arms, rotates upside-down. This puts the wings in their proper orientation and makes room for the real jet nose and cockpit to swing down, with the robot head tucking underneath the gap in the jet nose. The robot arms are now on either side of jet mode, with the fists pointing forwards, so the guns can connect to the arms again. It's a really clever and effective way of keeping Starscream authentic in both modes.
As a jet he's 4 1/4" long with a 3 1/4" wing span. He's got a visible hinge that interrupts the back of his jet canopy, and a large metal bolt in the fuselage, but those are the only overt and obvious toyetic flaws. He has no landing gears to speak of. Due to his scale, there are some parts that just don't transform at all (his fists and/or arms don't tuck away, and his feet don't fold up) but he's still shockingly successful. Naturally, his weapons are designed to accommodate blast effect parts.
Zob (would buy this toy again as Thundercracker and Skywarp, not gonna lie)
I arguably don't need tiny version of the G1 characters, but I'm buying these with the expectation that they'll be compatible with the Titan-class Ark playset when it comes out. Obviously, we're not going to get the entire crew complements for the Ark and the Nemesis at this scale, but hopefully we get most of the important characters, at least (and I guess I can use various Legends-scale toys from years past as well).
MEGATRON
I guess the relatively simple transformation scheme for Siege/Earthrise Megatron means that it's not a difficult transformation to scale down to a smaller size. (The artwork on the front of the card is clearly the Voyager-class Earthrise toy, though, and not the Core-class toy at all. I guess the Core-class version wasn't ready. Also, the Decepticon symbol on the artwork is a layer that was cut-and-pasted after the fact, and it's hilarously off-center, like early Marvel Comics illustrations. I'm choosing to believe it's a deliberate homage.)
In robot mode, Megatron is about 3 1/2" tall at the head. He's got some great, big shoulder pads, and tank tread parts directly behind them, since they don't fold down on this version. His styling is similar to the Voyager-class Siege and/or Earthrise version of the character, which means he's pretty close to the Sunbow cartoon design, at least in robot mode. The robot face sculpt is very accurate, and ironically is much better than the head sculpt on the Earthrise toy. He's got ball-and-socket joints for his shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, and his head and waist both swivel.
He's got a fusion cannon permanently attached to his right forearm, and it swivels as required for the transformation. He also comes with a tiny pistol which is almost certainly meant to represent G1 Megatron in what Hasbro now calls his "blaster" form. It's not quite one and a half inches long and is entirely gunmetal-colored plastic. So, while it's techically an accessory for Megatron (and becomes part of his vehicle mode), I almost think this weapon is meant more for other Core-class toys to carry like Starscream, Soundwave, etc.
Transformation to tank mode is strongly inspired by the Siege/Earthrise version: The front tank treads fold down and cover the robot head; the arms swing back and snap together to form the tank turret; the legs assume a cowboy stance to form the rear treads. There are some tiny transformation details that the Core-class toy can't achieve (the robot feet don't fold up or tuck away at all) but it gets the job done. Comically, the tiny gun-mode Megatron becomes part of the tank-mode Megatron, plugging into the fusion cannon to form the main tank cannon.
As a tank, he's about three inches long from end to end, though the gun barrel adds maybe half an inch to that. He's almost all black in this form, with silver-painted treads and a partially gunmetal turret. I almost get the feeling they were planning to paint a bit more of him, but they ran out of budgeted paint apps. The fact that the tank barrel looks like Megatron in gun mode is a very weird meta-design. He has no working wheels, not even falsies.
The gun turret can rotate freely, and the main cannon can pivot up and down a bit, like the larger Siege/Earthrise toy. Such a cute little tank. It's not really an authentic-looking miniaturization, but it's cool enough in its own right. Honestly, I'm surprised they didn't try to make him a tiny little gun (or a "submarine"). I don't imagine a toy this tiny would ever be mistaken for a real firearm.
STARSCREAM
We've gotten some tiny Starcream toys before, over the years, but none of them has been such a phenomenal miniaturization of an existing toy. I was fully prepared to be underwhelmed by most of the Core-class offering, but I actually love this tiny toy so much.
Robot mode is three and a half inches at the head. His styling takes strong cues from the Voyager-class Earthrise toy, right down to the flattened chest canopy. However, you can see how the price point only allowed for so many paint operations. They got a lot of his color mapping right—the toy is grey plastic; the cockpit is painted schoolbus yellow; the robot head is painted black; the Studio Ox chest fans and face are silver; the upper chest and eyes are red; the gauntlets and feet and stabilizer fins are light blue. Despite this, there are a handful of details that remain unpainted, like the pelvis and the jet boosters on the fronts of his shins. He doesn't look unfinished, though. He looks really good.
This toy wouldn't have been able to transform the same way as the Earthrise toy, so they had to invent a different way of getting him into a jet shape. The sides of the chest separate and swing out to either side (with the entire faux cockpit attached to the left side, so there isn't a seam down the middle). The entire backpack assembly, including the wings and robot chest parts and arms, rotates upside-down. This puts the wings in their proper orientation and makes room for the real jet nose and cockpit to swing down, with the robot head tucking underneath the gap in the jet nose. The robot arms are now on either side of jet mode, with the fists pointing forwards, so the guns can connect to the arms again. It's a really clever and effective way of keeping Starscream authentic in both modes.
As a jet he's 4 1/4" long with a 3 1/4" wing span. He's got a visible hinge that interrupts the back of his jet canopy, and a large metal bolt in the fuselage, but those are the only overt and obvious toyetic flaws. He has no landing gears to speak of. Due to his scale, there are some parts that just don't transform at all (his fists and/or arms don't tuck away, and his feet don't fold up) but he's still shockingly successful. Naturally, his weapons are designed to accommodate blast effect parts.
Zob (would buy this toy again as Thundercracker and Skywarp, not gonna lie)
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