Loose as a Goose!

That's what 3 3/4" Marvel Unverse Thing turned out to be. So much so that I posed him like this right out of the packaging:

How could he possibly be so loose? Both shoulders are super loose, especially the right shoulder, his chest joint is loose, making him extra swivel-ly, and his thigh joints are loose as well.

I wonder if it's a deliberate thing done by Hasbro to make 'em more children friendly? Cos his fists, feet and head are nice and tight. Hm.

Still, the figure does look awesome, especially his stoney mug:









And somehow, despite the loose joints, he still poses ok.

And size-wise, Hasbro has done a great job--The Thing is a big figure, but he's still smaller than The Hulk (as he should be), but larger than Wolverine and Cap. (Yay for proportions!)

It's Clobberin' Time!

Still, I did have fun playing and posing this figure. I still have classic Iron Man fresh on card, and I can't wait to get more of this line.

Oh, and a word to the wise: if you do buy the plus size figures, try not to pay more than retail for them.

Scalpers tend to charge more and they'll tell you that the figure is heavier than the rest, thus shipping costs more. It's all crap.

The retail price is the same for all figs, so that means the price of a skinny Ms. Marvel = the price of a 1040 pound hulk. That is if they're 3 3/4" figs of course. ;)

Ratings!

Design Accuracy: 9.5/10 - Instantly recognizeable as the Thing. The colour is spot on, and not completely uniform for all his skin panels, with patches of darker orange here and there. The head is also one of the best I've seen on a Thing figure. Bonus points for the blue eyes! (Otherwise the Ever Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing he would not be. ;])

Aesthetic: 9/10 - He's nicely proportionate to, well, himself. Head is small but not too small, his hands are large but smaller than the Hulk's, and those blue eyes! He's also got a really sad look on his face, which matches Ben Grimm's depressed state while he was struggling to accept that he'd never look normal again. The shading of his skin is also nicely done. And the jutting jaw adds to his brooding look.

Poseability: 7/10 - 14 points of articulation, same as the Hulk. But he loses points for loose joints. and also, there's also a problem with his legs. The lower half of his right is longer than his right! It seems that Hasbro tried to make up for this by hinging the lower right leg a little deeper. Well, it didn't work. So Thingy-poo doesn't stand straight. Luckily he's all about the Clobberin' Time so he'll be in more dynamic poses most of the time.



Overall: 8.5/10 - Still a good solid figure. Better yet if the loose joints are only inherent to my figure. Oh well, I'm sure there's some way to fix him. But meanwhile, he wont be doing any heavy lifting. Just some light stretching.

It's worse than I thought...no wait, it's better!

So I'm cleaning out space on my shelf and rearranging the toys to create more space for my recent acquisitions like Henkei Grimlock and Skyfire.

3 3/4" Hulk, Wolverine, and Captain America get re-posed to face off 2 to 1, with hulk grinding a fist into his open palm, while the other two get posed side by side on one of my spare G.I. Joe stands (Duke's, actually. He's currently driving Indy's Jeep. But that's another story. Heh.)

I used to be a toy hog, I must confess. I would keep my toys unopened, telling mself how great they look in their packaging. But after Transformers Animated and now Henkei/Universe made me want to play with my toys again, I've been playing/posing my action figures, boxes be damned.

So lo and behold I find Justice League Power Escape Superman in the corner of my shelf taking up space. His box was tattered and I remember getting him in a toy sale for a mere S$10. (that's like slightly less than US$7).

The rubber bands holding his collapseable wall had long dried up and snapped, leaving Supes looking like his house had crumbled around him while he was chained up. (Like, I know. What chains could hold the Man of Steel?)

So I bust him out.

First thing I notice is that his arms are loose. Like swinging from the hinges loose. No wonder I saw him going for S$5 after had gotten him some years ago. (Yup, he was stuck in his paper and plastic prison for 5 years. At least.)

But upon figuring out how to make him yank out his chains and cause the wall behind him to crumble, or rather, explode, I actually had a ton of fun busting him from his chains again and again.

You see, this is how he works:

The base of his chains are spring loaded, so you load the ends into the sockets as if they were projectiles from any sort of action figure gun. The base piece of the breakable wall behind him has a long stem which is also loaded likewise in the floor behind him.

Then you hit the two buttons at his feet:

First the one on his right, which shoots out the chain, and with his loose arm, makes him look like he yanked the hell outta the puny steel restraints.

Then the left button,

which produces the same effect, but also ejects the base wall piece and causes the bricks behind him to shatter and fall like a ton of...well, bricks.


Neato. Way more fun than I thought he ever would be.

And being in a black suit with a silver "S" doesn't hurt. :)

Shock to the System

That's what Shockwave is! A Decepticon, a spy, and a fan favourite in G1 or Animated.

And we can't talk Shockwave without revealing a few secrets. But I'm sure if you're reading this, you probably have seen TF: Animated anyway, so I won't be spoling anything. ;)

So this is how we see him in most of Animated:

"That's not Shockwave," you say?

Well you're right. That's Longarm Prime. Check out his head/face and his Autobot symbol.

What I love about him by just looking at the figure is the colour. His body is a slight blue-grey, and his Autobot symbol is silver to match.

His silvery-grey eyes, and his white face match his colour scheme too.




"Well wot's this?" you ask in your best British accent.

This is the same guy, but now he's in his true form--Shockwave! (As Ultra Magnus found out, much to his detriment.)

His white face is gone, he's got the antennae up, and lookie here--a gold Decepticon symbol! And that's just his head! (and uh...symbol...)




Well, check him out in full robot mode--both of them:

Woah there, Shockwave, no need to go pointing that gun everywhere...

Spot the differences!

Shoulders are red instead of black, Longarm's crane pack is Shcokwave's Laser Cannon, and of course the hands!

Overall Shockwave is taller than Longarm.

Oh and his lower legs spin around when he's an Autobot spy. :)


















And the best part is, he's got two vehicle modes!

Autobot Crane, or a Decepticon Tank!

The crane head is Spring loaded, so when you slide down on its switch, the gun snap-folds out with a pop. Cool feature that Hasbro once again didn't really have to include. They've done a lot of these hidden/bonus features for the Animated line and I'm glad that they went out of the way to please fanboys like myself. ;)










So with 4 modes, just how poseable is Shockwave?

He's Staying Alive poseable! Ah ah ah ah Staying Aliiiiiii--iiiiii--ii-iiiiiive....










He's in your face, poseable...



















And he's for sure light piping poseable! Check out the classic cyclops eye!

Here's how I rate him:

Show Accuracy: 9/10 - He looks like the Animated character in not one but 2 robot modes. He's transformed into a crane once or at the most twice as far as I can rememeber. We haven't seen his tank mode yet, though. But 3 outta 4 ain't bad at all--and it still very likely might be 4/4. ;)

Aesthetic: 8.7/10 - He looks great as Longarm, and even better as Shockwave. I love the grey and white base, with metallic grey and metallic red bits. Gotta love the three-fingers hands as well. Paint apps are very very solid. One thing I dislike though, is that his laser cannon fits on his forearm to look like he's holding it. This makes him look like he's toting a mini spaceship in his claws. Looks unbalanced. I wished they could've allowed his gun to be mounted on the top/outside of his forearm like Megatron. I think he'd look cooler that way.

Poseability: 9.3/10 - Well this guy passes the "Down on bended knee" test. You see, with every figure I own, at one point or another, I like to pose it so that he/she/it is kneeling on one knee and firing/swinging their weapons. Well, not many figures can do this, Transformers or otherwise. Shockwave, though, can do this easily. I guess it helps that he has 4 modes, so his joints can bend almost every which way. His feet also bend all the way forward and back and his claws on his hand ar also individually articulated. He can point. Awesome! :)

Overall: 9/10 - Many rate this guy as the best TFA figure. But while I think he's awesome, he isn't Optimus Prime (uh-huh, betcha saw that coming. :P). So great figure, wonderful tranformations, and excellent paint job and articulation. Oh and as an aside, after getting this guy and seeing the purple Shockwave, I kinda not want to get purple anymore. This guy's colour scheme is definitely better. Oh and it's also show accuarate. :)

I guess Shockwave agrees. (Cos he's not pointing his gun elsewhere and not at me anymore! :P)

Classics Mobile Command Base

And guess who's Optimus Prime just got upgraded by the fan-made BTS-01S Mobile Command Base with Rollout Drone today? (That's fan talk for Primes's trailer.) You betcha! For a mere S$50 from Dave's Toylet to boot. You the man, Dave!


Doesn't my Henkei Prime now look classy? Now the crew look awesome smooth while cruisin'.










The trailer stands on its own when detached too.




And guess where the rollout drone is hidden?




















In plain sight!











Prime's trailer fits exactly one deluxe sized vehicle. Or just the drone.










But I guess you can make it look ike a whole string of vehicles came streaming out with some "camera tricks" :P

And the trailer transforms into...

A Mobile Base!

Who would've guessed? (Free auto maintenance included)


Besides the occasional servicing, the place comes in handy when the Autobots need to set up nearby to patrol a strategic location.


The Command Base also functions perfectly on its own when the bots are out on lunch break.

















And the Bots get back just in time for...Decepticon air strike! Look to the skies!


But wait, the aerial assault was only a diversion. Here comes their main assault, led by none other than...

Megatron!























Pity the role of a shield the trailer has to play, you say? Well, it's no wonder he does what he does with stats like these:

Total courage! :)

But a Rank score of 2 means he's ordered around by practically every other Autobot. So that's why they use him as cover.

BTS-o1S Mobile Command Centre is simply beautifully made. Beautifully painted on the outside and wonderfully deatiled on the inside. It comes with the rollout drone, of course, and also an extendable tower which rotates 360 degress and has a grabbing claw. Oh and a nice bonus is that it also comes with 2 "Bee" guns in 2 hidden compartments, which fit Bumblebee and Cliff Jumper perfectly since they don't come with weapons.

I give this baby a 9.5/10. Some of the detail on the inside could've been painted, and some will require stickers, but for overall, I'm really delighted and impressed. For sure, it will complete your Henkei/Universe Optimus Prime. :)

Promises, promises.

I was actually planning to review the Transformers Animated Waspinator, but got distracted by my unopened Animated Shockwave sitting on my desk.

So I opened that for the first time. And took some photos. And forgot to bring the wire I need to upload the photos from my camera. (I'm staying at her place for tonight, see.)

I promise to get to Shockwave and Waspinator first chance I get.

Right now, though, I've been really drooling over the TFCon exclusive Powered Commander. Damn, that thing is gorgeous!

I have to confess, I'm an Ultra Magnus fan. Right from the colours, to the design, to his existence after Optimus Prime was killed in G1.

But the thing that makes Prime my favourite is that he rocks. Magnus is kinda, well, whiney. And he couldn't open The Matrix. And he was blown to bits by a single shot from Galvatron. (Why Galvie just didn't do it every single time he saw Magnus after that I'll never know.)

Anyhoo, a while back, Fansproject.com came up with City Commander, which is actually a transformable trailer for Universe Classics Ultra Magnus. It works the same way as G1 Magnus in that the trailer combines with Magnus to form Ultra Magnus. ;P



Yup, this Magnus has to be the dream toy of every G1 Magnus fan. (His legs can separate! Yay!)

Then came Shadow Commander, which is the same thing except he's the power armour version of Nemesis Prime (who's a sleek black Decepticon version of Prime, as far a looks go).



So now, they've come up with City Commander for Universe Classics/Henkei Optimus Prime:


I know, I know, the colour is the weirdest of the 3 Commanders, as gaudy as a Pepsi bottle (As Melissa told me when she first saw it.) But he does come with shoulder missiles and a case of energon that the other 2 don't have! And you can store these in his trailer! Sweet!


What's not so sweet is that only 500 of him were made and his price is like S$400+ after shipping and handling. Bleargh.

Now I'm just gonna have to look for a cheaper source somewhere (unlikely), pay through the nose (not gonna happen), or time travel to the future when/if the price drops (impossible, so I'll do it manually and wait till I get to "the future")

Gotta get 'em all...'cos that's just the thrill of the chase, isn't it? ;)

(Thanks to tfcon.ca, fansproject.com, and seibertron.com for the images, cos until at get my hands on any of the Commanders, all I have are the pics! :P)