Thursday 13 August 2015

A Concise Review of Combiner Wars Protectobot First Aid In 500 Words Or Less

Pricepoint/Vintage: Deluxe, 2015.
Modes: Robot, Advanced Life Support (ALS) vehicle, Arm, and Leg.
Transformation Style: CW deluxe limb, Off Road style.
Play Patterns: Robot and vehicle, combiner, 5mm weaponry, C Clip functionality, a pack-in comic in the USA.
Points of Interest: A heavy retool of Off Road from wave 2.





The Good
First Aid is actually a more through reworking than initial impressions suggest, and shines in vehicle mode. With all the vehicle bits replaced, First Aid makes for a convincing ALS/paramedic vehicle, one that isn't afraid to drive in the mud. This helps to separate him from the better known Ratchet, (so far,) and similarities to Offroad are downplayed. While retaining a roof tab to mount the combiner piece, C clip rungs are also present in a most pleasant surprise, and are in a useful position for arm mode. The robot mode ticks the right boxes too, the head being great, with fourteen joints, and the "bonnet bonnet" evoking the G1 original. And let us not forget, Offroad was a solid deluxe in the first place, so the fundamentals are there.





The Bad
His most extensive areas of retooling involve the arms and back legs, which seems to have exacerbated a problem Off Road had with pegging those bits together, not to mention the kibble around there. Getting things flush in vehicle or arm mode took practice, and there's an unsightly gap in his belt buckle. He's also some lost some play value in the process, as he no-longer has the 5mm arm ports. Quality control meanwhile is a bit suspect, with some misapplied red paint splotches on the hands. The back windows and hubcaps are regrettably unpainted too.





The Mediocre
These weapons are of course inherited from Off Road, which while perfectly fine, don't necessarily suit the character. Perhaps they could have done a pistol, or a legislator cannon like from that infamous scene, but an axe and combiner piece is okay.





The Alternatives
First Aid is one of the few CW toys not to have multiple reuses so far, although Off Road has three. This combined with his status as G1 character with a strong IDW comic presence makes him a hard dude to replace without spoiling the Protectobot theme. Technically, any CW deluxe can however, as can the Japanese release.


The Verdict
While I'd like to pin the blame on the backend being annoying to assemble, rather than any real issue, First Aid is my least favourite Protectobot. There's definitely been a lot of effort expended in making him as unique as he can be from Off Road, but not all change is welcome. That said, he's still got merit, and he certainly doesn't count as a negative to the team overall.

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