Transformers: Age of the Primes Venin is Something That Exists

 The Transformers 1985 Venom toy

 

OK. I'm not surprised that Venin is something that exists. I am surprised that he is both a new mould, and not some form of exclusive. Here's the thing. Hasbro has spent a few years modernising the big three Insecticons again, the famous G1 robobug swarm. At the same time, they took the opportunity to revamp the much, much much MUCH more obscure other four. Four toys not made by Takara, and thus had no real fictional appearances to speak of. Comic book scene fillers at best. I don’t think I've ever actually seen the toys in person either, TBH. This was mainly achieved via retools released in exclusive multipacks, until Venom, now Venin for legal reasons, turned up. But is he any good? Well, he got bumped by Bone Shaker, so that should be a hint, but read on to find out.

I suppose I should expand at bit more on the context here. Venin's first toy, much like Jetfire, originates with the late Takatoku Toys, and the obscure Armored Insect Corps Beetras toyline, a bug themed mecha property. As such, Venin and his ilk don't resemble the best known Insecticons except by theme, and went through a few substantial colour changes when Hasbro licensed them. To the best of my knowledge, Beetras has yet to experience any form of post-80’s revival, so Venin is the only significant attention that series has ever had, and only then by a technicality. And it's a fairly faithful modernisation, very much a G1-plus-actual-articulation job. And, that's pretty much the review. It's the original toy put in the modern deluxe price point, with the quality of life stuff common of that size class. This means the transformation is fundamentally the same, the look is fundamentally the same, and the flaws are fundamentally the same.  Just with ankle tilts. This sadly means that Venin in robot form suffers for that distinctive belly-wing arrangement, that hampers articulation in the arms. I suppose you could have them hang up front like an apron, but that doesn't look great. All four limbs have substantial hollowness for transformation purposes, and the head doesn't do much for bug mode. A flaw seemingly unique to this version though is how the fists are merely tabbed in, rather than pinned in place, so they detach often. One wonders if someone had a budget cut, or a monkey's paw? On balance, its rather mediocre as deluxes go. That said, while I can't make a direct comparison, it turns out that this is actually a head larger than the original. Maybe this is a more complete upgrade than I initially thought…

Maybe it is. I went looking for videos of the original, and there are a few differences I want to highlight. The torso has been redesigned to skinnier and more angular, going from a Parks & Rec' Chris Pratt to a MCU Chris Pratt.  Some of it is now translucent too, which works very well with the existing colour palette. It's not a common colour scheme, but it works, benefiting from some nice tampographs. I do like how the odd hand axe combines with the gun for a better axe. The bug mode, in this case a Cicada, is basically unique among decepticons, with all legs articulated at the base, plus the wings. The head is also articulated, but given that this is just the robot mode head, that's a less of a positive, just something inherited from the source material. And thus far, this is the only unique Insecticon mould, that counts for something right?

Overall, Venin feels like an earnest attempt, but is being faithful to a fault. It's like what happened with Needlenose, but not as severe. Venin is at least an interesting starting point, and is doing OK at what it's choosing to do. But I can't help but question if this was the right call. This dude got this level of attention? Really? Sure, that's a nice note to end the Insecticons on, but why this guy? As opposed to, say, three other Insecticons. Or almost anyone else, from any continuity you care to name. Fair play to the design team for doing something different, we need more of that, but Venin isn't gonna win many new fans as is. Interesting, but not especially good, Venin is merely something that exists.

Transformers: Gobots are Something that Exists

Righty, lets try another doubleheader review. Featuring two repainted toys on a common theme. Well, two common themes. Let’s start with Crasher.

 

OK, let's pull on the obvious thread: Crasher is a Gobot. You may not have heard of the Gobots, but the short version is that they had a console war thing with Transformers back in the day, and lost. Think of them as the Digimon to Transformers’ Pokemon, if Digimon had died a few years into it. I'm long since past caring about that rivalry; I didn't see much of Gobots as a kid, some of the toys were nice, but people can be really effing weird about it. Good robots is good robots, you know? Hasbro, again, short version, it's messy, owns most of the Gobots I.P and thus Gobots turn up occasionally in Transformers media. Often these can be mean-spirited Hi-&-Die cameos, loving tributes, prolonged fanwank by FunPub, or whatever the hell Tom Scoli was trying to do. This has also meant a non-zero amount of toys, mostly in the realm of exclusives. These aren’t super common, the legal aspects and relative obscurity kept it that way, but they are definitely more common of late. Much like Diaclone and G2, Gobots has become another vector for repaints of G1-inspired moulds. This is how Crasher comes to us today, as a former exclusive repackaged for Age of the Primes.

The other thread is that, and I realise certain people may have a reaction to me even raising this matter, is that Crasher is a girl. Yes, a female coded character. Not in the awkward Smurfette sense, but more in the "this character is a girl, so are several others, why are you asking?"  sort of way. This is something that Gobots just did much, much, MUCH better than Transformers. It wasn't until Beast Wars that we got female character toys in Transformers, and truthfully a mere handful since. Gobots did that from day one. Crasher is probably the best known girl, having a highly placed antagonist role like Evil Lynn or the Baroness. As her name implies though, she's a bit more brutish than those examples. This toy is based off the Kingdom Mirage mould, itself a retool of the Siege version I've talked about previously. As such, the figure is basically competent, but not spectacular, robot with a F1 Racer mode and a lot of faux kibble bits. It's a mould that seeks to ape the cartoon model, but does not transform like it. All the modern conveniences are are there, with a more refined altmode than the Siege toy, but loosing the shoulder mounts in the process. The toy uses the Diaclone style head and a buttload of paint to create something that looks great in both modes, approximating the best known Crasher toy as best it can. With three accessory weapons, too. It is not admittedly the best possible Crasher. That would have a new head, a fairly obscure car mode, and possibly require a court ruling. But it is definitely on the realms of good enough, and I'm struggling to think of a modern deluxe that would fit Crasher more, and there is precedent here. The entire reason Hasbro is using a Mirage here is because it worked so well before, way-back in 2008. I just wish mine clipped together better in altmode. I don’t like that longitudinal seam on it, and I found this toy tricky to photograph. Its the white and glossy black.

Pathfinder meanwhile is what prompted me to finish this article as a double feature, as another female Gobot executed as a repaint. This was an impulse purchase at TFN, this being an orphaned member of a multipack, as I hadn't played with this mould before. As I’ve already mentioned femme coding and legal matters, I'm gonna talk more about the toys here, because frankly I have far less knowledge of the character. And, I didn't actually know this going in, it's not actually a good representation of Pathfinder. A friend of mine pointed out, and I made a point of checking, that these blue & yellow colours are derived from a Cosmos prototype, whereas Pathfinder is more grey & black. This originates from a trendsetting eHobby set, which did a lot of stuff like that, skirting around potential legal issues, not using names on the box, but the basic logic here is Pathfinder = UFO. See also: Scrounge. But, we're arguably starting from a worse position than Crasher above.  In 2004, Gobot fans were so desperate for anything that a Japanese-exclusive based off G1 prototypes, with a hint of being Tonka, was the best thing ever. You would not believe how far Fun Publications ran with this idea. But maybe it wasn’t the best thing ever. Because, and this is perhaps a subtle distinction, while Crasher had compromises, it was an earnest attempt. This feels more like Player 2 Colours Cosmos. A new head would have made all the difference. Pathfinder instead makes do with the Guardian logo on a flag/gun.

That said, a new head may not have been practical. This mould is noted on the wiki for it's usually low number of parts and sprues. Originally the Speedia 500 Cosmos was intended to be a Bumblebee retool, but clever design allowed for a completely new toy with the same budget. Reuse possibilities may have been cut out. The base toy is therefore something of a minor marvel, a triumph of necessity driving invention. In so far as basic functions and appearance goes it's got a lot going for it. But it's not without compromises, the hollow forearms being the most obvious. There's also  elements of faux kibble in both modes, the joint and 3mm port count is a touch low and the UFO mode needed some wee castors. You might also find the proportions to be a bit of a marmite; it's very round in robot mode, and feels somehow exaggerated in UFO mode, like a pug. The yellow paint doesn't look brilliant on the blue plastic, but it rarely does, does it? She's pretty good, but one suspects exclusivity may be giving the mould undue hype. Also: a tricky toy for me to photograph. That yellow just eats the sculpted detail.

So which is better, Crasher or Pathfinder? The answer is nuanced. Both are exclusive repaints of exclusive toys, and are subject to a degree of hype or confirmation bias. Crasher is definitely the most thorough and earnest of the pair. The base toy however isn't my favourite, and there's signs of mould degradation. Pathfinder is much, much, much lazier as a repaint, but the Cosmos mould is far less common and more interesting as a concept. Both suffer with faux kibble issues, but Crasher has arguably better fundamentals and more accessories. Both are nice, but not the Ironfist & Carnivac nice. I would probably give it to Crasher, but it's a close run thing. Crasher is kinda mid deluxe with a spectacular paint job, whereas Pathfinder is a good/interesting deluxe with a mid paintjob. In any case, Crasher and Pathfinder are something that exists.

Transformers: Age of the Primes Micronus Prime

We are a few waves into Age of the Primes now, and it very much seems to have been business as usual. Aside from the Primes themselves, we've been getting a lot of G1 characters, Menasor style combiners, a splattering of other continuities, and a few more repaints than you might like. Yeah, it's basically Legacy again, but not that glorious first wave of Legacy United. The Primes themselves are doing alright, but they were definitely playing things safe. I mean, it's hard to look interesting or cool when you are in the same line as The Fallen, but being an alien carformer with an understated colour scheme wasn't, ahem, gonna set the world alight. Not when The Fallen did that just by standing still too long. Guess which two toys I might be referring to. Anyway. With Onyx Prime that started to change, he's a centaur BTW, and with today's subject we have possibly the most interesting deluxe of recent times. Unfortunately, Micronus gave me a wee case of Buyer’s Remorse, because he simply does not live up to that potential.

Now, Micronus Prime is the god of little guys, and a little guy himself, approximately core class in dimensions and complexity. As the name suggests, his domain is Mini-Cons and any small transformer that partners with another larger one. He's actually the third supernatural entity to have ties to Mini-Cons as a creator, the original being Unicron, although he's the one that's stuck. Micronus appeared in the 2015 Robots in Disguise series, which is now old enough to count as nostalgia, and this toy is very close to that depiction. He's got that very distinctive Prime-era face design, lacking a nose, and his translucent build evoking his look on the show. As a toy, he's somewhat basic, turning into what resembles an Armada style Mini-Con Storage Panel, an Arc Reactor, or less romantically, a hockey puck. The fact the the god of little guys and murder pets transforms into an abstract shape isn’t a shocker. RID2015's Mini-Cons often transformed as such so they could be launched from larger toys, see also cassetteformers, and especially those data disks from Fall of Cybertron. What brings it down is a design/production flaw on my copy that prevents his legs from lining up exactly right in disk mode, but there’s enough give in the plastic to make you think can get there. I would discover during the photoshoot that my attempts to do this seems to have caused stress marks in the knees; I should have known better. Then again, maybe it wasn't me, I've seen a report since that a toy came with that damage.

Anyways, Micronus is otherwise nicely articulated for his size, nicely presented, and has this little Chimera Stone artefact in lieu of a weapon. It plugs in via a 5mm peg, and I honestly kinda forget about it. He’s a lot like that Eject toy from a few years ago, and in isolation, you might wonder where the money is going if he just turns into a shape. The answer is, an exosuit.

 

If Micronus himself looks like a hockey puck, the exosuit he is packaged within looks like the goalie. This seems to have been created from whole cloth to justify the pricepoint, and my initial thought that this was a new take on the Apex Armour from Transformers: Prime, and while that is a stated influence by the designer, it's not actually named as such. There's apparently a bit of Pretender in there too, but I am reminded of a Prime-era exosuit playset in the chest. Visually, it makes for an interesting contrast between it and Micronus, or indeed Transformers in general. It's got a faintly anonymous head, gun fingers, and perhaps more a piloted mech look than Cybertronians in general. It's got a similar build to Micronus, so it's short for a deluxe, but it's stocky. It's also a lot more functional than Micronus is, because this is not only a deluxe-ish robot mode, it's also a bike for him to ride, and a weaponizer mode for use with other toys. It's the meat of the set. What I did notice though as I came to write this post, is that each mode has a  disappointing near-miss quality to it. The robot lacks a waist joint, which I'm inclined to forgive under the circumstances, but the back kibble I'm less fond of. In a stroke of absolute genius, the legs compress into a single big wheel, but the resulting monobike lacks a kickstand and absolutely does not balance by itself. You have to bend the arms down at the elbow for balance, and that's about as involved as the arms get in the transformation. So, while having Micronus ride this is rather adorable, it's flawed. The weaponizer mode meanwhile is simply four chunks, which goes completely unmentioned on the box, and I'm not surprised. I can't be arsed to photograph it. And I can't be arsed to take better photos.

I want to like Micronus Prime more than I do. He's tied to one of my favourite Transformers concepts, and after dozens of routinely competent deluxes, he's actually interesting in concept. He is not, however, that great. Or good at anything in particular. Or interesting in execution. He's passable in lot of things, some of those things being notably unusual, but he doesn't excel at any of them. And its not even failing in any interesting way; I've written about some uneven toys in the past, but at least they sucked in memorable ways or charmed me beyond that. Micronus Prime falls instead into the pit of apathy. There is not some fundamental misunderstanding, a glaring fault, or a lack of creativity. Its a matter of mediocre execution, being neither good enough or bad enough to hold my attention. Mostly alright overall, but wait for a sale, and be careful of the translucent plastic.

Transformers: Age of the Primes Megatronus The Fallen

 Happy Halloween!

The Fallen’s first appearance, Transformers: War Within: The Dark Ages #1

The Transformers brand has a pantheon. It's a complex topic that sort of congealed from disparate sources over decades. Transformers are people after all, and people have religion. And given that this is pop sci-fi, it's very easy for your average Cybertronian to eventually meet one of their gods, given that a lifespan of a million years plus is not uncommon. Thus, we have The Thirteen Primes, a mélange of Hellenistic, Norse, and obviously Christian influences applied to giant robots. Megatronus The Fallen is one such demigod, and if you have a command of the English language, you probably don't need me to explicitly say that he's a fallen angel. My interest in The Fallen is an entirely superficial one. I've not really engaged with any of his wildly divergent fictional appearances, and I find the whole Thirteen thing to be something in need of a champion. It's a concept that Hasbro and lore nerds seem to want to make happen, rather than actual creative types. That said, The Fallen as originally depicted is an idea so pitch perfect stupid, so juvenile, so edgelord, so heavy metal album cover, that it loops back around to awesome again. He's an evil satanic furnace robot that is perpetually on fire, and is also the inspiration for the Decepticon badge. He's what Tarn so desperately wishes he was, and could easily have been. Bludgeon tells him to tone it down. Unicron considered a restraining order, before making him a herald. I can't help but love that, and it is so nice that the designers prioritised that version. Not exclusively so, as the accessories evoke other iterations, but it's been a few waves since since we've had something purpose built to be a comic-first character.

Let's talk about the tank mode. It was, after all, the main point of discussion here, but more for what it could be than what it was. People thought that it foreshadowed a leader class Megatron, Fallen here having a transformation scheme obviously inspired by the Siege Megatron toy. As it would turn out this was not the case, The Fallen reportedly having been designed without concessions for future remoulding. Which is unusual, and I expect some form of reuse somehow. Anyway, Fallen does have issues in this mode, such as Visible Head Syndrome and a general gappy-ness of construction. I can't say its a good tank for those reasons. That said, it kinda works as a vehicle mode for a mythological demi-god in dark tones, and it does have its positives. This has a presence, even without the gorgeous flame effect bits. It is not nice. It is the stuff of nightmares, electric guitars, and vehicular homicide. The turret turns without looking odd. Good, too many toys get that wrong, although the gun is feeling in need of another securing tab. There's a secondary missile pod and smoke dischargers on there too. Good, a nice little detail. There's a lot of 5mm port functionality too, the flame effect parts plug in that way. Good, although the spear just kinda straps to one side like he is moving house. And while it is indeed based of the Siege Megatron transformation scheme, it's been refined and expanded for a leader class pricepoint. Good, it's nice hand candy, although the chest plate likes to detach. Is it a great tank mode? No, that's not something you honestly claim, but it's definitely in the realm of good enough for something that absolutely is not trying to be a disguise. Or making a rod for its own back, SS86 Megs, I'm looking at you.

Putting it into robot mode reveals an almost perfect translation/interpretation of Dreamwave era comic art.  Which, of course, I love in a deeply superficial way. There's some oddities and nitpicks though. The feet for example are oddly hollow for transformation purposes, so it's like he's on tiptoe. There is also the use of rubbery plastic for his spear, and I'm honestly not as into it as I want to be. It's stupid, and functional, but not quite stupid enough to be amazing. What greatly excused these complaints however, was posability. Now, with articulation having been standardised and generally pretty good since Siege, you might wonder what it takes for something to be noticeably posable? Especially when the robot in question is already built like a brick shithouse?  The answer turns out to be butterfly joints in the shoulders, opening hands, and solid fundamentals. It makes the toy surprisingly expressive, and my first attempt to pose the toy is what made it all click for me. Above and beyond the significant edgelord vibes, it was finding a sassy striding super villain pose almost immediately. Like Skeletor if he was on fire and also a robot. The Fallen would probably do well in that franchise, now I think if it. So he moves about as good as he looks, and looks good. No new colours appear, but he remains so striking in that juvenile-fan-art-original-character-do-not-steal sense. The head is perfect, with a sneering faceplate, atop a powerful looking body. Elements of the tank mode are there, but rather downplayed as more of the tracks end up concealed in the chest than with other tankformers. As robot modes go, there's much to like.

Megatronus The Fallen is very much the perfect version of what it's trying to be. What is, is fairly stupid, but it commits. The robot form was clearly the focus of efforts here, but when they have done so well with it, it's very hard to begrudge. The tank mode may be a bit of a hot mess, but it's a long way from being a dumpster fire. If you like the look, congratulations. 

Here's some more glamour shots.

Transformers: Age of the Primes Wreck 'n Doom Collection Carnivac vs. Fisitron is Something that Exists

 

Exclusive releases are part and parcel of the Transformers experience, and usually I'm not fussed. Exclusives have this habit of either being things that don't interest me,  dont justify the mark up, or end up on discount somewhere. With Legacy United, we even saw former exclusives get used as late wave filler. I gather that exclusives are particularly annoying if you collect seekers too, but I digress. Of course, eventually Hasbro does put out an exception, like today's subject. Carnivac and Fisitron come from a very similar place, creatively speaking. That is a comicbook writer, the kind that becomes a TFNation regular, taking a character with basically no fictional appearances and creating a fan favourite. The Primes, Megatrons, even the Brawns of the franchise have de-facto tenure and are unlikely to allow much creative freedom to a writer. The successes of Transformers comics, and their deep love by the fan base, are often due to some utter rando being selected for the spotlight. Carnivac and Fisitron, while separated by decades and continuities are absolutely two such Transformers. And good choices for exclusives, as they have dedicated-but-small fanbases.

Of the two, Fisitron is undoubtedly the best known, to the point of getting his own tributes in later fiction. Fisitron, not Fistytron as my brain insists on parsing it as, is actually Ironfist, the name change dictated by the MCU. I'm just gonna call him Ironfist from now on. Ironfist was the audience avatar for the highly regarded The Last Stand of the Wreckers, arguably the best comic miniseries ever associated with Transformers, and a top ten Transformers media candidate overall. It's difficult to express just how big a thing that was, do read it. Ironfist's fate was to be a massive fan of the Wreckers Autobot team, think an actually heroic Suicide Squad style group, or more precisely the ABC Warriors, and then suffer the reality of that. He has a bad time of things to say the least, but really you have to read it.

This new Ironfist is a bit if a mélange, if only for it's foundation. It's a remould of the Legacy Detritus toy, itself a retool of the pretty good Siege Hound making it something of a Cannonball situation. Mould degradation is becoming a concern at this point, this being the 7th use of it, but mine seems fine. The altmode has been modified to make it an enclosed cab, while the accessories have been replaced with a decorative approximation of his old Lightformer Cannon gimmick which splits into three bits. As this is an exclusive/limited release there is a bounty of paint applications, too much on the gun, tending towards IDW colours with the head being a highlight. The jeep altmode inherited is a good match for the original toy, although the robot proportions are more conventionally heroic than the somewhat dumpier build of his most famous appearance. So while he's not quite as Last Stand as I would prefer, he's a superior remake of an already great mould. 

Carnivac by comparison is much older, both in print and in plastic. I'll admit that I had to go check the specifics of what he's done, and while he's actually done more than Ironfist, he's not on the same tier of popularity. He was a recurring character in the UK comics I read as a kid, actually joining an Autobot splinter faction for a time with a few former-Wreckers, although there's continuity issues with that material. Much later on, he turned up in the sequel to Last Stand of the Wreckers, in another splinter faction that I won't describe, and very recently in those new Energon Universe comics. Carnivac's main trait is to be a wolf, both literally and metaphorically. He's a Decepticon with a wolf altmode, and a wolf's mindset. A bad guy to fight, but not automatically a foe, and given that Transformers is often Good versus Evil, that's interesting.

A more pressing question may however be "Why is he that colour?". Well, he was a Pretender Beast, you see. The original toy had an outer shell in the style of a big organic wolf, while the inner robot was was some louder in colour and a bit simple. Pretender toys were like that, and modern remakes have frequently tried to split the difference between the shells and the robots therein. This release however favours the inner robot, but taking design cues from the Marvel comics.

 

It does this by remoulding the Titans Return era Wolfwire, changing the titanmaster, whom is called Survivor, after that splinter faction I mentioned, and replacing the accessories. As it's an older deluxe, it's not quite as nice as Ironfist, but it's still a solid design, and the mould has been used far less frequently. It also removes the questionable materials that the previous releases were infamous for, an unambiguous improvement. The wolf mode is however largely unchanged, using paint to suggest the visor rather than actually sculpting one. He's not as good as Ironfist overall, and not as extensive as a remould, but is undoubtedly the best use of this mould, and it works well for the character. Nice paint job on the titanmaster too.

All in all, the set is a great example of an exclusive. It uses good moulds well, making effective changes where appropriate, and doesn't skimp on paint. It also helps that it is based on comics and latter-day G1, rather than the more over-exposed parts of the brand. It's not a perfect set, but other than totally new toys, I don't see how Hasbro could done much better. Assuming that no horrible QC issue or design flaw manifests, consider this set as having my full endorsement.

Transformers: Age of the Primes Autobot Red Alert is Something That Exists

 Hey, its TFNation weekend! Have a Transformer review.

 

The 2002 Transformers Armada Red Alert toy. 

 

While this isn't the first toy I’ve got for the new iteration of Generations, its the first one I feel like talking about. Although, I have kinda talked about this guy before. Last year, I did an article on Cannonball, a character I was convinced was fated to be Red Alert due to the repaint connection. The fact that Red Alert appears as a new mould voyager is a bit of a surprise, and makes Cannonball more special in retrospect. I understand why he's a voyager, its so he can better match the assorted Armada revamps we've had in Legacy. As to why he's in Age of the Primes? Well, because Generations continues to be a grabbag of often weak theme, and I suspect he got held up along the way. And they don’t even acknowledge the Armada connection on the box. Odd.

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The truck mode seems a bit boring at first, and I was ready to breeze past it as "good enough" until I considered it more closely. The back-end and hubcaps go unpainted, but there is a lot of paint where you would mostly look. Its front bumper/hood area receives a lot of attention as a focal point in both modes, the flanks aren't bad either, and the translucent red is used is well. In terms of play value, there's the welcome presence of pinned wheels for good rolling, an assortment of 5mm ports, and the flip-out gun gimmick from the original toy appears, if as a mainly decorative thing. Something I hadn't realised prior to having the toy in person, is that not only do the gunhands store easily, they also have 3mm peg functions so they can attach by the lightbar. There’s also a decorative mini-con post. So, more going on than I thought, it rolls well, and it looks good on the assumption you don't flip it over or stare at the arse end. But, you do you. The transformation meanwhile apes the original with a lot of big panels and unexpectedly stiff joints. Spoiler alert: this is the only aspect of the toy I dislike. Things are generally too tight and stiff, but its not bad.

The generally good truck mode is followed by a solid robot mode. Red Alert has the face of Robocop, the body plan of a classical carformer, a gunarm, and legs that go for miles. Its a distinctive look for what amounts to a supporting character. There is a favouring of the animation model, notably featuring a different shade of blue for the kneecaps, but omitting the brass/gold from the inside of the arm joints. I suppose someone could third-party that, but I find it to be a fairly skippable detail. In other news, we see a light piped visor, it has been a while. The looks are very much on point. Functionally, he has 4 accessories in total, plus a significant presence of 5mm ports, with both the flip out gun and the gunhands using that system. The position of one port on the chest makes me wonder if there's new a Longarm mould which was cut for the price point, but this toy would shine with a weaponizer or similar. Articulation meanwhile is Legacy standard, so generally good, but this is where those stiff joints and vehicle kibble interfere. Its knees like to lock in the standing position for transformation purposes, and if you want to use the waist joint you have to unplug the backpack. Its nothing you can't work around though, as its otherwise very comprehensive, he does have a wrist swivel for his one good hand for example. Definitely a robot that ticks all the boxes...

 
Red Alert is not the first character I think of when I come to think of Armada. He's probably not in the first ten either. He's a bit dull if I'm honest. As a toy, this looked to be maybe a bit dull too. It is cut from exactly the same cloth as the other Armada remakes, with the same design principles as applied to what was probably the most conventual toy of Armada wave 1, i.e the one that was a truckformer with a hood-chest. Priority is given to screen accuracy and articulation at the cost of mini-con functions. So while there is that element of faint disappointment again, a sense that Hasbro is missing the point, there is a compelling argument in this toy’s favour. It is simply good at what its choosing to do. If this is the last Armada remake we get for a while, its gone out on a high.

Although, that Flatline repaint does look rather nice...