Transformers: Legacy United Armada Universe Wheeljack is Something that Exists

 Well, I actually haven't done one of these for a while. I'll try to ease myself into it…

The 2003 Transformers Armada Wheeljack toy (Note that he's yellow.)

 

Wheeljack, no, not that one, is a character I have only a passing familiarity with. I never experienced the media he was in, nor had his toy. Armada's take on Wheeljack is however quite compelling to me on the conceptual level. There are a good few Transformers whom have switched sides, we tend to get one whom features that as a play feature every few years. Armada in fact already had one in Sideways, a character way too complex to get into here. But what you usually DO NOT get is a character that rejects the Autobots so completely and joins the Decepticons in the name of revenge. And you especially DO NOT get such a character carving a chunk out of their chest to make it official. Its a such a needlessly edgelord thing that I would adore it if somebody revisited in new media. Seriously, pay it straight or subvert it, either is good, but commit to it. And now there's a new toy of him? Fingers crossed.

Wheeljack is, as you can probably tell, the umpteenth reuse of the Siege Sideswipe mould from 2019. First off, fucking hell, its now 2025. Second, its not that much of a stretch TBH; the original toy had a Sideswipey look. While the new toy features much retooling, especially involving it's accessories, it's not the first time we've seen this specific iteration mould. Rather this was previously an exclusive release as Shattered Glass Sideswipe, seemingly part of Hasbro's "repaint every fucking thing" and "fuck Fun Pub" initiatives. Its release in Legacy United seems to be mainly one of filler, with wave 5 in general seemingly just keeping the seat warm before the new Age of the Primes kicks off, by reissuing stuff. Its nice to see him, don't get me wrong, the omission of the partner mini-con does tarnish the experience a touch. This is a shame, as they otherwise have done a decidedly non-trivial amount of work here. Not quite on the level of Cannonball, but this isn't a mere headswap. There's a new head with a slightly better neck, a new chest, a decorative approximation of the original toy's gull wing doors, and his baton weapons which peg in and store. Its a good likeness too, if to the Japanese version with the teal, maybe lacking the odd paint app, and this version retains the two piece missile launcher common to the base mould, but not seen on the exclusive.

So, is this any good, or merely something that exists? Well, even after so long the base toy is very good. The Sideswipe mould is more or less the platonic ideal of the carformer, doing an awful lot right even if its not doing anything too clever. Wheeljack has been happily positioned near my computer for weeks as hand candy, something the mould excels at. The changes to the accessories do work. On the other hand, long standing weaknesses in the design go unaddressed, and there's some minor QC issues. I had to thicken his "belt buckle tab" to secure his robot mode for example, and the paint on the missile was not a good idea; little fucker doesn't want to stay in. If you already own a Sideswipe, you don't actually need this version, but I seriously doubt you'd have a bad time with this one.

I swore a lot in this one, didn’t I?

 

Transformers: Legacy United Energon Universe Megatron is Something that Exists

OK, in the 40th Anniversary line, we have a tribute to a toy made during the 20th Anniversary. I am suddenly acutely aware of my own mortality. Sorry, this is gonna be both fairly brief and fairly negative.

 

The 2004 Transformers Energon Megatron toy (leader class)

Lets try to unpack this. This version of Megatron appeared, obviously, in Transformers Energon. I wrote a retrospective on that yonks ago, but it was notable for being the 20th anniversary series. It didn't do many direct tributes, more remakes and name reuses, but the influence was felt in more than a few toys, which is why this Megs looks a lot like the original Galvatron. As Energon was also a direct sequel to Armada, this makes the toy a representation of the same guy we saw as a leader class recently, which also explains his famous tank/sword accessory. That's a weapon either referencing his previous form, or made from his own corpse following his resurrection. Was it a good toy? Well, for its time it was pretty memorable, but not one that aged well. It wasn't a toy that especially prioritised articulation, it was more about gimmicks than leg joints, more so than most of its time, but it had a lot of style. I liked how it looked, but never how it moved or felt. Definitely a design that would benefit from a do-over. So, with this new Core Class toy we have a toy that's a homage to a homage. And one that you'd suspect would be at best a tenth the size of the original, but with hopefully more useful articulation by a country mile. Then again, its in the consistent disappointment that is the Core class. Is it any good? Well, not hugely.

Starting with the robot form I find myself feeling oddly nostalgic, while also debating how much I can file under "acceptable for the price". Visually, it looks like a scaled down version of the original, with a few things understandably omitted, and the materials changed, but no shortage of paint. Good, that's what basically we're here for. Its nicely presented, swapping out translucent for opaque plastic, and retaining some elements of the old gimmicks. The tank/sword is present, as are the shoulder cannons which now work on 3mm peg. Articulation is also dramatically improved; this toy features ball joints rather than a spring-loaded conversion. Where the weaknesses start to occur is in the shoulders. There's a tab there for the purposes of the altmode, which is fair enough, but this ends up limiting the range of motion. The cannons can get in the way too, bumping into the wings. Now, this isn't a problem if you position them forwards, but why wasn't this just pinned in the first place? I mean... yes. You can have megs gunfighter things up now, but this feels like a life and lemons situation. Also, while this toy really isn't lacking in plastic, this is one where they've had to make compromises and hollow things out. Like the back of the head, the tank/sword, nosecone, forearms and legs. Classy. Given the sheer mass of the altmode, I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed. All that being said, its not actually a bad robot mode, sitting on the good side of average for a core overall.

 

The same general vibe continues into gunship mode, although it is perhaps a touch worse as the robot form was given priority. On the one hand, the look is definitely there, and its doing a better job hiding the head than the much larger original. Its also pleasently chunky and big for a toy in the Core slot. On the other, the hands don't collapse and so stick out under the wings, while the hollowness and such are more obnoxious. Case in point: the tank/sword, which just ends up pointing the blade backwards. Now, given that the tank itself is hollow, could we not have it fold up? Or possibly evoke the original gimmick, and stow the blade in the big empty front end? As small altmodes go, its not bad. Its certainly not bad. But it so easily could have been better.

 

Now, I have some very mixed feelings about this toy, and I have been back and forth with my editing. Part of that's the whole "jeebus, twenty years" thing, I admit, and I’m glad it it exists. But a lot of it is the toy being frustratingly close to being good, but not. It feels like an earnest attempt to modernise an older design, but its also feels like every cost-saving trick they could have used, they did. Some designs just don't work out when scaled down, and while its not without its merits, this was too much to ask of a core class. I got this for £3, so I really shouldn't complain, but this would have felt bad value at RRP. Otherwise, there isn't a huge amount to say. It does what it needs to, it is something that exists, but it exists in a sub-average size class. In the meantime? I’m just gonna have a brief midlife crisis, see you soon.

Transformers: Legacy United Animated Universe Optimus Prime is Something That Exists

 

Animated Optimus Prime’s wiki picture

When you get right down it, Transformers: Animated was an anomaly. Effectively serving as a Plan B should the 2007 film fail, it didn't, Animated was by radical departure from the bayverse and Transformers in general. Animated stepped back from technical realism in favour of bright, dynamic, cartoony and above all else, characterful designs. The thing Animated did so well was creating Transformers whose mere appearance spoke volumes, only for the vocal performances and writing to utterly endear them to fans. Of course, that wasn't the only thing it did well, and I'd easily put it in the Top 3 Transformers media of all time. What Animated arguably did less well was the toys, the art style not being the easiest to replicate in plastic, and once the line concluded, Hasbro never tried something like that again. At least until Legacy got going and started drip-feeding those characters into the mix. Today I talk about the first voyager attempt.

The 2008 Transformers: Animated Optimus Prime toy, voyager class

 

So, Animated Prime, what's his deal then? Well, he's a fairly nuanced take on the archetype to be honest, with a debt to Optimus Primal. He's not the leader of the Autobots, Prime is a common rank in this continuity, and he's in charge of a Space Bridge repair crew. He's got the same idealistic, big good vibes as Optimi tend to have, but he's much lower in the hierarchy, and is depicted as young and inexperienced. Not the kinda guy you'd expect to be doing infrastructure. The precise reasons why he's in that command are actually very tragic, he's in disgrace, and his arc through the show is him overcoming that. This isn't an Optimus Prime that starts out at the top, in a rivalry with Megatron. Animated, though cut short, ends when he's god-damn earned that.

 

The actual toy then, and its vehicle mode first. Optimus' alt mode was honestly a bit ill-defined on screen and in plastic. He's more or less the front end of a scifi fire truck, although if you took the light-bar off, and you can here, you wouldn't know that. The show was a bit woolly about this, he had at least two trailers, but the actual toys didn't implement that. The original voyager had a functioning water cannon instead, for example. This new Legacy toy then focuses on the truck cab then, and its doing an OK job with it, but its not doing anything spectacular. On the plus side, it compares favourably with both the animation model and previous toys. There's a Generations greeblie filter being applied, but it passes the squint test. It not a Bulkhead or Skyquake situation, the likeness was prioritised here. There’s also some easily missed interior details, like a steering wheel, which is nice. The downside is however the feet, which ended up in the trailer hitch area and look a bit obnoxious, while the axe can stow but not integrate. The feet in particular are the subject of much speculation; there's a pair of slots there of no obvious use, prompting hopes of some Wingblade version down the line and the creation of at least one third party add-on set. This sort of visual flaw seems to occur a lot with modern primes, and I'd tolerate it more if something could obscure it, but this is at worst average as Legacy alt modes go. Shame about the production scars though.

If the truck form was more adequate than great, the robot form nails it. Lets talk about characterisation again. Optimus is a big guy, but big in a specifically heroic and cartoony way. He's very wide in the chest and arms, but thin in the legs and hips. He's a triangle of upper body strength, which is possibly more exaggerated here than in the 2d art, but its perfect for him. There's nowt brutish about it either, he's in bright, friendly colours, and most importantly, NO MOUTHPLATE. This adds so much, revealing his youthful face. Its a bit, umm, mainline Generations, but its him. He's Captain Carrot Ironfounderson, if he were a giant robot. And then there's the rocket axe. The vintage toys often didn't capture this right, but its perfectly replicated here with a blast effect port on the back, and an extending haft. This combines with the articulation to make a superlative robot mode. Its just about possible to do a two handed pose, and it presents posing options just not found in other toys. And its not just good articulation, its good articulation in service of character, and this robot mode has a lot of character. Maybe the forearms needed some details painted, but otherwise this is doing what it should with unexpected vigour. Oh, and its got the 5mm port thing covered.

 

In truth, Animated Optimus Prime was probably not the obvious choice for an update. Nowt wrong with him, and certainly someone you'd need eventually, but he's not one of the breakout characters from his show. And truthfully, even at the time, there were a lot of Optimus toys, and even more now. But this honestly impressed me. The altmode is at worst acceptable, and suffers from high expectations, but its doing OK. And the robot mode shines. While this toy seems to have gone under the radar and straight into discount, lost amongst so many other Primes, its well worth your time.

Transformers: Legacy United Star Raider Cannonball is Something That Exists

Eh. Explaining this one is gonna be like finding the end of a roll of sticky tape.

The 2006 Transformers: Cybertron Cannonball toy

 

 
OK, Cannonball is a pirate, part of the Star Raider group. He works under Thundertron. The origins of the group are fairly obscure, with thier best known iterations being a line of Botcon exclusive toys, and I recommend Chris McFeely's video on the topic. (It taught me things I didn't know.) This group has been chosen as another repaint/retool centric sub-line to Legacy United, of which Cannonball is one of the first I saw in person. Cannonball is basically a "Dread Pirate Roberts", and this new toy is a goddamn Gordian Knot of retooling, pretooling, and self-referencing. OK, the first Cannonball toy was a repaint of the 2005 vintage Red Alert toy, a deluxe hailing from the last act of the Unicron Trilogy. This chap had first appeared in Armada, had skipped Energon, but had come back for Cybertron, thus having gone from one design extreme to another. Red Alert started out as a big gimmick toy, and ended up as a small toy with an unusual transformation. Which was then a pirate. He wasn't really a direct update of the G1 character, so much as the team medic archetype that inexplicably looked a bit like Robocop. So, even before Cannonball existed, the toy he was repainted from was a bit of an odd duck. The reason why that toy became a pirate was likely that it didn't have the usual number of hands, instead having a gunarm with tool accessories. Which makes him a bit Robocop 3, but he doesn’t fly. Advance to the modern day, we have this toy, using the Skids mould, and pre-empting the presumed/certain Red Alert version. Moreover, this isn't merely a headswap, its a second and substantial retooling, omitting translucent plastics, while largely replacing the vehicle mode and accessories in the process. Its not merely shared engineering, they've reshelled Skids for a second time. I mean, its not totally unprecedented, but its not normal to get a toy that's a double retool and pretool at once. That's definitely something that exists.

 

The vehicle mode is where the changes are strongest. Its wheelbase and overall proportions are of course the same, and it retains the doors from Crankcase, but virtually everything else is new. Its a generic van or minivan rather than a legally-distinct Dodge like the original, but clearly distinct from its mould mates. The emergency services bit is granted by the light bar, but given the Mardis Gras vibe, I find myself wondering what the emergency would be. I mean, with the day-glo skull on the side... Has a rave run out of glowsticks? Mobile DJ? Don't get me wrong, its a great look. Black (p)repaints with metallic details always look grand, and this one clearly does. Its a good time, with numerous 5mm ports and a decorative light-bar and cyberkey bit with a faux kibble scalp on it. Yes, this is one if those Transformers with faux parts to suggest the transformation of an older toy. I can take it or leave it, and it is removable so that’s easy, but I don’t think I would have minded if they used that budget elsewhere. As a van it rolls well-enough, and there’s certainly enough 5mm ports, if having some panel issues on my example. One door doesn’t fit well, but your mileage may vary. Otherwise, its same van you've seen before.

Robot mode is of course achieved in the same manner as the other Skids-reuses. This reveals many familiar robot bits, if nicely presented ones. New elements include the head, the gunarm which I will return to presently, and faux kibble doors on the shoulders. Unlike the light-bar this doesn't add to the effect so much as look odd. I mean, replacing the clip-on wheels with something better looking probably wasn't an option, but maybe taking a lead from some other version of Red Alert might have been a better call. Unlike a lot of retools though, we have a substantial change in play pattern, while retaining the character appropriate shoulder guns from Crankcase. The left hand is replaced with a Diaclone style gun barrel onto which you can mount a hammer or a claw. These even store in the legs, although I find tricky to remove afterwards. This is obviously quite fun, massively characterful, especially on conjunction with the head. Its got a visor, and thus no distinct eyes, but he has what can only be described as a half mask, or maybe the implication of an eyepatch, painted on. So, while the robot mode is definitely familiar, the best is being made of it, and it wasn't bad in the first place. Its got Legacy standard articulation, and all that, with no glaring flaws.

 

I’ve focused a lot on the differences here, as I have brought this toy twice before, but Cannonball is very much more of the same. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, the base mould was sound, if not exceptional, and effort clearly has been made to differentiate this version. If you have to re-release a Transformer, modifying it as thoroughly as this one goes a long way to justify it. On the other? Well, I getting the vibe of a later Combiner Wars boxset or Power of the Primes release here. Just the slight feeling that an otherwise fine toy is being overused or remixed beyond a sensible point. He’s fun, but I’d be lying if I said that I wouldn't have preferred a new mould. Skids probably should not become another Sideswipe. Thus, should the appeal of being being a Mardi Grass Pirate Van isn't enough, or you have several of these already, you can probably skip Cannonball. If you do pick him up though, I think you'll have a good time.

Transformers: Legacy United Gears is Something That Exists

Right, its TFNation weekend... Have a Transformers review!

 

The 1984 Transformers Gears toy

 

As I’ve oft mentioned in the past, there's an awful lot of 80's characters that once ya check, haven't done much of note. Or indeed have a distinct personality. Gears is definitely one. His role is to be a bit grumpy, and at the risk of being unkind, we have Huffer too, and do we need both? And yet, somehow, this was the guy they selected to do the Spider-Man crossover. To attempt a young person's comparison: this is like pairing Taylor Swift with the least popular member of the K-Pop boyband SEVENTEEN (emphasis theirs). You know, the lads at Glastonbury? Its not like that crossover was actually bad, but there had be at least a dozen better choices. Gears has always been a guy whom has been around, he was almost in Kingdom, but he's been overshadowed by his mouldmates. He pales in comparison with Swerve, the Autobot barman, and this toy just got turned into a Gobot. So, much like Beachcomber, I got this chap basically because he was marked-down on a day when I fancied a new indulgence.

Now, as it turns out, Legacy United Gears is actually a low-key kind of good. Is he flawless? No. Is he doing anything markedly clever or interesting? Also no. Is he addressing the continuing value question raised by putting minibots in the deluxe slot? A further no, he's rather small and simple. But what the toy is doing is hand candy. A transformer with a fun/engaging actual transformation is usually on the right track. When that transformation adds to already good articulation, that's even better. And when the toy is generally well-presented too? Well, it becomes rather difficult to dislike. Even with the truck mode. That isn't great, objectively. Its fine from the front, that's nicely painted, but things come undone at the back. His chest plate is just there, as are his lower legs. His gun stores in one of six usefully placed ports, and there's paint on the wheels. Those are clip wheels though, and due to the transformation its easy for them to be misaligned. Initial stock photography got that wrong; I will admit to that colouring my perceptions of this toy. There's a feel of awkwardness to it, as there isn't a fixed wheelbase. Finally, there's a mild case of Visible Head Syndrome, so remember to turn his face around, lest he look disapprovingly at you. Its not Needlenose bad, or Skullgrin mould bad, but its not hard to find better truck mode. But it is vaguely adorable I suppose, so that counts for something.

Putting Gears into robot mode is, as mentioned above, hand candy. It does inherit some elements from the 80's toy, but otherwise it seems innovative. The wheelbase is independent of the limbs, so all four end up stowed in the chest. This is honestly kinda fun. As a happy side-effect, this conversion takes the toy a bit above the Legacy articulation standard. The shoulders have a butterfly joint so they move forwards and back, while both the elbows and knees are double jointed. His feet are simple ankle tilts, which is maybe disappointing in context, but its otherwise there, and that big head is on a balljoint. He poses just that little bit better than he needed to, certainly enough to use that modest blaster. Visually, its not bad either. The styling is obviously Sunbow based, but I honestly don't mind it this time. He's not got some accessories he only ever used once on screen, you just open up his chest to see some (sadly) unpainted gubbins referencing the episode Changing Gears. Contrasting with that however is a very toy-centric Easter Egg. There's an M sculpted on the back of his head, which honestly has far too much history for me to do the subject justice here. Look up the Mysterians, its a fascinating area of research. I do like his expression, it hints at grumpiness without overselling it, while his proportions give him what young people supposedly call "he's just a little guy energy". There is a backpack, but it doesn't do him any great harm. So generally, a good robot mode.

 

As it stands, Gears is the sixth mould of the modern deluxe minibots, and thats both a good thing and a bad thing. There's definitely an element of lessons learned here, he's not got the problems that Huffer had, but I feel they didn't try as hard to justify a deluxe pricetag. There's only the one accessory, a simple gun, a somewhat flawed altmode and nothing that I can immediately point to as where the budget went. maybe inflation? That said, I find myself charmed by this toy. The truck mode is charming mainly because of its flaws, rather than in spite of them, while the transformation and robot mode are conventionally good. I can't say with a straight face that Gears is a classic or anything, but I can certainly see him as an Honourable Mention when folk do their Best of 2024 lists.

He's just a little guy.

Transformers: Legacy United Tidal Wave is Something that Exists

And is huge. Unreasonably, impractically huge. Almost too huge to photograph. Hence the crappier than usual photos taken in my kitchen.

Tidal Wave’s wiki picture, a screen capture from the 2004 Transformers video game

As a casual browse of this blog will quickly reveal, I dig giant robots. But not nessecarily the most giant of giant robots. Over the years I've had a fair few of the modern Titan Class Transformers. The biggest of the big boys, without going to HasLab. We're talking toys with robot modes exceeding 18 inches in height. The novelty of these was high at first, but eventually reality set in and it became routine. I started to run out of space, inflation happened, Predaking was pretty awful, and then Hasbro started to run out of characters that justified the pricepoint in either fame or size. Eventually, I donated most of my titans to Toy-Fu, and swore off the pricepoint as something I couldn't justify to myself. Then this one was announced, and I was pulled back in. In much the same way as Armada Optimus Prime. I sold a BotCon boxset to buy this... So I'm glad it doesn't suck.

A composite screenshot of Tidal Wave in animation

But, I'm getting ahead of myself, who is Tidal Wave? Well, he's another character from Transformers: Armada, the fifth such release to appear of late. He was a big, physically powerful, Decepticon famous for chanting his own name. Not exactly a thinker, he was however noteworthy for having naval-themed altmodes, which is rare, and combining with Megatron, which was unprecedented. How big he actually was a bit variable. The famously shoddy cartoon was inconsistent but generally made him on the large side, while comics and video games made him gigantic. The simply-titled Transformers for the PS2 console had him be both an end of level boss, and the level itself. This was awesome. Much later on, Nick Roche would bring the character back for his Sins of the Wreckers comic, where he was similarly huge. And a whale. This was also awesome. The toy was pretty well-regarded too, people liking its transformation and play features, as while he could split into three seperate boats, it was not mandatory for the transformation to do so. Its actually one of my faves, I dunno if its top 3 material, but its definitely A tier for its line. So, I was very pleased to see him back. And I think I would have been happy for him to be simply adapted into the Commander class with functional knees. But they went Titan for him. And they kinda made him a mixed representation in that he's in Cartoon/Japanese-toy purple and huge, rather than Hasbro/Western-toy green and huge. Maybe there's planned repaints, I don't know. But if he's a titan now, surely he can't combine with Megatron any more? He’s lost that along with the Mini-Con gimmicks these remakes all cut? Well, brace yourself.

Something very odd has happened here. They've created a bunch of integrated accessories that Tidal Wave can pass to Megatron/Galvatron. I refer to these collectively as "miniwave", as these are patterned off Tidal Wave's altmodes, with the addition of platform shoes. There's shades of Astrotrain's coal tender with this, or Blitzwing's hulk-hands, but it is much much sillier than either of those. The whole idea of miniwave is so utterly, utterly dumb, I can't quite decide if its just dumb, or so dumb it ends up being awesome again. Given Tidal Wave is now so big that he's socialising with citiformers, no would of begrudged the designers for dropping the Megatron combination. I mean, they've already dropped Mini-Cons. But no. We have Tidal Wave break off bits of himself, in the likenesses of his altmodes, so Megatron can go to the Met Gala in style. On the one hand, it works, and probably better than the original toys at that. It explains Megatron's odd shoulders, its working off the 5mm port system with ratcheted pegs for stability, and Megs' articulation doesn't suffer really. On the other? Well, Tidal Wave is giving up his fingers for this. You end up with some big gaps, although you can work the thumbs into a claw arrangement. Its also worth admitting that "Burning Megatron" wasn't the most dynamic combination in the first place, and you may only do this once. I don't know if we'd honestly have a better toy if they left this gimmick out. Maybe they could have pushed things further and had those parts do more. Like be a partner robot. Or just having Mini-Cons. But this is just such a weird thing to do, I can't help but respect it.

 

The mini-wave pieces also end up playing a part in the base mode, which is also new. Its one step above a fan mode in terms of complexity, in that it looks unintended until you realise that there's dedicated joints in the thighs to allow for it. There's no ramps or such, although its making good use in of the turrets, which use 5mm pegs. The base mode is also the only form you can go to from robot mode without substantial disassembly, Tidal Wave's old party trick being lost in the embiggening process. While not a selling point, I feel this looks OK, in a low-key, just throw it in sort of way. Most base modes tend to be robot yoga anyway, and its not bad by those standards. Better than Titans Return Fort Max, at least. I will however mention that this form does expose certain hollow bits in the torso block, and a transformation joint that likes to separate on my example. 

 

The robot mode by comparison is ideal. It is, as near as makes no difference, perfect. Like most of these modern remakes, gimmicks have been swapped out for articulation, but in so far as mass market toys go, I don't know how you could do better. I mean, he's a big effing guy, he's covered in details and paint, being excellently presented. He moves better than I expected, with a waist joint, articulated skirt armour and ankle tilts. Ankle tilts! The chest guns all move, and can tilt up so they can fire usefully in robot form. Lots of 5mm ports too if you need more. His hands now feature blasters, and are posable in an industrial robotics kinda way. The head rotates, and can unexpectedly look up, although not down. His hips also took me a bit by surprise in that these give enough to look natural, but no more. In what I can only assume is a concession to his weight, the hips are a limited to about 45 degrees forwards and back. EDIT: no, they were just tight. This, combined with the hollowness of his feet, is however as close to an actual flaw the robot mode has. He has an immense presence. He's not trying to be a gymnast. This guy is a juggernaut, no, a dreadnought, striding implacably towards you with no concern for fancy moves or your feeble attacks. If you're not onboard with that, I don't know what I can say to convince you. 

 

Then there's the Dark Fleet modes, yes, modes plural. I did mention that, but that was a few million words ago. Tidal Wave comes apart to form three distinct naval vessels with sci-fi elements, and then be recombined into a very anime space battleship. Following on the original toy, these tend to be a bit simple, with castor wheels on the underside, although obviously larger and more visually pleasing than the source material. Of the three, the battleship segment is the most functional if the weakest in appearance. It looks the least like an actual vehicle, as the head isn't well obscured but its got eight moving turrets, so fair enough. The landing craft or troop carrier is the most scifi, and generally the best looking too, if not having a huge amount going on. EDIT: And a slight tendancy to seperate. Finally, the aircraft carrier is something of a slab, not doing much by itself, but put a couple of core class jets atop and you'd be laughing. I do find the loss of the highly individual play features these previously had to be a bit sad, if not unexpected. I would have fought for that aircraft elevator...

 

Oh, Jesus, this is actually heavy.

 

Ahem. Anyway, putting Tidal Wave into the combined ship form is simple on paper, but there's a lot of mass to manage, not to mention tabs. Once together however the ship is completely solid. Little new is revealed, but it is making the best of what's there, the weaknesses of the battleship being minimised even as the hip joints poke out if the back. The colours make a great deal of sense, the flight deck contrasting nicely with the rest, while the landing craft and battleship match closely. Its got very much the same dreadnought energy as the robot form, which is only more appropriate. This looks like something that would warp in and change an entire battle just by turning up. Perhaps less convincing than say the immediately-preceeding Nemesis, but much much cooler.

As you can probably tell, I rather like Tidal Wave. There's a number of imperfections, but mainly these fall under the heading of personal preference or artistic licence. Its very much what it looks like, a dramatically scaled-up version of the old Giga-Con class toy, which removes gimmickry in favour of articulation and modern engineering. It also goes out of its way to maintain the Megatron combination, which would be harmless and forgettable, if it wasn't so daft. So its harmless and daft instead. If you're an Armada fan, you likely have this already, but if you're not? Well, he's an expensive chap, but he's doing nothing wrong. So if you want something huge and memorable, Tidal Wave is worth considering. And should this end up on deep discount, as Titans can do? Jump on it.

 

This picture is here because I like it.

Transformers: Legacy United Infernac Universe Magneous is Something that Exists

A contemporary Rock Lords Poster, circa 1986

 

If I'm totally honest, I don't think the Legacy Junkions lived up to the potential of Scraphook. They were fine, don't get me wrong, but I don't think the gimmick was taken very far. I found Junkasaurus a bit disappointing too, even by the standards of fan modes. Magneous, and his fellow Infernac Universe brethren, replace the Junkions for Legacy United, and I wonder how things will play out with them. He's got the same come-to-bits-but-an-actual-transformation gimmick that Scraphook did, if with a lower ratio of removable bits to leftovers. Magneous however does have something that Scraphook didn't, he's a rock. And, if anything, that's a novel look for a Transformer.

It's far from unprecedented though. The old rival to Transformers, Tonka's Gobots, had a spin-off called the Rock Lords. These operated pretty much exactly how you'd expect an 80's toy line to, with the exception that everyone changed into a lump of minerals. Yes, actual rocks, no electric guitars involved. Or Megaman. Now, before I go further, I want to stress something; I'm not engaging with the ancient Transformers/Gobots rivalry here. Such things are petty, stupid, lazy, ignorant, and most importantly, beneath me. I had a few of these Rock Lords back in the day, and they weren't bad. But, in total fairness, if you looked at the Rocklords and asked if they were some form of joke, I could not honestly blame you. I mean I like BeastBox, so I'm not against a robot becoming a shape, but yeah... It's not clear what they were thinking. Magneous, and presumably all of the Infernac toys, have actual vehicle forms though, thus largely avoiding the "But why?” problem. Why? It's because it's visually interesting and you get something that looks radically different from anything Transformers or indeed anything else Hasbro has made lately. Although I assume actual Rock Lord tributes, maybe as some form of exclusive, are only a matter of time. Otherwise, Magneous is a blank slate, with no stated faction and no fictional appearances. Maybe Skybound should fit these into the Energon Universe somewhere. Assuming it's not too modern for them.

 

Magneous' alternate form is a pick-up truck, by way of geographical time. It's mainly two tones of grey stone, with the shape of a machine, but fairly minimal mechanisms. While there are wheel wells, the wheels are all but hidden by rock formations. Its windows meanwhile feature wire mesh, giving a bit of the old Mad Max or Gaslands, which is unexpected, but not unwelcome. The fundamentally stony look of things is very well done; there's no flat panels or hard angles here, more irregular shapes carved by time and smoothed by water. It’s striking in its way, as a proof of concept, or the basis for a Flintstones collaboration, the toy is definitely passing muster. What does count in its favour is that there's only so many things we can compare it to, unlike, say, actual cars. I'm probably being a bit forgiving here due to the sheer novelty of it, but there is a case of visible Head Syndrome on the underside that's not a plus. In terms of play value? It's a good roller, with dedicated tab/slots for it's weapon, including a battering ram set-up I'd completely failed to notice until after posting. 5mm ports are there, but you have to take the dude apart to get at them.

 

Speaking of pulling the dude apart, the armorizer thing. To make another Scraphook comparison, much less of Magneous can be handed to other toys, and there doesn't seem to be any suggestion of part-swapping or gestaults at this time. There's an odd detail I'll come back to, but there's no package art depicting another combination. He ends up missing arms, lower legs, and accessories. The beneficiary of this sacrifice gets a stone hammer, a shield, some arms and a couple of stoney armor bits. It's fine for what it is, if quite vestigial, and maybe in need of longer pegs. To make a broad observation: things almost seem to be going full circle with this whole gimmick. Between this and the Trashmaster mould, these toys are looking more and more like regular Transformers with random bits that come off, rather than accessories that graduated to self-contained toys. I'll let you decide if that's good or bad, but in its defence, I want to acknowledge two things. 1) The parts fit and tolerances seem good to the point being stiff on my example, so nothing detaches from him when it shouldn't. 2) There's enough of Magneous left to get a truck chassis which you can plug guns into, so you can make an artillery thingy. And the leg wheels are detachable for, um reasons? The instructions are unclear.

 

 

The robot mode is functional as well as interesting. Articulation is about typical for Legacy, if the neck being a bit limited, as its just a simple swivel with a slight tilt. The joint design is otherwise complete, notable features being the technically ball jointed wrists and soft-locking knees, both arising from the transformation. Magneous features a stony axe/crossbow, and can use his backpack/roof as a shield, so he's got the robot playpattern down. As such, with the basics covered, I can talk about the looks, which continue to be distinctive. Magneous is not a robot disguised as a rock, rather he is a rock that is also a robot. The sculpt is almost entirety stone textured, sometimes mirrored, sometimes asymmetrical, but always stony. What stops this from being a stone monster, and instead a Transformer is the chest design, featuring two wheels and a regrettable amount of open space. That's definitely a weird bit to be visibly hollow, the robot mode otherwise doing OK on that front. Proportionally, this chap looks like a stocky brawler, faintly reminiscent of Bayverse Ironhide by way of He-Man techno-fantasy. (He-Man also had rock people, it seems to have been a zeitgeist thing.) It looks like someone chipped one of his horns and he was too hyped to notice. There is character, yes. There is another odd design choice to go with the chest though, the removable forearm panels that look like carved feathers. These ordinarily remain on the forearms, concealing the 5mm ports, but the instructions highlight dedicated tabs for them to act as fillers for the calves. While welcome, this does make wonder about future releases, as a friend of mine pointed out, a leaked Infernac toy, has a certain feathery look to him too.  But, this is idle speculation, and that guy is a rock helicopter, it's uncharted territory. This element does however highlight Magneous' general lack of 5mm ports, which was a non-issue in truck mode, but more noteworthy here. The designers seem to have prioritised the overall look of the toy here, so you can't double him up with another similar toy, and that's a bit of a shame. 

 

Overall, I'm quite charmed by Magneous. He is a breath of fresh air, and while there is a nostalgic element to him for me, the Infernac mob is a rare flash of creativity in a very nostalgic brand. Mind you, if you put aside the visual aspect, say if rockformers aren't your thing, Magneous is fine but not exceptional. There's no shortage of carformers, and the armorizer functions feel a touch tacked-on. He's definitely an interesting piece, but he's up against some strong competition in wave 1, many as equally weird. Ultimately, he is something that exists, but it's good that he does.


Also, It's a crying shame that the Detritus name was taken....

Transformers: Generations Selects DK-3 Breaker is Something That Exists

You know what? Another Thursday Transformers bonus article! 

  The 1982 Diaclone "No. 5 4WD Hilux" Toy, blue and yellow variants.

 

So, last year, I was at the Brum Toy Fair, enjoying the company of the people I was with, and spending money. I spotted today's subject on discount, and felt tempted. This was a mould I'd completely missed out on during the chaos of Earthrise. I did some more browsing, and made a shocking discovery, loose examples of Hoist and Trailbreaker, the mass market releases, were going for equal or greater money. At that point, the random Diaclone-inspired repaint from a premium imprint seemed like the obvious choice. I'd just pretend that it was "faded comic colours Trailbreaker", or maybe the Shattered Glass version, and I'm sure you'd come to the same conclusion in similar circumstances. Something making that easier is simply that Breaker isn’t a character with any real history, even by the standards of Diaclone tribute toys. This is the first Transformers toy with this name, and his only fictional appearance is to be named-checked as somebody whom died off-page in a comic. Possibly the only trivia of note is the "DK-3" prefix on his name, a reference to Diakron, which was Takara trying to release Diaclone stuff in Western markets mere months before Transformers got going. As such, I’m gonna be spending a lot of time referring to the other uses of the mould, and how they came to effect this one.

 

The robot form is undoubtedly good, if merely Trailbreaker in blue. This is because the original Diaclone toys in this case were simple, one colour, variants of each-other and Hasbro haven't done anything to mix up the formula here. As Trailbreaker is therefore so evident in the toy, this prompts a discussion of character models. So, what often happened with the original Transformers is that their appearance in animation and comics was often wildly different from the toys they were meant to be. When the 1985 toys came out though, something odd occurred. The new character models were often a fair bit closer to the toys, but also retools of the 1984 cast. So while the toys might be near identical, fictionally they definitely weren't. This was weird. Trailbreaker and Hoist were a good example of this, and reimaginings since have had to tread the needle between these conflicting depictions while still being able to release them as the same basic toy. What seems to have gone down with this Earthrise mould is that the designers favoured Hoist, and treated Trailbreaker as the secondary retool. This has the ever-so-slight downside of Trailbreaker having Hoist's "friend-shaped" proportions rather than a heroic build. And, let's be real here, Earthrise was going hard on the whole cartoon accuracy shtick, so this choice was a self-defeating one.

That doesn't really matter as far as Breaker is concerned, he's a blank slate, but I offer the above as context and explanation. Breaker is a big chap, being a head taller and visibly wider than a deluxe of similar vintage. He’s not quite voyager sized, but definitely is edging that way. His gut-to-biceps ratio makes him look more fat than muscular, and in all fairness this is a bit of welcome variation. Not every Transformer needs the mechanical equivalent of washboard abs The blue is very attractive, with vibrant silver and red in the mix. There is a certain degree of overt hollowness at play though, something not uncommon for his vintage, definitely on the notable side here. It's where the impression of size comes from while still being a deluxe. Functionally, he's got a lot of the good stuff, Legacy standard articulation and the 5mm ports are plentiful. Due to a transformation quirk he technically has two sets of knees, which is useful, although the shoulder gubbins do limit the neck. His gun completely covers his fist, giving a nice gunarm, and you can untab part of the backpack to use as a shield. Certainly not a bad robot mode, with both presence and play features.

 

Breaker's altmode is a made-up and blocky camper van, one not dissimilar to the Toyota 4WD High-Lux of the original toy. That backend area is the main area of functional difference between the Hoist and Trailbreaker iterations of this mould, with Breaker obviously using the latter. Like all good remoulds, this does change the character of the vehicle, although this does end up benefiting the robot mode more. Breaker does not feature compatibility with the short-lived airlock system, but he can instead have his gun on top like an actual turret. As opposed to just plonking what is obviously a rifle on the vehicle for storage, or otherwise stowing it. Earthrise toys dialled the 5mm port thing back a touch, so having the turret option is welcome. You can also fudge it between the front wheels, if that’s your thing. The overall appearance of the van tends towards realism, but not from all angles. The dark colour palette helps a lot with the serious vehicle bits, but there's a lot of robot on the underside in contrasting bright colours. The hands are very obvious and ground clearance is minimal at best. On the plus side, translucent windows and headlights. Well, I say its a plus, I have a doubt. There is substantial use of translucent plastic in the chest area, which becomes the front of the van mode. I assume this is where they made up the difference for the toy's larger footprint, as opposed being to more selective in the use of such plastic. Or just simply just casting the whole bit in matching blue and just painting the damn windows. It's a breakage concern as the wheels connect to directly to that famously brittle plastic, and these wheels attach via mushroom peg. Of course translucent plastic isn’t an inherent negative, and this toy certainly does not have colour matching issues, so your mileage may vary. It could be fine. Then again, if you're a toy designer, and you're gonna do the entire front end in the stuff, only the paint it? I'd say you were probably doing things the wrong way around, and I hope you've taken preventative measures.

While Breaker is clearly something that exists, I want to like it more than I do. As a repaint of a mould I missed out on, Breaker does have value. And he is a nice blue. The base toy meanwhile seems to suffer with some unforced errors. I wonder if Hoist was somebody's pet project, because the mould is too specific to him, and, sorry to bang on about it, the use of translucent plastic like this is something they know not to do. I certainly feel I got my money’s worth, don't get me wrong, but if you just want a boxy carformer, or merely a Diaclone tribute, there’s other options. I mean, there's another Selects version of this mould on the way now, and, as near as I can tell, they've removed translucent plastic completely for that.