Transformers Legacy Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection Cosmos review

Unidentified Flying Objects are hard to find, and so is Cosmos. Yes, one of two new molds in the Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection, and it had to be a G1 character that was impossible to find. Man, I thought Scourge and Override would be hard to get since one was a more popular repaint of the Laser Prime mold and another is a Cybertron character with an arguably better new toy compared to her older version, but slagging COSMOS had to be the most scalped figure in the subline, with a Siegeswipe repaint known as Deep Cover being in second place somehow. This would be fine if we got a repaint of this mold as Path Finder in blue after we got it in regular Legacy as Cosmos, but what do I know. Anyways, is this shortpacked doorbell spaceshape worth hunting down and/or paying for way more in the aftermarket, or are you better off not believing in the existence in UFOs?

Here we have Cosmos in his UFO mode. It's undoubtedly the iconic flying saucer that he's taken form of in the many iterations of G1. Certainly a taller one with the top being longer than with the other versions. It's a fairly classic look for Cosmos otherwise, with the details that'd later represent his robot-mode chest being painted nicely, and we get the mini guns on the front with the thrusters on the back. His shade of green is dual-tone and they aren't the exact same shade of green that was found with the G1 toy. If anything, the most glaring issue has to be the slightly exposed yellow surrounding the tower, but that's fairly minor if I'm being honest. He could use the yellow stripes, though. And weapon storage like always is the typical weapon-slapped-on-roof-or-side schtick, but he looks funny with the checkered flag on it.

For a vehicle mode comparison, he's more or less around the same size as the other Minibots, being closer to Pipes than Goldbug and Cliffjumper. I don't mind it since the other Minibots can be in different sizes from one another. Makes them unique and not the same height as in G1. And yes, those two repaints are SS-86 Cliffjumper and Buzzworthy Goldbug.

Transformation is pretty fun for this guy; I originally anticipated it to be the same as with Origin Bumblebee (and we'll get to how that was initially going to go), but it's pretty unique for a character like Cosmos. The arm assembly swivels around so the shoulders can be placed in a better position than on the old toy's assembly, while the waist can hinge forwards to allow the legs to be parallel with the rest of the torso. And instead of pulling the head up, we instead have it on a panel that flips like on Siege Jetfire's chest, only for the head. And the resulting robot mode is done up very well, as it remains accurate to the design Cosmos is known for: stumpy, yet presenting a bit of power to him so as to not make him look like a slouch. The yellow is painted on his arms and doesn't match the plastic legs, but it's fine. He has a bit of an unsightly backpack, but at least it's better than the old toy's rampy butt. 

Head sculpt is shaped like Magneto's helmet if it was shaped like a flattop. You not only have the yellow face and mouthplate, but we also have a ridge that almost looks like what the old toy used, only now it's a deliberate detail. Articulation consists of a ball-jointed head, shoulders move front and back, in and out (which click when straightened down), swivels at the elbows, elbow bends, a waist swivel, hips that move front and back as well as in and out, thigh swivels, knee bends, and ankle pivots.

His weapon can either be a checkered flag (with an unpainted side that can be used for slowing cars down or surrendering) or a normal gun if you remove the flag piece. Amusing how this got no problem but people got mad over Blitzwing's new hands. It's cute either way, and I'm happy that we got a proper Cosmos mold. In fact, this wasn't what we were going to get initially! At first, Cosmos was going to be a retool of Origin Bumblebee given how some of the design choice vaguely match the character designs, but HasTak designers later found out they can actually make a newer mold with as few sprue trees as possible, which explains why the bulk of the figure made up for the hollow parts of the toy. That's a pretty cool design process, though I still hope Origin Bumblebee gets reused in another way, like a Glyph!

For a robot mode comparison, he's in-between the likes of Huffer and Warpath, two of the taller Minibots, and our BumbleJumper duo (not to be confused with Bumper). It's a pretty good way to change up the scale between all of the characters in the subgroup, and it makes me wonder what to expect from Brawn, Gears, Windcharger, Beachcomber, Powerglide, and Seaspray (Wheelie is a Core Class toy, and retools for Outback, Swerve, and Tailgate have yet to be made). I honestly think this guy is pretty cool as a toy (apart from some of the hollow parts that stem from the limited sprue trees), yet the limited distribution that Hasbro gave this guy is extremely frustrating. Why is it that Hasbro refuses to do anything competent with the more desirable figures when they're not only limited in stock but also remain as store exclusives? It'd be one thing if Cosmos was a regular retail figure, but having him a Walmart exclusive is extremely irritating, especially since not every store is likely going to have him available (my Walmart only has Blurrs, Overrides, and Burn Outs), so you better hunt him down everywhere or hope someone has him for a reasonable price.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐