Transformers Legacy Evolution Core Class Wave 1 review

The Transformers Evolution line begins, and I'm very late since I got these guys much later than anticipated on top of me having other lines to give attention to! Anyways, we appear to be delving into a throwback of some sort, as Hasbro is now hyping up a smaller but unexpected combiner in the form of Volcanicus! Yes, that thing from Power of the Primes that gave fans pre-SS86 Dinobots who were smaller and had to combine is back as a gestalt made up of 6 Core Class figures, but things are very different this time around; rather than give fans a remake of Slash for the line, we instead get Skar, who was a former member back in the old IDW universe! We'll catch up with the other Dinobots later, but now, let's give these two and New Soundwave a shot!

Let's go over the Dinobots first as they're the new molds of the line. Slag and Sludge were two of the first Dinobots in G1 (at least in the cartoon, while all five of them popped up simultaneously in the Marvel series), and they might make sense as to why they're the first members of the wave to give us an idea of how they work. They're given a few paint apps here and there, but nothing too mindblowing or intricate. Slag's dino head is painted gold along with his blue eyes, and his tail has gold paint as well, but he's otherwise saving the rest of the paint in robot mode. Sludge has a few more paint apps with the silver on the back and what will become the robot toes, but otherwise, the lack of paint isn't the main issue but rather the THICC hind legs he has in contrast to those puny forelegs. Seriously, Sludge is not only undersized but awkward in terms of proportions. He also lacks any articulation, while Slag can move his legs front and back as well as in and out for the forelegs due to them being used in robot mode. His jaw opens a little but it will look unnatural if you open it further.

Here is Slag next to his Studio Series 86 counterpart, and you can see how much color breakup that figure has in comparison to the Core Class counterpart, especially owing to the larger toy having more room to work in all those impressive details. That being said, Core Slag can at least mimic some of the sculpted details much like how previous Core Class figures did if they had a similarly designed larger toy, with Optimus and Megatron being good examples while Starscream and Soundwave to a lesser extent (Bumblebee and Hot Rod heavily deviated while Shockwave integrated everything from the Siege toy's altmode into a normal robot mode).

And here is Sludge next to his SS86 counterpart, who has better proportions, but once again, that figure has to prioritize its appearance as well as being a fully functional Leader Class toy while the Core Class version instead had to work in both of its modes and the combined mode. At least he has similarly sharp dino teeth etched into the head.

Transforming them is similar to the larger toys, but very simplified due to the costs they have as well as the combining priorities they must also balance, resulting in somewhat faithful but oddly designed figures. Slag looks fairly normal apart from the dino legs pointing straight up, though I wouldn't recommend removing them. I like that his chest and toes break up the gray along with his black hands and even his robot head having red paint. Sludge ends up being the awkward one due to his arms sticking out more from the torso than they normally would on top of how the kibble is stuck on the arms rather than integrated properly for the figure like one would hope. The biggest offender is the massively wide hip joints that connect to the waist with faux thighs being undersized on top of his normal robot legs. And that results in some unusual articulation for him and Slag to an extent, with both having neck articulation (though Slag's tricerahood moves with his head), shoulder swivels and hinge outward movement for Slag and ball joints for Sludge, a waist swivel for Slag and a diaphragm swivel for Sludge), a skirt panel for Sludge to hide his articulation having the dino legs move front and back and in and out slightly on top of providing thigh swivels while the tail portions work with the knee movement. Slag, on the other hand, has normal ball jointed hips and knees, but what's not normal are both the reversed thighs and how loose the parts are. He has a weapon in the form of a blaster made from his tail.

For a robot mode size comparison, we once again get a reminder that Core Class Dinos were never really meant to be on the same tier as the other Core Class figures since they have to keep everything balanced between the two modes they'd already have as well as combining together, but we can at least say the more desirable SS86 Dinobots feel definitive as they should be.

While the other Dinobots remain unavailable, we can at least make up the torso of Volcanicus. Yes, you read that right! Grimlock used to make up the entire torso for the figure, but this time, Slag and Sludge take over that role in order to make for both a better-proportioned look for the character design AND hinting at a possible Victory Dinoking combiner set possibly from Generations Selects. Anything's possible! I have to say how different the design feels when the Triceratops head replaces the usual Tyrannosaurus head, though it does remind me of the Mezodon/Triceramax Megazord from Power Rangers Dino Thunder. While the thighs look odd, the way Slag transforms into the upper body is pretty cool, acting like a halfway point for his transformation, and I also dig how Sludge's arms attach to Slag. While the other Dinobots remain MIA, we can at least revert the legs in their robot mode orientation and leave the four arms back to their spots so he can be a four-armed monstrosity!!!! He even stands up with no issues!

Here is Soundblaster in-hand next to Soundwave, with the main differences being that the gold is a darker shade now, the blue is replaced with black (though there is no break up on the side portions of the tapedeck mode like on Soundwave, and his chest not only has a purple tint but also has a clearer Decepticon insignia. He still retains the exposed toes in tape deck mode.

The robot mode is the same in terms of molding, though his shoulders don't have any paint apps like on Soundwave. Otherwise, the rest of the paint layout and the robot molding remain the same. He does, however, include a repaint of Laserbeak in the form of Buzzsaw...and yeah, that's the closest we'll ever get to any representation of the character.

Overall, this is an interesting set-up for the newest wave of Core Class figures. While Iguanus was cool in the first Legacy wave, Hot Rod was a case of just waiting for the line to pop-up despite being in Kingdom first, and Skywarp replaced his null-rays for some dumb fork that resulted in an awkward sword in a line that otherwise didn't use the combining weapon gimmick as well as Siege. This first wave, on the other hand, gave us a cool duo of Dinobots that make 1/3rd of the Volcanicus set AND a Soundblaster repaint that proves how great the Kingdom Core Class figure is. Get them if you see them!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Dinobot duo)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Soundblaster)