When it comes to Rise of the Beasts, there is a whole lot that we know and don't know about. While we know who is going to be in the movie and the fact that Maximals and Terrorcons are joining the battle, we're still determining who will die, what roles every will have, and how much it will connect to either MV1 or Bumblebee. Hasbro may have had to tell Paramount to push the movie to 2023, but now we are finally going to get the film halfway through the year. Until then, let's start things off with the Core Class pairing of Arcee and Freezer!
Here they both are in their vehicle modes, with Arcee being an unlicensed Ducati 916 while Freezer is in one of his modes as a free-standing turret gun. While the bike mode manages to be pretty good for what it is in the scale, even having some handles and mirrors molded on the front of the bike, Freezer's altmode is more Cybertronian though you can tell his arms and legs are hanging out there.
Arcee's altmode may be made to go in-scale with the Studio Series figures, it does mean she shrinks when going from her Cybertronian Deluxe form to the Earth Core Class altmode she now has. I guess you could say Arcee's altmode was more Tron-based in the old days. I also have to comment that the Geewun-colors from the Bumblebee movie design are now replaced with a deco more reminiscent of her Energon incarnation, though the color layout feels more like the colors of Cybertron Override.
Transformation mimics some of the steps that other Legends-scale bikeformers had in the past, such as the back region being the arms like Animated Prowl or a similar leg transformation that has the wheel halves within the lower legs as with Combiner Wars Groove, though Arcee's wheel halves stick out on the back while they integrated better for Groove. While her robot mode is looks mostly good apart from it being based on outdated concept art (which is backed by the movie being pushed back a year even though the toys could have been modified to be reworked to be closer to the movie but eh), the back kibble sticks out a little too much. It takes a bit of getting used to if you ask me.
Her articulation has ball joints for the head, shoulders, elbows, and hips while the waist swivels and the knees bend on hinges. The waist swivel can be limited somewhat because of the back kibble being attached to her butt and not her back. Her gun, which served as a kickstand, can peg onto her hand. If you want, you can have her hold the front wheel if you wanted.
Next to her Beewun counterpart, the overhaul feels reminiscent of, say, Optimus Prime's design comparison from G1 to his first movie. I say that because while Arcee's design from ROTB looks very new, it has reminiscent elements of her G1 self, like the head and a bit of pink here and there. I think this might be my favorite Movie Arcee design, surpassing the 2007 one because this new one has a head sculpt I like a little more and a color scheme I like more. The 2007 version was the look I originally wanted since the ROTF design, while unique, never really worked as toys and felt more appropriate for a drone army, and the Bumblebee movie design feels pretty desperate to win over the Geewunners that hated Paramount since 2007 (and continue to hate them even after 2018 if the reaction towards Wheeljack's nerdy look is anything to go by). And for those wondering, yes, you can have her roller skate like her Deluxe figure, though the wheels look oversized, and having them as halves do make her a bit more unbalanced.
As for Freezer's altmode, his free-standing turret doesn't really stay together that well. The legs that are made up from the four arms can slightly move around and untab if you try to mess with it too much, and the reason why his legs don't tab in anywhere is so his heels can be held as handles for a larger robot to use him as a weapon. If you tab in the arms with the legs, you have him as a Targetmaster, and he has a dedicated 5mm port so anyone can hold him with no issue. It's a little unwieldy, but it can work for someone like Barricade. Now why is Barry used in these two images, you might ask?
Because when you straighten the arms and collapse the backpack, you'll be surprised to know this guy looks very much like Frenzy! While he's rustier than the Minicon and has four arms instead of two, the resemblance of a skinny, athletic, and erratic partner of a larger robot is hard to ignore. This guy has a few rusty paint apps that break up the somewhat dull color scheme with a bit of dull bronze applied here and there while the use of the same paint app color for the eyes and silver for the teeth have his head more detailed than it currently is. He has 5mm-compatible hands but nothing to hold since he doesn't need accessories while working as the accessory for a larger partner. His articulation is ball joints on his head, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and ankles.
Overall, this first wave for 2023 Core Class figures gives us a pretty solid interpretation of Arcee that might be knocked down a bit thanks to the wheels appearing oversized on her body while Freezer's alt modes mostly look okay at best while his robot mode looks awesome. We got our first Autobot and Terrorcon taken care of, so let's delve further into the ROTB cast throughout the year!
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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