The Rock Lord homages continue with the Armorizers, and it's great to see this with none other than a peculiar character like Shard! Between the leaner aesthetics more comparable to that of Waspinator on top of her altmode being a helicopter instead of a ground vehicle, I was intrigued by how this figure would turn out! While waiting for an official Hasbro release date and/or stores to look into, I saw fans in the forums arguing with each other over the practicality of a helicopter made out of rocks making sense. With all that taken care of, let's take a look and see if Shard is worth getting!
Here we have Shard in her vehicle mode, which radiates High Moon Studios energy, Movie aesthetics, and Waspinator all at once. It's an interesting mashup, and the color scheme of the toy makes it stand out more than if it was gray like with Magneous. We do have some translucent pieces for the two cockpits, which help add a bit of a more complete look to the vehicle mode. The combination of sand green, lime green, and blue-green results in an almost toxic appearance. Not to mention how Shard lives up to her name by being made of death crystals.
Here is Shard next to her fellow Armorizer, Magneous. The stony fellow himself contrasts the eye-catching chopper with not just the duality of color schemes, but also the overall aesthetics of their altmodes. Shard could almost pass off for a more alien vehicle if you were to ignore her Rock Lord-esque influence. There is plenty of repaint potential with this, or at least borrowing the engineering while replacing thr Armorizer gimmick in favor of sturdier joints.
Transformation is the same as usual for a heliformer, with the cockpit chest, propellor wings, and limb placement going as expected. There'a not much else to say, really, but the robot mode continues looking quite similar to other robot design tropes, with the Waspinator-esque appearance standing out even more here. I mean, with the chest design, the skinny arms, the color scheme, and the propellors being in the back resembling the wings, hell even the back of the altmode could pass off as the wasp abdomen! The arms are and thighs are traditionally robotic compared to the rest of the figure's jjagged look, so maybe Hasbro has plans to use this base mold and retool it to be other characters. I'm pretty sure we'll get versions of TFP Airachnid and BBM Dropkick somehow. I'd like to see this be a Cybertronian Waspinator, too! The only bad part is that the panels surrounding the head sort of obscure Shard's view when she's turning left or right.
Even the head sculpt is similar to Waspinator's, almost like a pre-organic beast mode take of the character if he was not portrayed as the whipping boy of the Beast Wars. The shape of it also resembles a bit of the head design seen on Blackout, albeit Geewunified but in a good way. Shard's articulation consists of a neck swivel, shoulder rotation thanks to the 5mm ports, rotation above the elbow, 90 degree elbow bend, wrist rotation, waist rotation, universal hips, rotation above the knee due to the 5mm ports (though the thighs look like they could swivel), 90 degree knee bend, and both ankle pivot for front and back movement as well as side to side. Her weapons can plug into her forearms, though some of the hollow sides being seen in certain angles does make them a bit distracting when posing. I almost wish they covered up her hands instead.
The rotor blades can be held in her hands horizontally, making them work better as weapons similar to the Energy Sword from Halo. They peg in at a bit of an angle, though, and the tabs on the vertical pegs don't make them suitable for traditional sword-wielding anyhow. They can be pegged on the forearms for an alternate display, though.
The turbines can also house these blades for another option, which is almost like they were deployed from said turbines. I have seen some fans depict the blades being stored on the back like in the second image, though I honestly feel that it doesn't feel as secure in addition to certain TF fans likely thinking it will look similar to a swastika.
Here she is next to her fellow Armorizor, Magneous. I still prefer Shard a lot more, with her lean, mean, green aesthetics contrasting the dull and super blocky Magneous. Granted, he can pull off a "victim of war" mode by taking some of his parts off, but Shard just feels more unique as a figure, and she certainly has remolding potential in contrast to Shard, who'll remain being reused as other blocky Rock Lord homages unless Hasbro surprises fans.
And now we can take her apart, with the body remaining while the legs, shin guards, arms, and six weapons are removable from the body of what looks like a vague fish. Almost like when Airachnid's TFP toy did not have the accessories attached and looked like a polygonal fish.
Here are her parts attached onto Gears. I think this works well for a character like him, as Gears's red and blue go well with the various greens on Shard. Plus, Gears on his own is pretty dull, so getting armorized by her makes him a bit more intriguing, though it'll probably make Geewunners break a cold sweat. At least he can use two extra arms to show he's been trained in some Jedi arts by Count Dooku. But yeah, Shard is a strong release in Wave 2, and I hope to see her be retooled into other characters one way or another. I recommend her immensely, and I bet she'll be in the Top 10 pretty soon!
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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