Transformers Studio Series 86 Scavenger review

The final two Constructicons are finally here to complete SS86 Devastator. We already took a look at so-so Voyager, a mediocre Deluxe, and our first stab at a Commander Class set serving as a two-pack. We just have one Deluxe left, and one Voyager afterwards just before we wrap up the subgroup completely. This time, we will be taking a look at Scavenger, who turns into a right arm and has not much else going on in his bio beyond him being as pitiful as Long Haul. Anyways, I felt that Bonecrusher from a few waves ago was pretty mediocre, but can the same be said for his brother in literal arms? It's time to scassemble for this review and find out!

Here we have Scavenger in his excavator mode. It looks just about how I expected it to appear, with a few sculpts details here and there and purple applied onto the windows and treads. The arm mode is literally the alt mode with something sticking out from the front, though the shade of green is different because not only is color correcting these Constructicons annoying at times, but I find the shade of green used in the second pic should be the one chosen by HasTak instead.

The shovel arm can articulate at the base at the middle, and at the bucket. The gun can peg at the side, but we once again lack tiny rolling wheels for the treads. While those barely worked on prior tank bots and the like, it leaves me wondering where exactly the budget is going into these figures by not including them. And worse still because of the different plastic types used to cooperate with the leg joints, what will become the thigh joints is a different shade of purple than the rest.

For an alt mode size comparison, here we have all of the Constructicons together at last. Scale is wonky, but that's to expected with the G1 series as a whole. Some could say a similar issue is at play with the ROTF Constructicons, though I'd argue they are in better scale for the most part (it all depends on how big the cockpits are next to each other).

Transformation is pretty simple, though the cockpit does get in the way a bit while forming part of the upper body. Otherwise, it's about as straightforward and basic as what Bonecrusher has. His proportions are just as weird as his fellow arm bot, but for different reasons. Legs are about comparable, but they do stick out more than they naturally would on a different Transformer and his arms are stumpy and blocky (with the hands painted green rather than being molded in the same color, which might be from the sprue tree). His upper body and lower body are connected by a very synched waist, making him look like he has an extremely broad upper torso and hips that don't lie in a way similar to the recent Ultimate Miles Morales. I know that the original was that clunky, and this at least is slightly more filled in than. the CW version, but it still feels pretty half baked in comparison. The silver torso but with the emblem is nice.

Head sculpt is a real gob box, with a mouthplate on top of another mouthplate as if the designers ran out of ideas for this square head.  His articulation consists of ball joints at the neck, shoulders, elbows, and hips, while the thighs are on swivels and the knees plus the ankles on hinges. His gun is said to be sculpted after the Combiner Wars version, down to it's similarity to an animation error, but it's the least of this toy's worries.

Here we have all 6 Constructicons together at last. I won't get into the list in this much detail, but I do think that from worst to best, Scavenger is at the bottom, while Bonecrusher is above him, followed right after by Scrapper, the Long Hook duo, and Mixmaster. If you're not interested in completing Devastator and want at least one Constructicon, don't let it be Scavenger. That being said, he is still the worst of the set, and you're better off leaving him as an arm.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Lockdown review

Everyone knows Lockdown was in Age of Extinction, and whether you support the movie or not, it's easy to see the bounty hunter as one of the best parts. Me personally, I love Lockdown a bunch, even if the movie was a dip in quality from what we previously got (though not as over-exaggeratedly bad as Bayverse haters whined). That being said, I still like the Animated design more due to how striking of an appearance it made when he debuted in that show. I know some purists will go "erm now you're acting like the Geewunners you hated with a burning passion ☝️🤓" but there's a difference between me saying "I like this but I like this more" and clowns saying "nOtHiNg BeAtS tHe OrIgInAl!!1! BaYvErSe BaD!!!1!" However, apart from the Studio Series figure, all of Lockdown's toys from Age of Extinction suck ass, from the lousy gimmicks not working properly to the hideously inaccurate Deluxe figure that would never scale with any Voyager or Leader Optimus toy properly. Thankfully, we have to only go back about a decade and a half to revisit something better than any of his AOE toys, and it's none other than ROTF Lockdown!

Here we have Lockdown in his vehicle mode. Already accurate to the original Animated version, this one goes for a bit more realism in the design to help better fit the live-action aesthetic. It kind of feels more hardcore with the added spikes, a bit of extra gold, and a bit of extra green. Interestingly, he has two shades of green for the stripes on the hood, probably evoking a two-tone look seen on reptiles. In fact, a small part of me always felt that way with Lockdown's Animated design overall. I love the translucent red on the windows and headlights, and the exposed engine would certainly give G1 Hot Rod a run for his money.

The side profile is equally as good, and it arguably feels more like a Batmobile than the one Battinson has with the shape and aggression. That being said, I always wished the flat grey plastic was painted silver to match the spikes on the rooftop. I know they're made out of a softer material (especially the hook, which should be taken care of when rolling this car on a surface given it's underneath it), but at least make them look nicer. Regardless, the car looks great, and there is nobody else you could mistaken him for than good ol' Lockdown.

For an altmode comparison, here we have him with his AOE counterpart sold in the Studio Series line. While Deluxes have shrunken down in size, the later-released Lockdown's honestly comparable in scale to previously made releases. I'm not sure how big a car said to be a mix between a 60s Cougar and a Corvette from the same time period should be, but this is close enough, right?

Transformation is similar to, but not exactly like, his Animated counterpart. The front section still becomes the legs, but they end up more like how you see them work on most Wheeljack. Meanwhile, the arms transform with a bit more asymmetry than with the Animated version. Also, he never had the windshield serve as his chest, but it works regardless. The robot mode continues the trend of being a live action filtered version of his original form, which could be comparable to the MCUified versions of comic costumes where they add lines, but honestly, the Bayverse aesthetic works much better than the average MCU aesthetic apart from some earlier character designs. The lanky, Frankenstein's Monster influence is already one of the best things about Animated Lockdown, but the more alien motif of the movies makes for an even better Lockdown. Keep in mind the engine has to be pegged on the left forearm. You can swap it with Ratchet's EMP generator if you have that figure, but keep in mind that the hook is a permanent part of this toy, unlike the accessory from the old Deluxe. Once again, I wish there was silver paint applied onto the figure, especially for the hook and hand just so they can be a bit more rigid given they're made of rubber. If you gotta go with safety reasons, at least compensate in a clever manner. Otherwise this is already a great bot mode.

Head sculpt is a Moviefied take on the Animated design, which I'd argue is even better given what I previously said about the stronger Frankenstein monster motif in these aesthetics. If his Animated counterpart would briefly spare his prey just so they can see what his intentions are, then this dude would extract their sparks, as he did to Ratchet in Age of Extinction. I also love the light-piping in his head, which would commonly be excluded nowadays for painted eyes or better detailed Movie faces. His articulation consists of FOUR ball joints at the neck, as well as ball joints at the shoulders and elbows, universal style hips with admittedly limited range, double hinges at the knees, swivels joints for the thighs, and pivots that work decently. 

As far as reuses are concerned, Axor was part of the 2010 Hunt for the Decepticons line. His existence was hinted in a few Hasbro-provided materials, such as the instructions for Lockdown and a sourcebook that featured his head. Honestly, the deco feels more like a late Marvel G1 character to the point he could almost pass as a version of Straxus. Instead of an hook, he has an axe, and I prefer his engine piece over the one in Lockdown for the added paint.

Circuit is an exclusive to the Collector's Club, and he is not only in a G2-esque color scheme but is also an Autobot this time around. Apparently, he hails from an alternate timeline where the Decepticons won the Battle of Mission City instead, and he somehow ended up in the Axiom Nexus. 

For a size comparison, Lockdown towers over both AOE versions of Studio Series Optimus Prime and himself, all stemming from the fact that sizes shrunk over the years. While you can shorten the old Deluxe's legs and do something with the neck, he would scale better with the TLK Voyager or the Yolopark model kit if we're being honest. Regardless, ROTF Lockdown represents a time gone by with older Transformers lines, where accuracy was getting better yet figures were a lot more enjoyable to mess with. A time when going to the store to buy Transformers felt exciting instead of dealing with the preorder waits. A time when people can enjoy the movies with far less purists breathing down their necks angrily. While Lockdown is expensive in the aftermarket, he is still worth every penny, and I recommend you find the best deal possible no matter what.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Marvel Legends Gamerverse Psylocke vs Thanos review

The Marvel Legends Gamerverse subline continues on, and this time, we go from covering a retail exclusive to another kind of retail exclusive. Walmart got War Machine and Omega Red, and now Target got dibs on Psylocke and Thanos...which is probably a bad idea in retrospect given how impossible it was to get the set preordered. As many already know, scalpers suck dick as much as they suck ass, but when it comes to somebody like Psylocke, who hasn't had a new update to her classic design since 2018, that's already going to frustrate many a collector. And sure, Thanos may not be everyone's cup of tea if they have the otherwise good 2021 version, but considering how infuriating accessibility is for these two, you'd better be ready to pay more than twice the amount in the aftermarket. That being said, is it worth the hunt getting a sexy mutant and a mad Titan with different hues to his colors? Let's find out!

Here we have Psylocke in-hand, and already this is the best figure we got in the whole Gamerverse subline. Feminine proportions and articulation are not always the easiest to merge, but the way Hasbro did her justice with those bucks and curves is impeccable. Not only do we have the slender build with a breast cup size that is at a size accurate to her as well as a bubble butt that would make any Bulma Figuart envious, but the costume details are raised in relief rather than having any of the flesh parts painted on a purple body. The consistency between the flesh tone parts that are molded plastic and the parts painted in the same color are equally considered as with the purple molded parts and any areas painted in that color specifically. This has been something Hasbro should have done more often when reusing body bucks just so they can feel more unique rather than merely having paint apps be the sole changes in a figure. Amirite, X-Men villain 5-pack Vertigo??? Even the purple shading on her hair is great, and something that helps the sculpt pop even more. With all of these factors coming together, Psylocke will easily be a contender for top 5 best figure of the year for sure, at least for Marvel Legends standards.

The greatness continues with the head sculpt in addition to the lovely hair. The likeness not only blends a bit of comic accuracy with the right amount of realism without making her too close to a generic Asian woman face. I'm thinking about how Glenn Webb critiqued the old Toy Biz version for not exactly being that great of a face, and this one easily proves how head sculpts are Hasbro's strongest suits in general. Ber articulation consists of a double ball neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, double jointed elbows, wrist rotation and inward hinges, a diaphragm joint, a reverse ab crunch, thicc ball jointed hips with equally thicc thigh swivels, double jointed knees, and ankles that hinge as well as pivot. She comes preloaded with a left fist and an accessory holding right hand that has no real purpose for her, other than maybe backwards compatibility with the weapons of her prior releases. She does, however, have a clip-on psionic blade.

She also comes with two of the same slash effects that are not mirrors of each other, meaning that they're going to have the same sides regardless of the sculpt. There are clips for the forearms, but those warp the parts somewhat and come off easily and sliding the fingers while clipping them flexes them, so just slide her fingers inside. She has a snarling face with her hair flowing in the wind, which is already as good as the neutral face, but it also has an optional butterfly wing mask energy effect thing that slides into the small opening near her ears. Thankfully, it is easy to attach it without any concerns for warping and the like. 

As for Thanos, this is a retool of the comic version we had back in 2021 with a deco closer to his appearances in the games. While the blue is closer to purple and the what's usually gold is closer to orange, this likely stems from the MvC games having different hues for their characters to help them pop better on-screen. It explains why Spider-Man was more orangey than red, and also why Venom was blue despite being piano black. He also has a bit of shading, most notably in the thighs. Applying shading in general on your figures would help greatly, Hasbro. Thanos's retooling won't immediately be noticed to more casual collectors, but the more angular shoulder pads as well as both the gloves and boots consisting of more angles than his original tooling are worth mentioning. Proportions work well for the character, as we previously covered in his review. While I do like the different hues used on him, I have to admit the orange would look better when metallic. And for anyone wondering, his left hand is not the Infinity Gauntlet.

His head sculpt is retooled from the original head to have more pronounced horns, almost like a pseudo crown without being King Thanos. He has piercing red eyes instead of the usual blue. His articulation is more limited, as the bulk of his body prevents him from being as dynamic as Psylocke. The shoulder and skirt armor inhibit his movement, he has an ab crunch and waist swivel, and he has single jointed swivel elbows. He retains the Infinity Gauntlet, but this time the gems are painted metallic, which I can always appreciate.

Since I previously looked at both characters years ago, here we have the 2018 and 2021 versions of Psylocke and Thanos, respectively. The more natural skin tones on the new Psylocke, combined with the refined articulation cuts, result in a female body buck that Hasbro probably would never top with how its curves and bucks capture her attractive character design. I mean, look at how big her boobs are in addition to her thicker sizes. I bet she she got a bigger booty than the original version. If those more lewd comments were concerning you let's instead talk about the tooling differences between both Thanos figures. The armor, skirt, forearms, and boots are new on the Gamerverse Thanos. While I prefer the regular colors, I like that the Gamerverse version has metallic gems for his Infinity Gauntlet rather than flat paint.

Overall, this set may be the best 2-pack out of the MvC-themed Gamerverse subline. Psylocke is already going to be a great addition to any X-Men display, but I appreciate that Thanos has some tooling to better match his sprites & artwork in addition to already having his colors altered. Sadly, not everyone will be lucky to find this in-person, and if you were somehow traumatized by my more lewd descriptions of Psylocke's body, know that there are gooners out there who would put her in a jar. If you want to prevent that, then you better find this set at a good deal and protect both figures from any potentially nasty jars. In other words, good luck finding this set that is less than $100!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Transformers Studio Series TFOne Starscream review

It's been over a year since Transformers One was a thing? I think I already talked about how I'm not the biggest fan of the movie, and while I would have done a rewatch, I never got around to it since I was busy working on other reviews and exercising at the gym. I mean, they were replaying Batman Returns at Planet Fitness and I would easily see that movie anytime of the day. Anyways, Starscream's a character that I did like watching in the movie since he wasn't prone to the current trend of making the cast feel like memes just for the hell of it. Hell, Steve Buscemi's role as the High Guard representative felt more like it had some thought in him, unlike the decision to use MCU actors just because they were in the oversaturated franchise. Would it have been cool to see Starscream lead the Seekers and fight against the Autobots? Yes. Are we going to get that in a sequel? Nope. Will I make fun of the fanboys crying over the movie flopping and blaming Michael Bay instead of continuously supporting the movie in the box office? You bet your ass I will, but first I need to review this figure.

Here we have Starscream in his Cybertronic jet mode. While it looks similar to the design we saw from the Bumblebee movie, down to the underslung cannon, it is more refined and has a bit of a Cybertron/War Within look to the design that worked great for the Seekers. In an era where Hasbro is really trying so hard to keep the G1/evergreen influence as strong as possible, they're probably doing the smallest number of tweaks as possible to keep them around for as long as Hasbro does on their hill. At least here, the jet mode looks decent, and the undercarriage is nothing too unsightly.

Here he is next to Sentinel Prime, who was said to have an altmode similar to the Seekers during some of the promotional materials outside of the movie. Obviously, he never transformed in the film, and all of his toys made their own takes for toy sake. 

Transformation is fairly involved for a Seeker, though it mostly involves folding parts into each other like with the wings and torso. The red pieces that serve as the robot mode pylons seen on the robot torso come off easily at times, and the size of his torso makes it annoying to tab him in properly as well. He does remain solid once everything is locked in place, but the spacing could be done better. This especially applies to attaching the blue weapon between his arms. The robot mode is accurate to the design, once again being a more rounded take on the G1 design but with even more Cybertronic elements that scream "this is totally fresh and new we swear". Drained imagination and creativity aside, this is accurate to how he appeared in the movie, though as with all TFOne characters, the colors aren't metallic and thus lose that but of sauce that was one of the few things I did actually like about the film. Yolopark and Blokees have you covered on the sheen, meanwhile Hasbro is stuck with a decent shade of red and blue and a grey that is ever so close to beige with how warm its hue is. Sure the figure has to deal with the potential harm from paint chipping, but anything would help over nothing. Same issues I had with the beige on Optimus.

His head sculpt sucks. I just want to punch those lips so hard because of that dumbass mewing meme. His articulation consists of ball joints at the neck, shoulders, and hips, with swivels for the biceps and thighs, and hinges for the elbows and knees. A lack of a waist swivel common with Starscream figures, but not including wrist rotation AND ankle rockers?! Even if it was a smidge, it would help a bit! Also, I would rather have the gun be just the blue piece without the grey part angling it down. At least he has the null rays.

For a robot mode size comparison, here we have him with the dude who messed his voice up before becoming the Decepticon leader. Much like Megatron, Starscream would greatly benefit from a coat of paint to help him better match his appearance in the movie, especially since removing points of articulation could theoretically mean using the budget elsewhere, right? Honestly, I didn't have that much of a high hope for Starscream given that the decision to make the TFOne cast mostly Deluxes was going to harm any engineering potential. The size class would work for him, but not with the parts either clashing or popping off without the right amount of space needed for his transformation. I don't have any high hopes for the repaints if we get any Seekers, and unlike Animated Starscream, owning one is more than enough.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Marvel Legends Gamerverse War Machine vs Omega Red review

The Gamerverse subline for Marvel Legends gives us a stab at collecting the characters as they appeared in Marvel vs Capcom...albeit without the Capcom so it's more like Marvel Super Heroes but with a few characters from the later games. Unlike the last attempt at an MvC themed line, which was themed after the Infinite entry from 2017 with shitty 3 3/4 inch figures, this subline goes for the 6-inch scale and retools the characters to better match how they appeared in the game wherever they see fit. With this, Maximum Hulk and Spider-Man loosely fitting in with the classic MvC aesthetics, and Tamashii Nations announcing their similarly themed Cyclops and Spider-Man, we'll probably have a good time all around with the Gamerverse subline. With all that said, let's see if the Walmart-exclusive War Machine vs Omega-Red set turned out!

Here we have War Machine in-hand, and he is a reuse of the 2020 Deluxe version they later saw reuse for the retro Iron Man wave. Everything from the waist up is newly sculpted, consisting of the arms, torso, shoulder pads, and head. You may notice that the shoulder cannon is missing, and that is due to it coming out of the box disassembled. It is also the only shoulder cannon he comes with, while the original version has hinges for both. Thankfully, Hasbro had the decency to fill in the right space, though I do question why they couldn't go an extra step further and give him painless knees. Listen, I don't mind if an action figure has them or not, just don't do this half-and-half skimpage. I do like the metallic blue that better matches how he appeared in MvC1 and 2, but only the faceplate is painted while the rest of him is marbleized plastic. It's better than last attempts, but with a set this pricey, some paint would go a long way.

His helmet is retooled to match the overbite motif that his artwork drew him as, which looks weird but it was part of that aesthetic he had in the game series. Personally, I would have preferred the old face painted blue, but at least this is accurate. His articulation consists of a double ball neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, double jointed elbows, wrist rotation and inward hinges, an ab crunch and waist swivel, ball jointed hips, thigh swivels, double jointed knees, and ankles that hinge as well as pivot.

His sole shoulder cannon is newly sculpted and is compatible with a blast effect, which thankfully has a paint app to simulate it being much hotter at the front while fizzling out at the back. He also comes with a missile that could go for a flight stand to aid it, and considering how Maximum Spider-Man had one for the web effects, surely that would have been appreciative, Hasbro. Also, you're giving a War Machine figure repulsor blast hands yet no blast effects to go with them. Why? 

Here we have him along with the other War Machines I own, with the one on the left being the 2023 fan channel version recolored from Modular Iron Man and the one on the right being the original Deluxe version. I love War Machine, and I also appreciate representations of the character both as he appeared in the promo art and his sprite work, though the black on the Gamerverse version has a somewhat reddish tint that matches the way he was colored, meanwhile Modular is depicted with a piano black that makes sense outside of that aesthetic. 

As for Omega Red, this is a more classic version of the character compared to the tooling used on the shoulder pads/harness and knee pads with the Sauron BAF version, which had a more saturated reuse for an X-Men 5-pack. The figure itself is honestly comparable to both versions with the shades of red and white being somewhere in the middle. As the original owner of this body buck, I think it's a more appropriate comic book physique than what we usually see from the Sunfire and Vulcan bodies. Most of the paint comes from the torso harness and kneepads, with the red and white plastics on the rest of the body being flat plastic. Some shading would have been nice, though without making it too pixelated. And thankfully, the Omega logos are nice and crisp. However, if there is one complaint I have with Omega Red, it's that Hasbro went ahead and added pinless elbow joints yet couldn't be bothered with the legs. I guess the kneepads hide the pins on the side where the upper and lower leg regions connect during assembly, but much like War Machine, this mismatch of parts makes zero sense when you're reusing existing bucks that could have went a step further with their tooling. War Machine, yes, has new tooling to match the MvC aesthetic, yet the consistency between joints would have been appreciative. Same for a figure who could seemingly be unchanged from the original version back in 2018.

His head sculpt is still the best part of the figure, and I'll always appreciate when none of the details are left unpainted. Even his hair is painted to have some form of dimensionality to it, and the Omega logo is once again aligned with the sculpted surface area. While his articulation is mostly the same as War Machine's, he does at least have a ponytail that can swivel like with Stephanie Brown Batgirl. However, I wish the tendrils were articulated via bendy wires. It would be fine if the shorter ones were left without them, but the longer ones desperately needed them more than anything. If Machine Man could have his extendo arms with that benefit A DECADE AGO, surely we can have some needed progression with this dude. Just imagine the posing potential they would have with the wiring implemented! 

Here is a look at the original Omega Red, which has a different version of his torso harness in addition to the knee pads. He was part of the Sauron BAF wave, and saying that makes me want to get the Marvel Snap version that came with half naked versions of Rogue and Shanna.

Overall, this is a cool set as a War Machine fan and as someone who always wanted a version of Omega Red to expand my X-Men villain roster, but there is always room for improvement. Having a few extra accessories for the repulsor blast hands and a stand for the rocket is already needed, and we already know how I feel about the lack of consistency between pinned and pinless joints on the same figure, but it would have been great to see some bendy wires implemented in the tendrils just to show some progression on what could have been a more definitive Omega Red. At least the set is $50, which is cheaper than the other 2-packs revolving around this theme. If the set is still at Walmart.com, I recommend it in case it does get harder to find, but maybe have some gift cards you have lying around from anyone who gave them to you.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐