Transformers Age of the Primes Swindle + Bruticus review

At long last, the Combaticons are complete, and we have to thank Swindle for taking too long with getting released. Anyways, G1 Swindle should be summed up by his name. He's the rip off provider of all Transformers, and he would try to get cash out of any poor sucker during troubling times. Hell, he even went out of his way to sell his team's parts after they were left for scrap in the shitty G1 episode known as B.O.T. Not much else to say about him beyond his greedy charm in the Great War, but apart from the usual G1 toy and his Combiner Wars/Unite Warriors mold, you might have seen him as a Yellow Hound in Alternators, a hollow Deluxe from the cheap budget Bruticus lineup for Fall of Cybertron, a beige Vortex or Energon Stormcloud for the Universe/ROTF Bruticus set, and a wicked Animated Deluxe with sadly brittle biceps from age. Ironically two toys associated with Swindle are reviewed here as RID 2001 Rollbar/Car Robots Greejeeber, so let's rectify that with the Age of the Primes Voyager!

Here we have Swindle in his Jeep mode. Obviously unlicensed and not meant to be fully based on whatever version of the real world model he turned into, but it is yellow with purple accents, and it's almost like something Wario would drive. I appreciate that it doesn't exactly match the proportions found on Siege/Gen Selects/SS86 Hound, but I don't know if the front section is weirdly proportioned or not because it looks like crap from being narrow like the rear section of Universe Ironhide. I also find there to be some slight color discrepancies between the front section with the grille and the rest of the yellow plastic on Hound, or the purple between the hood and the part said hood swivels on. I hate to shit on a version of Swindle that is meant to be accurate to G1, but sometimes I wish he was a Humvee in order to not have as many problems with his altmode on top of the better scale it would somewhat have with Brawl. That said, it does the job mostly fine, and at least the shade of yellow looks good. And being a Voyager, one of his few benefits is the use of pinned wheels. Good luck finding figures scaled to sit inside him.

Included with Swindle is a trailer for him to carry, which is also color coordinated with the rest of him. It's part of the necessity of bulking out the price and making him a Voyager despite he has as much of a Deluxe quality. Then again, Hasbro standards. At least he can use an adaptor to hold his gun in Jeep mode.

Here he is with his fellow Combaticons, and don't they look like a genuine unit together? Swindle is oversized, but that's to be expected with G1 scale logic. Maybe he would be fine as a Humvee, but hey, at least these guys are their own molds unlike Combiner Wars requiring they be reused from other figures.

And here he is with Unite Warriors Greejeeber/Rollbar. May as well call him Rollbar because of his rollbars! You can get a sense of duality between the old days of reimaginings under the old CHUG days and the Sunbow accuracy Generations does today. 

Transformation is very involved for a blocky yellow dude whose character model is loosely based on the G1 toy. See, with how little source material there was to work with for someone like the Combaticons beyond rough sketches likely stemming from toy development, the cartoon designers had to make this seemingly impossible transformation scheme that had the windshield (which is now without the middle bit) form the chest while the Jeep grille forms the pelvis. Here, the toy actually uses the swivel on the hood and hinges the windshield down to mimic how the purple surface area shortens in length. On top of that, the crotch uses the grille detailing while the rivets for outward leg movement doubles as the Jeep headlights (which I think is clever toy engineering logic). The real Jeep grille ends up on the forearms, though would this figure have Exposed Head Syndrome if it forms part of the bumper? Imagine how much head trauma he might have from hitting Autobots in Jeep mode. Oh, and the legs work about like how you would expect, though with some panels to keep track of when making the lower legs. Anyways, the robot mode is very Sunbow accurate for sure, and while I like the color scheme and how well it succeeds in matching the show model, I still have to question why he's somewhat hollow from the back. I mean, the wheels folded inside as almost like shoulder blades is a cool Transformer anatomy bit, but the middle section a bit egregious despite not being as bad as FOC Swindle's structural hollow horror show. Color discrepancies are still noticeable here, but in terms of sculpt, pretty good but kind of missing a few beats like fellow leg bot Brawl did.

Head sculpt is blocky like the others, but I appreciate that on top of his signature purple eyes, at least the mouth region is painted in gunmetal instead of blending in with the rest of the helmet. Articulation consists of ball joint at the neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, double jointed elbows, a waist swivel, universal hips joints, thigh swivels, hinged knees, and ankle pivots. He has a normal pistol that can be his traditional weapon of choice, while the turret based weapon can peg onto the shoulders as some sort of arm cannon like G1 Megatron, or referencing how huge his old gun was.

His trailer can turn into a giant shoulder cannon, though with how large it is, it almost feels a bit out of place on him if it wasn't for the yellow. As for the leg mode, it's a similar situation with Brawl where various panels are used to recreate the toe of Bruticus's right foot while the arms, having nowhere else to go, merely fold up somewhat while they wait to be tabbed in the sides of the frame's leg. At least this isn't a Stunticon/Aerialbot situation involving doors closing up to simulate the old toy legs.

Here he is next to Rollbar once again, who despite being heavily stylized, is meant to match the old toy. I like that they're actually different from each other, and while that stems from the Commandos matching the toys better than the Combaticons, once again, it helps distinguish them further than just having Rollbar be known as a green Swindle.

And here he is with the Combaticons in bot mode. Once again, he comes off as far too unlike the team thanks to his bright colors and overall design, but I have to admit, this guy could almost be an Autobot if not for the fact that we got Hound. That said, putting him next to Brawl begs the question: is it worth making them Voyagers despite being comparable mostly to the Deluxes? The answer is a resounding no.

As for his integration into the right leg frame, it works the same as with his fellow legbot. And now Bruticus is truly complete! Can't believe it took almost over a year since we first got Vortex! Menasor nearly took a year to be completed, while Devastator and Superion were almost 3 quarters worth of waiting. You already know how the frames work, but at least Swindle and Brawl remain on the front. You already know how mostly accurate this design is to the cartoon, so now I will talk about the weapon: it's still yellow from being Swindle's trailer, so it's still going to stick out weirdly in his hand. Obviously, we have a yellow limb on there, but we still should have had a proper rifle for Bruticus/Onslaught.

As mentioned before, Shockwave can turn into a shoulder cannon for Bruticus, a loose nod to the time the combiner used his gun mode. This time, I have the SS86 version when I got it on eBay without giving Hasbro a dime. It stays on more securely, and while it looks kind of badass, you may want to use the Legacy version as a proper gun mode scaled for Bruticus. The Combiner Wars version looks more like a gun than a tiny spaceship.

One more comparison with Ruination/Baldigus, and while the Combiner Wars/Unite Warriors figure is shorter than the AOTP gestalt, I don't entirely mind that as it at least gives the RID giant some reasonable trade offs. While Bruticus may be more proportionate as well as tower over the older combiners, Ruination can arrange the order of his limbs however he sees fit, especially with the land and air modes. But back to Swindle, should you get him? Only if you want to complete the Combaticons and if you are a big fan of the character. On his own, he could have been worth getting discounted like with Vector Prime, but paying nearly $45 for a Voyager with no ratchet for the combiner ankle joint, a trailer that has a gun mode meant for Bruticus yet not color matched for him, and a bit of mismatching between the different plastics make him harder to recommend. Shame because I like his character probably the most out of the G1 team, but that won't entirely save this figure from getting a lower rank (if being sold out was bad enough already for anyone who missed out on the preorders).

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Transformers Studio Series AOE Bumblebee review

Back in 2018, I was positive we would get a heavy retool of Bumblebee from the Stinger mold, which turned out not to be the case. Looking back at the history of these two, we got an AOE version of Bumblebee halfway in the AOE line, yet Stinger only received a red repaint with no Pagani Huayra tooling whatsoever. The Legends repaints we got, meanwhile, had Stinger repainted from Cyberverse Legion Knock Out or Dino. The One Step line also had its own moment of Bee and Sting not sharing a mold or engineering, and the only time we got that was unofficially from Unique Toys. While Stinger turned out great, Bumblebee felt somewhat off (likely to accommodate the Camaro's slightly different proportions). Now, after a shitton of Geewun pandering, we finally got AOE Bumblebee not as a heavy retool but as a brand new mold. Regardless, let's see if he is better as a new mold than sharing one with a cheap knockoff!

Here we have Bumblebee in his 2014 Camaro Concept mode. As expected, this altmode has been recreated accurately given we have the license from Chevy itself. Of the Bumblebees we got in the films, this one is unique from the single stripe going down the middle rather than the normal dual stripe decals we usually get from Bumblebee in the movies. While I prefer the trilogy look for the Camaro (particularly the ROTF one), there is something unique about this generation of the car. For one, the front of the car is modified so the grille remains narrower while the bottom front opening area is slightly larger in comparison. Not to mention the different headlights almost giving the 2014 Camaro a different, slightly aggressive vibe. This doesn't feel quite as much of a 2010s refresh as Optimus's entire altmode and design change, but you get that overall from a more distinct take on this car than the trims Bee got over the first 3 movies.

The weapon can peg into the back of the altmode, though it brings up one issue I have with this mold: not much paint is used for this car. Don't get me wrong, we have the stripe going down, and at least the taillights are painted this time, but the weapon just having silver on the barrel instead of some additional black to break up all that yellow hurts. Think of it as like what Blackarachnia's claws would look like without those stripes, and it would be just as bad.

For an altmode comparison, here is Bumblebee next to his High Octane self and his cheap knockoff, Stinger. I like that we kind of repeat the trend of Bumblebee being offended from being viewed as crap before he scans a newer Camaro. And seeing how different the proportions are between the Pagani Huayra makes me wonder if making completely separate molds the right way to go despite the two sharing the same design. We'll get to that after going over Bee's robot mode.

Transformation is surprisingly involved for a Deluxe of this caliber, especially in the current trend of Studio Series engineering. Much like with KSI Widow, Bee's car shell forms the lower legs, with the wheels filling in for the ninja stars and the shoulder pads being made from the front end halves. It's a huge contrast to the old Deluxe that used the entire hood, roof, and trunk assembly as the backpack while the front wheels form the shoulders and the rear wheel assembly turns into the back of the lower legs. The new Bee almost works if not for the fact that it's using clear plastic for most of the car shell. It'd be one thing if the windows were on a pin for the backpack of older Bumblebees, but the fact that this newer figure uses a more fragile kind of material in a recent string of lines where figures have had clear plastic either crack or break (the fragility on the Earthrise Smokescreen mold's knees, SS86 Jazz's backpack developing cracks from transformation) is infuriating as it stands. Yet Hasbro addresses this for the average G1 release but not the other lines??? Are we only dealing with this issue if a toy can have Sunbow baby blue windows?! I wish I can say that's the huge problem with this figure, because while the sculpt is better than the old Deluxe, it's severely underpainted. There should be some yellow accents on the arms, the crotch and midriff shouldn't be solid yellow or black from poor color break up, and while I appreciate that the shins have a good bit of black for the outline, the toes should be painted. We're paying $28+ for Deluxes now, and back in the day, they would have been better painted than this. Even the use of grey in some spots helped the older Deluxe Bees in Studio Series. The back suffers the worse from there being nothing but solid yellow. I know the bot mode matches the CG model better than the old toy did, but I look at the cost cutting for the paint, and it's like every fraction of a cent matters!

Head sculpt is one of the better aspects of the mold, especially with how detailed the pupils are on top of the microscopic Autobot insignia on the forehead (though it's not opaque). The optics are especially well sculpted in this size, and it almost makes up for some of the missing black and silver on the rest of the head. Almost. Articulation consists of ball joints at the neck, shoulders, and hips, swivels at the biceps and thighs, and hinges for the elbows and knees. The elbows may appear double jointed, but that is due to transformation only. The claw cannon uses two pegs to tab into the forearm, but again, the lack of paint makes it look like it belongs to a different toy. If they weren't going to use the budget in coloring it more, at least give us an extra one since he used two of these weapons while fighting against Galvatron briefly.

For a robot mode size comparison, here he is with his High Octane design from the Buzzworthy era of Studio Series repacks and repaints. I know there have been some terrible releases in the line, from the first versions of Shatter and Dropkick to the Arcee Sisters and Hatchet. Yet none are as awful as the High Octane Bumblebee mold, which was already holding up poorly back in 2014 thanks to the huge chunks of yellow on the legs and pelvis, on top of the cheap plastic quality being a grim reminder of how poor Transformers toys got a long time ago. I remember when Baiwei did a knockoff of High Octane Bee using the engineering of the Studio Series engineering from the trilogy Camaro design. It's randomly scaled up likely to fit with the Unique Toys version of Stinger and the Bumblebee retool. I wish I could delve into what led to that development since who knows if Hasbro would ever redo High Octane Bee ASAP; we'll probably get an SS84 Prowl with a slightly different front end/chest, but at least 2007 and TLK Bees are coming again for the 20th anniversary of the Bayverse.

And here he is with Stinger, showcasing how different their transformations and sculpts end up. I guess it's cool that they at least have the same details you would expect, between the ninja stars and the chest, though neither has any real synergy due to their entirely different engineering. Almost all of the car ends up on Bee's legs, and only the tear of Stinger's altmode stays in those areas instead since the arms make up the sides and the chest is technically made from the front. I don't mind since we at least get to see some identity on some capacity beyond the colors and the fact that Bee has his face exposed and Stinger does not. Aside from all that, do I recommend you get the new AOE Bumblebee? Honestly, it all depends on how much you're willing to stomach the lack of paint as well as how patient you are with clear plastic. I want to say this Bee is a surprise slam dunk and earned a lot more respect than it deserves. I really do! But when a toy has minimal deco and uses fragile materials for integral parts of a transformation, what else can I say to defend it if those hurt it? Only get this if you're a Bee Completionist (Combeetionist?), or if you see it on clearance. And be very careful with the clear plastic if you get it. Makes no sense that the figure would use clear plastic when those windows could have been opaque black (or yellow plastic with black windows painted on).

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

DNA Design DK-35 & Baiwei ROTF Megatron review

By now, I'm sure we need no further introduction for Bayverse Megatron. We know his plans, his motivations, and his lust for power, and we reviewed a handful of his toys at this point. But something that you probably don't know is that I have been taking too long to review a DNA Design kit for the MV1 Studio Series Megatron despite owning it since 2023. Now I have a bootleg version of the ROTF design to go over as part of a special deal with an extra bootleg of Studio Series Prime 2.0, so why not we get around to reviewing them both? And who knows, things may get a bit Primed near the end...

Let's first go over the upgrade kit; the tray itself is fairly small given what little comes with it, but we have a small baggie with screws intended to go with this set. 

You will need to disassemble not just the torso but also the shoulders since those will remain on the original torso's mushroom joints. Make sure you do not lose ANYTHING important before reassembling your toy!

For a quick comparison between the chests, you can see how distinct the two are when it comes to the shape and size of each silver piece on this complex body of his. The inexperienced may go "bah who cares they look the same", but there are more differences between the appearances of both chests compared to basically every third party MP scale G1 Optimus Prime.

What a difference it makes, doesn't it? Now those symmetrical, more jagged and angular shoulders blend in much better with the proper torso, rather than the more "rounded" one associated with the ROTF body. Also, while we can joke about the "nipples" that look funny out of context, those are meant to keep his Cybertronian jet mode from wobbling around without proper stability. And as for the fusion cannon, it slides into the gap behind the hand when it is folded away, allowing you to display it while it's only formed out of the right arm. I'm also happy to say that the silver matches perfectly between the official Hasbro version and the third party set.

The fusion cannon can also extend like the MPM version, and now you can perfectly display Megs as he threatens Prime to join humanity in extinction. I wish the barrel was painted silver to match with the rest of the items, at least the plastic feels durable and is not going to break down at the hinges. So despite being a basic set, it easily improves your MV1 Megatron with the stuff that he should have included from the start. Maybe he could have had an Allspark to hold or a damaged torso like what we got with the MPM and later Blokees, but it's still awesome.

And now, we shall go from official to bootleg! I already reviewed the official toy, so go ahead and check out my review from way back in 2019(!) if you were curious about my opinions on it. Here, we'll cover how the bootleggers exceeded in comparison to Hasbro's standards. First up, he's much shinier than either the drab grey original or vaguely gunmetal battle damaged version sold exclusively at Target. The silver paint not only helps the mold pop, but it's also brushed in a way to make it appear rough and slightly corroded given his temporary corpse was left underwater until ROTF. I honestly prefer this look for him than what we normally get, but what also helps is that the somewhat bronze paint apps are replaced with a proper copper look to further compliment the silver throughout him. We still get a few bits of gold here and there, but now it's better applied in areas that make sense for this design. Best part is the inclusion of die-cast, which is mostly found in the back panels behind the knees. That alone takes this beyond the Premium Finish treatment and makes this feel higher end than the average Hasbro product. He's even slightly taller than both Megatron's, and that surprised me but it at leaves makes the value for money worth it.

He also has a claw taken from the DNA Design ROTF figure, in addition to the battle damaged face that is swappable if you don't like having to get the battle damaged version. It is more hollow from the side Optimus shot, though I'm starting to notice that the BD version has a slightly broken piece on the grey top of his head. Not sure how that happened. The claw has 6 points of articulation, with 4 hinges at the base of each digit and two additional hinges for half of them. This was meant to go with a replacement fusion cannon that the new forearm could integrate itself into instead of just having the permanent one on the stock toy. 

Another noteworthy aspect is that the torso is now filled in better with the winglet pieces. Those slot into a few holes around the back of the altmode, which we will get to in the next segment.  

The tank mode is now even more complete with the winglets on the back, though they seem to only hover over the thighs they are shaped to fit onto. Transforming the figure is the same, but the treads are less rounded off at the edges so they may slightly hurt when you press your fingers on them. The wing pieces can only fit if you use the claw forearm due to there not being any space for the fusion cannon if it is on there. After owning this and the BaiWei Optimus with the silver paint and flame gradient, I definitely want to get more of their bootleg lineup. Their earlier Primes were rough in QC, but these newer knockoffs should be much better in comparison. And hey, this Megatron has a superior value for the money you spend than current Hasbro Voyagers!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (for both)

Now for some bonuses! I already reviewed the Baiwei Optimus KO a few months back, so this is my look at the accessory kit that comes with my second copy of this KO. That's also how I got the bootleg Megatron from an eBay lot. Anyways, we get two axes (one made of clear plastic, another opaque in gunmetal), a giant shield, the Iom Blaster with a properly symmetrical Barrage Cannon, Energon Hooks (something Hasbro never made for the official mold), knuckle spikes, and a honking Mega Striker with the flame decals signature to this Optimus.

The axes look better than the drab grey official one that came with the Hasbro Jetwing Prime. However, you can either have it entirely de-energized and have a normal handle or make it cast entirely in clear plastic with no opaque handle to make it normal. At least they added some paint apps where they should be. They make me want to get the roleplay axe sold at discount stores. The Mega Striker is a little hollow, but at least it won't weigh the arm down. Makes me want to see how it'd look on the AOE Optimus mold since he used it prior to getting the knight weapons. As for the shield, I love the wash it has to give it a worn appearance on top of better capturing that alien metal look. Not only that, but he can hold it properly unlike the stock shield. 

The guns he comes with are properly mirrored instead of using the same sculpt with no distinct tooling. Helps make the truck mode storage appear less awkward, and I will not get why HasTak didn't try that for their Premium Finish Prime.

The hooks are a bit of an oddity since the handle areas aren't painted like on the blades and they're upside down this time. I guess if you pose him just right, he would decapitate Grindor properly like in ROTF, but these contrast the orientation that the official Hasbro toys used (HFTD Leader, the Takara version of its Voyager and the DOTM Voyager repaint sold at Walmart, the Asia Premium Series Ultimate Prime). The knuckle spikes suck from barely staying in place. They either fall off or slip around on the nubs they use. They should have replied on a 5mm port instead because they could have looked cool while posing Optimus as he takes down Shockwave. Other than that, this accessory kit is one you should get, regardless if you own the official or bootleg version of this mold. 

Now we have the upgrade kit meant to go with MPM-4 Optimus Prime. This gives us a mirrored Ion Blaster and thus turning it into the Barrage Cannon. You may notice a major inconsistency with it, and it's from the whole thing being painted in silver instead of bare grey plastic. This version was specifically meant to go with a KO from Legendary Toys back when MPM-4 first came out, and everyone made repaints of it to look better than the stock version. 

At the very least, the hooks are oriented properly this time, though you can leave them upside down after switching their spots on the arms. Good luck balancing him on a giant Blackout KO!

As with the official version, you can tab the hooks onto the sides of the gun if you want to have him go for some mega cluster weapon combo. It also stores in truck mode like normal.

At the very least, this set is only recommended if you have the original or the better painted KO. Otherwise, wait for the inevitable third party Optimus Prime competition, where we'll see who does the best version of the classic Bayverse design. Unique Toys, CT Toys, and Magnificent Mecha are doing their own stabs, and I will choose which one is the best version for engineering, accuracy, quality control, and scale.