Transformers Generations Thrilling 30 Metroplex review

Titan Class figures have been a thing for over a decade, which is a crazy thing to even realize, considering how much has changed for the Generations line since 2013. Say what you will about the Thrilling 30 subline, but one can't deny how monumental something like a Transformer measuring over 2 feet would be, hype wise. Before then, the last time we had a toy that tall was with Fortress Maximus from the 1987 wave of Generation One, and most toys since then have been only a few inches taller than Leader Class figures. Not even the hideous Supreme Cheetor could be as tall as the giant Headmaster! With the 30th anniversary of the franchise being a massive event, and arguably one that felt larger than the 40th anniversary, what better way to celebrate than to start the Class of the Titans with he who heeds the call of the last Prime? By the way, for anyone wondering: while this figure resembles the FOC design, it is mostly meant to be G1 but modernized with heavy detailing and the like. Anyways, let's get to the review!

Before we begin, why don't we take a look at the Legends figure that came with this giant? This is Scamper, a 6-wheeled car that'd no doubt have a bit of a Cybertronian Batmobile/KITT look to it. Though notably small, we have a decent level of detailing for the windows and what will be the shins of the robot mode. The wheels generally roll fine, though the front two are on an axle like on Hot Wheels cars, while the rear four are each snap-on pegs. The figure has one sticker used out of the whole set, that being the Autobot insignia. With how small and negligent it is, on top of the toy already having a few paint apps, would it have hurt Hasbro to give him a tampograph?

The gun can be pegged on the roof, which is expected for any carformer with a gun. It does add a bit of color for anyone believing it's a little too bright.

For an altmode comparison, here he is next to WFC Trilogy duo Six-Gun from Siege and Slammer from Kingdom. I'm surprised that we didn't get an Earthrise Slammer retooled heavily from the repeatedly reused Siege Sideswipe. As a result of being a Legends figure with no new updates since then, he is the odd bot out amongst the Metroplex partner trio. 

Transformation is pretty simple: the backs of the legs straighten out, and the crotch joins them, so we can tab the chest down and straighten the arms (with the wheels facing the back). The robot mode is very close to Sideswipe's, from the back becoming part of the legs to the front being a flat hood chest, so the insignia faces forward. Even the back kibble is close to the usual design we see with Swipe, albeit lifted up higher along with the shoulders, resulting in his head sinking down a bit more than normal. The wider forearms and the hollowed lower legs (from the back) stem from the design limitations of a Legends figure, though it is forgivable for the size class given, I know Dr Lockdown would make his cock drown if I bash a tiny toy. Still, he may be named Scamper, but he has the look of a bouncer, especially with those shades and the black of the altmode. 

Articulation consists of ball joints for the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. With this being made around the time the Cyberverse line (aka not the 2018 series but the toyline we had for Dark of the Moon and the last 2 years of Prime). The gun uses another 5mm port on the back, which makes me wonder what purpose it will serve when he can't even do the Takara Headmaster gimmick.

The Takara version of their Metroplex from the early 2010s was slightly different from the original Hasbro version, but the later Legends version uses an insignia tampograph and black plastic for the biceps, thighs, and wheels. I'd argue it looks even better than what we had.

And who can forget about this random little repaint? This is Scorponok as he appeared in the 2-pack with Fractyl, who is a repaint of Combiner Wars Terrorsaur. This is how he appeared in Beast Wars: Uprrising, with the story "Identity Politics" using influence from the glorious Breaking Bad (with Scorpy being Jesse Pinkman and Megatron becoming Walter White).

Need I say more about the robot mode sizes? At least the trio is complete, and hey, he can be like the Wolverine or Puck of the team, given his persistence which makes him larger than life rather than his size.

Now it's time to do some somewhat awkward photos for the city mode. Yes, with how massive he is and the overall length of his legs increasing for this segment, I had to improvise. Hopefully, he won't blend in too much with this blanket. As for the way the city mode looks, it's about as much of a robot laying down as one would expect. Thankfully, we have a few ramps and cannons to make it feel closer to a battle station. That and the cannons represent plenty of towers to give that illusion. The head is in plain sight, but at least the cannon mode sort of hides the face. The roads at least lead to different stickers around the inner walls to represent the workings and schematics of this base. And hey, we have some pillars on the left with no real purpose.

As for other play features, Scamper can man the turret on the right arm and hold onto the handles without issue. Alternatively, he can roll down the ramp from the chest connected to the inner leg, while Scamper can roll out from one of the legs. And yes, Soundwave sprayed Cybertronian graffiti over the insignia. 

Even Sixgun has some use for this as a contributor to the playset-like city mode. With the helipad made from the top half of his chest's left side, he can fulfill his role as a VTOL jet. He can just barely fit on, but it is now possible for him to rest in place. Oh, and as we're about to show, two of his gun parts can be plopped all over the figure where a 5mm port is available.

The best part is the ability to take Sixgun apart and live up to his name by turning him into additional weapons for the city mode. Slammer can also turn into a tower, something I always wanted to do for years ever since getting him as the Kingdom line ended. He makes the city mode feel slightly more complete. 

Here we have Metroplex in his wheeled aircraft carrier mode. It looks like it could also go in the sea but that's mostly reserved for Broadside. The look of this mode is comparable to a midway mode for a Megazord than an actual mode. Do keep in mind that my copy, belonging to longtime friend Ernie, has the stickers fraying from age and some have been lost, so I may need to replace them. We have two paths on the bay, one meant for landing and another for takeoff, and we have the cannons from the towers now serving another purpose for this mode. If you had two red guns, then they can fit near the runways without leaving an asymmetrical cannon on the same spot.

We also have some added firepower with another turret with dedicated seat on the left side of Metroplex, while an articulated claw can be deployed this time for repairs on certain jetformers. Love how all of the guns have handles for the turrets so Scamper can man them without the vibe of being an afterthought type of play feature.

Transformation is very close to the G1 design, but with an altmode like this where you're not really turning into something that specific, it makes sense for the most part. The resulting robot mode is a blend of his usual G1 design with some aesthetics borrowed from Fall of Cybertron. It makes sense given how the IDW comics at the time were using some influence from the games despite those being part of the Aligned Continuity. That's not to say he is truly Sunbow accurate or intended to be part of FOC, but he mostly celebrates his overall history at least in any G1-inspired media. The synched waist doesn't bother me as much, even if he could use a beryllium baloney sandwich. Or cesium salami. I wish he used a wash to make the white plastic's sculpted details stand out better, especially when we have a much larger canvas to work with compared to smaller toys. Yeah, the stickers help make the toy feel more complete, and I bet the ToyHax stickers would be even better, but imagine what magic can come from using a wash to highlight the rich level of detail.

Head sculpt is the coolest Metroplex has ever looked, at least in official plastic form. I just wish it was painted properly without all the bare white plastic making these details appear faint. Making up for that compromise is the light and sound feature. On the bridge that houses Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Bumblebee, and Arcee as stickers, pressing it activates sound effects from Fall of Cybertron and the following voice clips: "Metroplex heeds the call of the last Prime", "Foolish Decepticons", "Target synchronizing initiated", "Target obliterated", "These Decepticons scatter like cowards", and "Till all are one". Pointing the antennae back retracts the visor, though it does look a bit weird that way. Articulation consists of swivels for the neck and wrists, ratchets for the shoulders, biceps, elbows, waist, hips, thighs, and knees, and hinges for the fingers and thumbs. Being an older Titan means he can do the horns and bird but not the peace sign or a proper thumbs up. The eyes are on a lever for looking left and right, a rare feature for Transformers as a whole, really. Sadly, it's hard to appreciate the feature because of the blinking LEDs. Not as frustrating as the legs being floppy despite using ratchet joints. I will attempt to fix that to make them secure like with later figures.

The shoulder cannons can be held in his hand if his red blaster isn't enough. By the way, all 3 weapons almost look like space frigates with all of the sculpted details to make them look less simplistic in their appearances. Huge props to the people who worked in this figure. The orange is distracting, though it is said to be for safety reasons.

The SDCC & Takara versions arguably best the original Hasbro version. The former comes with an extra cannon, toy-accurate chrome on the face and hips, and 12 minifigures representing Orion Pax, Bumblebee, Trailcutter, Hoist, Megatron, and Thundercracker, with the Autobots in red and Decepticons in purple (or gold and silver in the Asian version). The Takara version replaces some of the black plastic with white, while extra paint apps were used to reduce the number of stickers needed. No orange was used for the guns. It was reissued much later to coincide with the release of Takara's Trypticon. Oh and it looks like I missed out on a secret missile compartment on the left side.

Now for some size comparisons, starting with Fortress Maximus. It's funny how not only was the figure retooled from Metroplex, but Fort Max reclaimed his title as the tallest TF toy ever until HasLab Unicron showed up, and I'm not counting any 3P releases. Also, I prefer Metroplex overall because he still has weapons from the get go while regular Hasbro Fort Max had neither a huge cannon or the Master Sword. As for Trypticon, some complained about him being slightly shorter, but I'd rather have what we have than deal with more shrinkage (foreshadowing).

Next we have him with Omega Supreme, who is shorter than him but at least feels more stable as a toy. Plus, at least I can find the scale easier to stomach, but the prices do get higher from here. Scorponok thankfully fits better in scale with someone like him, even if he is better suited for Fort Max.

While Metroplex is unusually taller than the Ark, he at least has a comparable height to that of his Cybertron counterpart. I find it cool that we got both a classic and modern-ish version of the character. Sucks we didn't get Drill Bit to go with CybPlex, though.

The scale with Nemesis is has the same thoughts and feelings shared with the Ark, though she is at least seemingly taller thanks to the nature of her design. Sadly, Tidal Wave cost $50-75 more than what Metroplex went for if we count their regular MSRP, and with a more noticeable size decrease than what Omega Supreme had, everyone was in the right to worry. Sure, I like Tidal Wave like anyone else, but he was far from being worth the $200 price tag when he was smaller than Metroplex, had no electronics like everyone else did since Trypticon (ignoring Devastator and Predaking in addition to me not having either), and who can forget about him not having a Minicon in the form of Ramjet?

Sadly, the Titan Class price may have decreased, but so have the figures. Star Convoy may be mostly cool, but he is not worth the $150 price tag that he went for compared to the $125 that most places sold T30 Metroplex. Also, while we'll see if Titan Class Grimlock will truly be worth owning at that scale in spite of some of the issues new to him, I doubt he'd convey the value for money sense we got with the original Metroplex. Honestly, if you can still get this figure for a reasonable price and are willing to paint him up yourself, you can do worse. The best part about this set would have to be the lights and sounds; with most toys nowadays trying to appeal to the international markets and saving a fraction of a cent, I love hearing the English voice clips on this toy without having to hear any bland name or faction shout outs like with Fort Max. Metroplex isn't 100%, but he's still a satisfying toy to mess around with and display along with your other Titans and Season 3 characters.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Marvel Legends WWII Logan & Astonishing Beast review

It seems today that all you see are McFarlane DC Multiverse reviews, but where are those good old fashioned Marvel Legends on which I used to review? Luckily, I am the Variety Guy, and unlike Peter Griffin, I live up to what I say. I've been interested in getting some Marvel Legends figures despite my collection seemingly close to completion, mostly getting other versions of characters that I love. Wolverine has been one of my favorite Marvel superheroes for a long time, and I was happy to have another version of Beast based on the Astonishing X-Men series given he has very little rep in my Legends collection. That being said, the prices for these have been far from encouraging to continue getting more Marvel characters. As these get closer to $30, someone needs to stop Hasbro from hiding their greed with real world crap that people will blame only instead of calling out a company they defend unhealthily. Thankfully, with Wolverine having a massive discount via a coupon and Beast also getting a lower price while needing to buy some treatment for my dog Lucas, I can review these two without the feeling of spending more than Hasbro deserves to charge (or at least what they think they deserve to charge). 

Here we have World War II Logan in hand. Near as I can tell, this is a wholly new sculpt from the ground up. Maybe it might have been reused from a prior G.I.Joe Classified figure or some vintage soldier that came with an era-appropriate Captain America, but between the proportions and the Marvel Legends-specific engineering, this has to be new in general and not just new to Legends. As one would expect with military clothing like this, the uniform is somewhat baggy yet carries a reasonable level of gear to keep him armed, from pouches for his bullets and nourishments to a dedicated sheath for his knife. While there isn't much in the way of paint apps, especially for a figure that is meant to represent the toils of war, I appreciate that they managed to paint the strap on the helmet to go with the rubbery piece. I also appreciate that the colors are murky enough to fit the militaristic 

His head sculpt is depicted with the screaming expression, which is fine, but I wish we can do a similar approach to the McFarlane 1989 Joker with the hat and hair being swappable parts. Still, the yelling expression is perfectly suitable for a berserker barrage dude. His articulation consists of a slightly limited double ball peg on the meck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, double jointed elbows, wrist rotation, vertical hinges for the trigger finger hands and horizontal hinges for the other hands, limited ab crunch and waist rotation, ball jointed hips, thigh rotation, double jointed knees, boot rotation, ankle hinges and pivots. While he has claw hands, they have bolts where they come out and wrapping around the palms likely to hide the fact that Wolverine is a mutant. That being said, the bone claws being part of his past prior to the Weapon X program is a retcon after Magneto violently ripped the adamant out of his skeleton. Who knows what Wolverine's true past is like, especially with how old the mutant himself is.

As for the alternate accessories, the alternate head he has features greasy hair that makes him look a bit emo, so he may need to get a slight trim. Also, the knife is always a treat to have if he's going to sneak up on a Nazi and stab them good, but is it me or is his hand slightly oversized? Could be the way the trigger finger hand makes the knife feel even smaller than it really is. As for his other weapon, it is a decently painted submachine gun that matches the ones used during WWII. He even has a left fist, though I wish he had a matching right fist. Still, a good number of accessories on a figure like this makes me more than happy, especially when some figures that are previously released only come with one extra pair of alternate hands (cough TASM2 Spider-Man) or nothing at all (cough Superman Returns).

The most logical comparison we can do is to put Worldwarverine with the Star Spangled Man with a Plan, Captain America (the MvC version). Putting these two together makes me so happy to have two characters who definitively were involved in WWII, especially since the origins or other characters who came out at the height of the events may have not been involved anymore via retcons. While Cap (along with Bucky Barnes) certainly teamed up with the Namor the Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch, there have been times where he and Logan worked together long before the former would be a member of the Avengers and the latter would serve as part of the X-Men. As for the figure in question, Logan is awesome. In an era where most figures are skipped for being cheap or lazy, this version of the character proves the benefit of cherry picking 

And as for Hank McCoy, this version of the character design gives the Beast a spandex-typenof suit that only goes up to the pecs and shoulder blades. He's gotta flex his body somehow. While I like that the shade of yellow is reasonably not-cheap looking and the black doesn't have any areas clashing with any parts that are either painted that color or molded in it, I wish the blue fur was given a wash to accentuate the textures and make his overall appearance less cheap and plasticky. Thankfully said blue fur doesn't interfere with the detailing going over the gauntlets of his costume. As for the proportions, the figure could use a bit more bulk for the shoulders as well as having a broader chest; we'll get into how he stacks up with the classic Jim Lee era design, but so far, I find the figure to be decent but no as good as he could currently be. 

His head sculpt is almost good with the more feline facial structure contrasting his more traditional look comparable to the cast of Disney's Gargoyles. However, the lack of deco beyond the eyes and somewhat with the nose and mouth ruin any separation between the bare skin and the fur surrounding his face. As for the articulation, it's mostly the same as Logan's, but he has the outdated disk hinge joint for the neck, butterfly joints that mostly help with backwards motion, and his torso articulation includes a reverse ab crunch as well as a diaphragm joint. While it's commendable that Hasbro didn't try to break up the sculpt of the costume that much, would it have hurt to try and do a double ball peg torso system instead? Most companies do that and it would be nice to see them commit to something similar. As for one of his alternate heads, it is one of him roaring or yelling in battle, which looks much better than the neutral face. At least my copy's arms don't come off like they have with some other fans.

As part of the mini-comic gimmick, he comes with an accessory representing one of the issues from the Astonishing run, which would be nice for some action figure photography, though white plastic would make more sense, and as I always say with these, a digital comic to download would have been nice. Even with the decrease of accessories beyond the same card and base with Page Punchers, at least the comic makes most releases easier to stomach for the price hike they have.

And now we have him next to his traditional counterpart. While. Would love to see the 90s design with a darker shade of blue, I prefer the sharper face sculpt and the slightly taller height on him than what we have with the Astonishing version. Thankfully, I will excuse them on this: they didn't have to paint his nails since the design has the fur covering them up to begin with. Plus, unlike most comic-wave figures out there, I can see a bit more bang for your buck with a taller figure than most of the wave, not to mention being a new sculpt. He's more Maximum than the Maximum line! Much like Wolverine, if you can get him for a cheaper price than what Hasbro wants you to consoom, then you can do much worse. It's not as good as WWII Logan, but both figures make me feel happy with giving the line some attention when it deserves it.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (WWII Logan)

⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Astonishing Beast)