S.H. Figuarts Gamerverse Spider-Man vs Mess Toys Black Suit Neighbor review

The Gamerverse is going beyond Marvel Legends and making its presence in S.H.Figuarts! If you're already a fan of the Marvel Legends multipacks as well as the larger-scale Juggernaut and Gargantos, then you should be interested in their lineup of characters (or at least the ones Hasbro didn't get to yet). I already own the X-Men 97 version of Cyclops and have no need for the Tamashii version, but I can't say no to a new Spider-Man with a specific place in my collection. Perhaps this time, I could replace Renew Your Vows as my definitive comic Spidey, right? That said, the timeline it took for this review to be made was even more interesting than the figure itself. Originally pre-ordered, then canceled near the end of 2025, and later regaining interest after looking through some reviews and coming to my own conclusion with the good and the bad, the day came when I won an eBay auction with this and Mess Toys' Black Suit Neighbor for around a reasonable price for both of them. IIRC, it was around $135, so I basically paid about what it'd cost for both figures for their normal MSRPs, or I paid for two figures of equal value if the price was cut in half per Spider-Man. I'll get into the history behind Mess Toys, but it's almost close to a Revoltech if you're interested in seeing why I would make a versus review. Let's see if the battle within decides which figure beats the other: the newest Figuart of this great character versus a high-quality bootleg that turned out to be a genuine surprise.

Here we have Spider-Man in-hand, and while the Cyclops figure made before him was a bit generic in terms of design, this at least matches the sprites used for the Capcom-collab games, albeit to a fault. Some people talked about the differences between what they should or shouldn't look like when we compare sprites to promo art, and it's a case where one doesn't match the other or how bright the colors are (on top of the web lines not being black but instead a slightly darker red), and while I am grateful he isn't colored to be pixelated, I still would like to see a happier medium between what the sprites look like and the promo art where the darker colors and web lines are present. As for the mold itself, it looks mostly good. I love the bulkier proportions as well as the reasonable level of musculature (even if it's a bit soft like on the McFarlane COIE body used on Superman). He doesn't have a slim torso, nor is his head of average size like on a cosplayer. The waist area as well as the upper thighs and hips, however, have been a bit of contention for many; if you remember the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man they made, it had a broken-up waist area where there were some panels near the crotch to allow the hips to move better while trying to preserve the sculpt despite the visual compromise. I think this move worked better for FNSM because of the darker colors combined with the textured sculpt. In fact, while I like the recessed web lines and appreciate they tried to make a sense of flow between the hip plates and the ends of the thighs, the lighter blue as well as the softer musculature don't exactly help with the waist area from standing out badly. To sum it up, I like the figure for the most part; it's not as awful as people make it out to be, yet I wish there would have been tweaks in either the aesthetics or having the colors work better. At least they didn't forget to sculpt the ass in different areas.

As for Black Suit Neighbor, this is a either a copy of one of the Revoltech Amazing Yamaguchi molds or a modified version of the body to appear less anime-esque or look more "normal" with a smoother surface instead of having the texturing of symbiotic goo moving around him. One positive about him is that he has a matte finish, which works better for him, whereas someone like Venom could be with or without one and still look fine. As for the proportions, while still not overly exaggerated like the AY, this is still more muscular than the average Hasbro Legends figure. Of note, the figure has a mix of gaps for certain joints as well as discrepancies that don't normally fit for the costume, like the ridges on the boots that would make sense mostly for the commonly bootlegged Parker Industries suit. Also, the torso looks more broken up because the pecs can now "flex" while the figure hinges the arms in front or behind the torso rather than using the butterfly joints found on most action figures. Once again, this would normally make sense for a suit of armor versus living alien goo pretending to be a spandex suit, but at least being predominantly black helps hide this discrepancy. And hey, it solves a problem most Hasbro Legends suffer from where the pecs appear smaller due to the integration of butterfly joints! Honestly, apart from the shoulders, upper torso, and boots appearing weird, this is still able to mimic the comic aesthetics perfectly fine and thankfully has little to no paint blemishes, which would be more forgiving on an unofficial figure priced around $30 than a Hasbro item. And while he may appear more broken up than the MvC figure, it thankfully has no issues with the waist area. 

The head sculpts for each figure are good for what they are each aiming to match, with Gamerverse, of course, matching the Capcom era of arcade games featuring a handful of Marvel superheroes with the Street Fighter cast and then some of Capcom's other characters (Mega Man, Morrigan, etc), though he still has that McFarlane influence. Black Suit Neighbor, on the other hand, is more of a standard shape associated with when the costume first appeared in Secret Wars. We'll get into the options momentarily, but let me say this about the masks: I'm happy that both of them at least are shaped with the mindset of a human head underneath them thanks to the subtle tip of the nose, because it could have been easy to make them look balloonish or basic.

The accessories for each of them are a mostly good spread, though Black Suit Neighbor could be a bit better at the total than Gamerverse. On the left, we get an alternate head with slightly larger lenses, four pairs of hands, an adaptor for the spider-sense effect piece, a spatula for the back piece to pry out, a single web line, an L-shape clear peg, and a web shield. On the right, we also have an alternate head, a pair of alternate hands, an extra pair of alternate hands (5 vs 4), two web lines, a pair of web blasts, a flight stand, and a bendy crane with a clamp. Surprised they would go as far as using the logo for the stand, considering how protective Disney is with their IPs. Then again, they would go after a man who just wanted to put a character they never made on a kid's grave yet say nothing on the Lightning McGroomer saga.

For Figuarts, the articulation consists of a double ball jointed neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movements, butterfly joints that blend in better than the average Hasbro Marvel Legends figure yet have mediocre range (or at least one of them does), bicep rotation, double jointed elbows, wrist joints that are on two pegs with a hinge in the middle for universal range, a diaphragm joint that is very fluid in contrast to a lower torso joint that barely hinges forward thanks to a terrible design flaw where the joint is at an angle, requiring that the socket is also at a similar position while filling in the lower back with a panel that could have easily been scrapped if the lower torso was designed like a normal action figure. They make the hip area much more logical in comparison, because at least there, they move normally on the swivel pieces while the outward leg movement goes even higher than normal Hasbro Legends. Just keep in mind that there is a risk of the waist splitting, so be careful with that (even then, they should fix this before releasing the figure to an already skeptical group of consumers). Thighs swivel, knees bend at two points, and the feet can swivel, hinge, and pivot with a cap system that keeps the joint from breaking up the sculpt and proportions, all while keeping the range generally good. He even has toe articulation placed where it should be. For anyone wondering, you can do the idle pose generally close enough, but balancing the figure or using a flight stand is recommended given there are no peg holes on the feet. In addition to the thwip hands complementing the pose, I like the web shield in terms of sculptwork and size, though it should use some paint.

There is also the Spider-Sense display piece that looks pretty weak, let's be honest. It's only yellow on one side and white on the other, and you have to adjust it at the peg whenever the head is facing a specific direction, as I failed to do in this pic. Also, to access that, you need the trusty spatula to pry the middle part of the back logo off. I wish that could have been used for a peg with a flight stand, especially considering how often we see this figure marketed in jumping poses at times.

And while not as plentiful in length options, the web line is at least great for him to use if you want him to go with either a swing or throw, though we have no option for a web ball pose or for him to be posed shooting the web. I think they went with the swing and throw because those are some of the more common ways he would attack other opponents in the games, though once again, a flight stand is greatly needed.

Finally, you get a pair of cardboard backdrops if you want to recreate the Hyper Combo Finish, but keep in mind that it's not that particularly great looking for most toy photography angles, and it would have been more effective if it was either a giant web piece or had it on a clear plastic piece so it wouldn't be stuck on a black background. My copies are thankfully not bent, but these are still less effective than the backdrops in Studio Series when they were a thing.

As for the Black Suit Neighbor, his articulation is wilder than on Gamerverse. Once again, we have a double ball-jointed neck, but we have an extra joint within the base of the neck. The shoulders have even higher range at the cost of an ugly crevice for the shoulders. That said, you can move the arms front and back, with the butterfly joints providing even better range than the average butterfly range, even the Gamerverse Figuarts. Biceps rotate, though the joints are at an angle; the elbows bend deeply at the revolver joint, slight rotation at the forearms, and the wrists are on ball hinges. The torso uses two ball pegs, meaning you get much better range than Gamerverse. The hips have worse range moving to the sides, and the offset swivel has you working its way into making a straight kick thanks to the revolver joints and thigh swivels. The knees bend at a single joint, though some odd knee pads look like random spikes. The boots can rotate and hinge, while the ankles have just about as much range as Gamerverse (but with a small lump for the toe joints). All this means you can get better posing potential than with any other import figure, and especially Marvel Legends.

I prefer having double the pairs of web lines, which is at least better than one, in spite of there still being no deco or bendy wires. The alternate head he comes with has narrower eyes sometimes associated with this suit.

The figure needs no thwip hands considering he does his own style of hand gestures while shooting web. I would like to see more figures do a similar trick since half of the time, we get the same web-thwipping hands on other Spider-Man 1:12 releases. I know sometimes he does the same hand gestures, but not as often in Earth-616, at least to my knowledge.

To identify what hand should be used, remember that a small hole near the middle of the white area is what lets you do the web-thwipping. Also, a bonus alternate head not originally included with the set is a more McFarlane-style lens design courtesy of PVC Bakeshop. Honestly, the fact that I got this head with the two figures for nearly $140 makes it feel like a surprisingly good deal (since I believe the custom head went for $75). Considering how McFarlane/Bagley the MvC style looks, I would love to go with this option.

For a size comparison, here we have the two unofficial figures with their Legends counterparts, with Gamerverse sandwiched between Amazing Fantasy 15 and Renew Your Vows. Meanwhile, Black Suit Neighbor stands next to the Secret Wars figure. While figure scales are all over the place depending on who you ask, I don't mind that the Gamerverse version is between the heights of AF15 and RYV, with the latter said to go slightly over the normal scale. I'm not sure if there is supposed to be a consistent scale between SHF and Mess Toys, but at least it won't be as bad as reusing the RYV mold for a Spider-Man in the middle of being enveloped by the symbiote, which means he scales poorly with the full black suit figure from a year ago. I would like to see Gamerverse Spider-Man with black web lines and the same shades of red and blue we have with RYV; pretty sure we had that as an alternate skin for the old games as well as the promo art.

Overall, much like Peter Parker in Spider-Man 3, I have a bit of a battle within, so to speak; to sum it up in a few words. Black Suit Neighbor is better than I thought, while Gamerverse Spider-Man is so close to perfection. Let's go into slightly more detail on each figure: Gamerverse has the overall suit aesthetics and proportions I want for a more adult Spider-Man, and while the lenses are specifically for the game, they are still pretty close to the McFarlane/Bagley style. That said, I am mixed on the execution of some accessories in addition to the hybridization of the sprites and promo art (whereas having him match the promo art would help him appear less "cheap" at first glance). Most have complained about the broken-up hip area, yet I have more issues with the lower torso joint having less range than I would appreciate. The accessories range from good to executed at a less than ideal rate. Mess Toys are a third party company, so standards will vary depending on how much they want to do better or worse than the official brands. That said, unlike MAFEX bootlegs, they have no issues to speak of when it comes to using the Revoltech line as a basis as well as modifying the sculpt rather than directly copy it (at least for Black Suit Neighbor). Not only that, but the quality for Black Suit Neighbor far exceeds MAFEX bootlegs, and it may also do better than Gamerverse in terms of value for money and possibly even quality. So while I would recommend you get Gamerverse Spidey at a lower price, Black Suit Neighbor is one I recommend even more.

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

⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Transformers Titans Return Sentinel Prime review

Sentinel Prime may have been a recurring TF element in the 21st century, but the 80s didn't really have any version of him to begin with. The cartoon retconned the "U-Haul Robot" as a version of him via Ask Vector Prime, and Marvel Comics would share the first proper G1 iteration. You already know him best for being a jerk store Tick in Animated as well as the time Spock went nuts in Dark of the Moon, but when IDW used to do its version of G1, they initially had him as somewhat of an anti-hero with beliefs that were closer to what would eventually be refined by Optimus, only to be killed by Megatron during the Megatron Origin comics. Turns out he wasn't actually dead, nor was he Sentinel, but instead Infinitus. From there, we go from turning Sentinel into a flawed yet well-intentioned Autobot leader into someone who was totally not written in response to the toxicity of 2016 politics, right? Seriously, it's almost like the IDW crew went "Y'know, we don't really wanna give credit to DOTM or Animated for this Sentinel concept, so how do we make this feel interesting?" while writing Titans Return. I think IDW 2.0 treated him a bit better, but then again, who even bothered reading it? Anyways, Titans Return is now a decade old, and we're revisiting a figure that may still be better than Studio Series Astrotrain. Let's see how Sentinel Prime holds up!

Here we have Sentinel Prime in his train mode. This is meant to be one of those massive Cybertronian transports that would almost take up the entire station. You look at the ladders near each end, as well as some of the windows, and if they're meant to be human-scaled like the ones on Combiner Wars Long Haul and Ultra Magnus, this could almost be the size of a warship! Seriously, this looks like something you'd see as a boat or a flagship in the skies instead of a train! Not saying trains can be this big, but it's wild to imagine how huge this would be in real life. That said, while the front and backs are similarly proportioned, the middle section is always swept back thanks to those pieces representing the rear stabilizers. Then the scale is ruined by the scale of Titan Master Infinitus, who sits in the cockpit like Omega the Headmaster would in the Energon Omega Supreme set. 

Transforming him into his shuttle mode is fairly straightforward, as you're folding the ends together once the wings and the rear assembly can attach behind the legs, with their panels now folded in place once the train ends are replaced with the giant nose cone. Generally speaking, shuttle mode is very Cybertronian, and I could see less of an Astrotrain look in this mode thanks to the radically different proportions (though the arms being under the wings could be reminiscent of the train halves on top of the wings on the Classics version. That said, the details are still washed out all throughout thanks to the neon orange and red combo, and it doesn't help that there are very few paint apps present beyond the few bits of yellow and silver. On the flipside, the front section feels kind of like Scourge's altmode. The weapons can be combined together so any other Titan Masters can man a double-cannon wherever you peg it, which is one of the common playset features of the line as a whole.

Transformation is very simple, mostly relying on the panels folding away to reveal the thighs while the wing assembly with the backpack can be attached to the back, not to mention requiring that the hands are brought out as well as doing the Headmaster trick. Very basic yet at least the robot mode feels appropriately heroic for a design usually associated with a Decepticon. Sentinel's design is meant to match the way he appeared in the IDW comics, yet the colors are prominently orange instead of yellow, likely because the designers misinterpreted the dramatic lighting in one of his more accessible comic panel photos as the definitive source for reference art. As a result, he doesn't match the concept art from the days of Megatron Origin, deco-wise. Kind of says a lot too when the yellow bits on him would have been more suitable instead of orange, but I also have to complain about the grey plastic used. I know those are for structural support, but it ends up clashing with the colors on the rest of him. It'd be like if you have a modern Nemesis Prime repaint with metallic black and teal, yet any silver is replaced with beige. Maybe the grey plastic would look better if the orange was yellow. That said, he does remind me of the Sentinel Knight from Operation Overdrive; if you recall, there was a knight who turned into a sword for that season of Power Rangers. Hell, between the colors, the vaguely similar transformation, and the use of the name Sentinel, someone at Hasbro must have been a PR fan before they owned the franchise. Also, one cool thing I like is that the backs of the lower legs have their wheels in different elevations so they wouldn't clash with each other during transformation.

Head sculpt is very reminiscent of the more dynamic comic style of the IDW comics at the time, though once again, without any paint to break it up, he ends up looking more like a prototype in this state than if he had a more refined deco. That, or the plastic color shouldn't make the sculpted details so hard to look at without going very up close. Articulation is standard for the time period, with ball-jointed necks, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, single-jointed elbows, hips with ratchets implemented throughout, thigh swivels, and hinged knees. This was before the WFC trilogy made waist rotation, wrist swivels, and ankle rockers generally common, but he does a fine job at posing.

One of the features Titans Return Voyagers had to make their heads appear proportionate was using spring-loaded components surrounding them. These bulk up okay, though the ones here are meant to represent the toy-detailing on Astrotrain. It's nothing to write home about, but they blend in better than the ears on the Voyager Optimus mold as well as Alpha Trion, though every figure does this better than Galvatron's lousy mask.

As far as reuses are concerned, this is the Titan Force version of Sentinel with far more red and orange throughout this thing. Part of him is cast in clear plastic, and he came with Security Force logos instead of Autobot insignias. He was included in a 3-pack with special repaints of Brainstorm and Windblade.

As for the mold this figure was mostly intended for, this is Astrotrain in toy-accurate colors. Back in the day, Hasbro mostly homaged the old toys rather than the Sunbow cartoon, unlike what Takara would do. In this case, he matched the colors of his original toy, though it still fits him decently. That said, he looks like he has fake Nikes on his feet, and while the color breakup is more effective, you still get the effect of color blocking thanks to the prominent use of purple for most of the altmodes. Also, his partner is named Darkmoon, though we don't know if he has siblings known as Revengefallen, Ageextinction, Lastknight, and Risebeasts.

The Takara Astrotrain comes from the Legends line. While it may look nier than the Hasbro version, even to the point of painting the friggin windows, I heard Thew mention the tolerances have been worse for his copy at least. That's mostly in the zestless hip ratchets on the already cheap ones we got before as well as the knees being looser than on Six Shot. Still, then again, it may ring true for all copies since mold degradation can affect cheaper molds like this. Unlike what Hasbro does, all Takara Titan Masters are instead Headmaster stages of their respective bodies. That didn't stop Thew from naming him Extinctionrevenge!

For a size comparison, here he is with Siege Astrotrain and Studio Series 86 Optimus Prime. I don't mind that he's taller than the guy whose design he borrowed from if we remember he is meant to be a Prime, and he surprisingly scaled well with Optimus. Admittedly, budgets and size differences have affected many a toyline over the years, but at least this works. Still, he is lighter than Optimus.

Overall, Sentinel Prime is an okay figure to own if you've never had a version of him yet want to expand your G1 roster. He doesn't entirely match what I'd want from THE look he had in G1 media, be it in colors or design, but at least he looks mostly cool and can prove Hasbro used to make triple changers work well as Voyagers, whereas they would only do that for new Leaders. And hey, paying this figure for cheap beats paying nearly $70 for the AOTP version. Now to wonder if I can get someone to make his colors match the comics...

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

Transformers Energon Powerlinx Optimus Prime vs Megatron review

Last year, I reviewed the original, Leader-sized versions of Optimus Prime and Megatron from the Energon line (the 2004 series, not the Skybound comics). While some people would clown on the former for the design and praise the latter for the G1 tribute, I found both toys to be kind of enjoyable. They weren't 100% perfect, Optimus especially given the limitations of his articulation. Still, they managed to be cool, chunky, and overall more satisfying to mess around with than most larger-scale toys meant for kids do. I bet you a kid in 2004 had more fun with at least Megatron than a kid would with the Cyberworld stuff. Now you may be as well-versed in past lines like me, and the first thing you'll be surprised by is the fact that we got smaller-scale versions of not just Optimus like on Armada beforehand, but also Megatron as well. Prime should be self-explanatory, but Megs was made in this scale because Takara opted for an Ultra-sized figure likely to stand in scale with the preceding Armada toy. The US and all other markets went for the bigger toy because bigger is better. I wish I could get insight from Aaron Archer behind the decisions made with the two sizes. Let's see if this seemingly coveted set is worth tracking down after it was either obtainable from importing or buying at your now-closed Toys R Us.

 

Here we have Optimus Prime and Megatron in their vehicle modes. I'll go over differences in a moment, but while Megatron is generally 1:1 with the larger toy in terms of overall proportions and details, Optimus Prime is a new mold built from the ground up while using the same character design. That said, it works differently, as we'll get to. Talking about the Hasbro toys specifically, the larger Optimus was mostly drab for the blues, whereas Megatron had more of a minty mouthwash hue to his color scheme; here, Optimus's blues are more saturated and look gorgeous with the chrome, while Megatron has more of a yellow-green, sky blue, and warmer grey combo than what we had previously. Prime's colors look way better than the larger toy, yet I'd argue it is the worst version of the design, whereas Megatron's pretty good in either size, color differences, and everything.

Here is Optimus with his Leader counterpart. While the sizes are an obvious difference, the deco on the smaller toy looks much nicer and almost makes me wish I got the Japanese Grand Convoy instead of the Hasbro version. That said, while neither one has the best truck mode, it would be worth mentioning that the Deluxe has clear windows and they stick out less. And of course, both can store their guns from the back. 

The figure has a trailer hitch at the back as well, meaning he can haul the larger toy's trapezoid drone container much like how the smaller Armada Prime can haul the larger Super base trailer. Note that the scale will be wack.

Here he is with the aforementioned Armada Prime I owned as my rep for that series before Legacy Evolution wiped the floor with it. I know we had Armada Prime made as a trend to help kids afford a version of Optimus that can still stand on its own (super articulation, a Minicon who turns into a gun), but Deluxe Energon Optimus never got a standalone release in the US. Was the larger Energon Prime more affordable than the Armada version?

Transformation is mostly identical to the Leader toy; only the fists go inside the cavities of the back rather than retract, the head is hidden within the helmet instead of the torso, and the feet aren't flat flaps like with the larger toy. The robot mode is still just as fat and chunky as the original, though possibly moreso this time because of how much smaller the figure looks. It's one of those weird visual quirks that pops up sometimes at certain angles. While we already know the general proportions of the figure, I have to question why the helmet can't tuck into the back kibble better. Not helping is that the rear wheels are lower on his back rather than being upwards where they should be. As a result, he has more junk in the trunk than he should. One thing I have to question would be the use of translucent plastic for the biceps. I don't mind if they're used for the chest windows, but the upper arms along with the feet are cast in that kind of material, and considering the fragility people get paranoid over, along with the ankles having fairly tight hinges...there's also the fact that I have seen one of these break on an eBay listing. I believe even the knees are cast in the same kind of material, as we'll get to in a moment.

Head sculpt is absolutely teeny tiny, but at least it is sculpted and painted as well as you can get at the size. I love this shade of blue and the shade of yellow they used for this figure and would love to see it applied onto the larger toy. As for the articulation, his ball-jointed head can only turn left and right; shoulders are on ratchets moving front and back as well as in and out, elbows bend on hinges, hips are on ratchets moving front and back but move in and out without them (and barely due to the tires), thighs rotate, knees bend, and ankles kind of hinge due to transformation. His gun being cast in clear plastic makes sense since it was a common Energon thing to do, though some had missiles and others did not.

Here he is with Armada Prime, who was slightly shorter than his subsequent form. He goes from being a wide bruiser into a chunky munky between Armada and Energon, though I'm sure a better proportioned Energon Optimus is out there somewhere. Once again, I want to know what led to the existence of the smaller Energon Optimus, given how only Japan gave more attention to it and the only international release that we know of was in the US with Toys R Us (apparently, other countries sold the set, but nobody knows what retailers joined in).

Here he is with the larger Optimus. I don't really have a preference for either version of the character, but I'll be honest and say that the clear windows look way better than painted windows, especially without a small scratch revealing some white peeking through ruining the look like on the larger Energon Prime.

Surprisingly, he can combine with the Prime Force drones the same way the larger toy could. In actuality, you can fake it by using the 5mm ports as friction while wedging the forearms in the slots. Meanwhile, the legs have no stability to keep them inside the driller and submarine. He looks like he's wearing his dad's clothes when you think about it, though he can't have the chest open. We'll talk about the helmet in a little bit, but it works differently from the larger toy. This Optimus never had its own mini Prime Force, and a new gimmick was implemented for it.

So for that, we move to Energon Rodimus, who is taller than this Optimus. In fact, all of the Deluxes tower over the figure just about. And yes, Rodimus is finally reunited with his blaster. I don't have any of the other Energon Autobots with me yet, any Combat/Deluxe and Mega/Voyager figure can turn into either the upper or lower half of a super robot. Everyone else was designed to work this way from the ground up, so what happens when you implement a design who never had this ability?

What we get is a very wonky set of top and bottom modes for Optimus. Admittedly, the top mode is kind of clever with the Super Mode helmet as well as the grille for the torso and the option to use the gatling guns instead of hands; however, the chest split in half as splayed-out shoulders doesn't look that great, nor do the legs barely bulking up the body. The lower half is even worse, with the toy looking like Optimus was a victim of having his spine obliterated so badly, the upper body sags below whoever whalloped on him. At least you can rotate the parts around so the back kibble is easier to tuck away, but I can see why many would find this worse than the larger toy. At least the design was always intended to use the drones as well as combine with Wing Saber and Omega Supreme. 

As far as repaints are concerned, this is the Fire SL version of the mold, casting him in red and orange so he can go well with a Black Rodimus repaint. I like that the chrome is gold on this figure, and it almost reminds me a bit of the Galaxy Force repaint Cybertron Prime later got.

The gold repaint is self explanatory, and it is one of those things Takara does all the time with their Optimus Primes. On the bright side, this is not the only gold Optimus Takara made.

As for Megatron, this is the main version Takara used for their line. He was named Galvatron the whole time because of the design, whereas Megatron went back and forth with the name changes because of the necessity to maintain copyrights for both...and people bitched about Bayverse Megatron abandoning the Galvatron name in The Last Knight (not that it saves the movie from any other issues it has). It's closer to the Mega Class figures that came out at the time, and while that means people can have a slightly smaller option if they don't like their toys big or chunky, it isn't entirely going to scale that great. Megatron is at least the height of Optimus's super mode in the show, so this downscaling would only make sense with the Optimus he came with. In fact, it's weird in general for Takara to make a figure that is out of scale with everyone else in the line, other than them dealing with their financial struggles before merging with Tomy a year later OR to match the scale with Armada Megatron. That said, the colors are easier to compare this time: greens are yellower, the greys are more saturated, the shoulder squares are colored differently, the blues are brighter, and the orange is more vibrant. Functionally, they are all the same, but the shoulder cannons on the larger toy are on separate pieces they can detach from, while the Takara version has the clips molded on the same cannons. Funny enough, including these two with the Legacy United Core Class figure results in a daddy, mommy, baby trio of a family.

As for the mold itself, it functions the same as the larger version; hyper mode is included, cannons can pivot, the articulation is not changed, the fists and feet are spring-loaded, and the tank can clip on the arm. One change other than the structure of the cannons is that the blade is colored green instead of clear plastic. On one hand, this results in better synergy with the rest of the clear plastic. On the other hand, the LED is still red. The electronics are also modified, with the cannon no longer sounding like a machine gun and the blade now making basic sword clash sounds. 

As for his repaints, this is the Black Version of Galvatron given away by TV Magazine and Tobu department stores. The mix of black, red, and clear orange almost makes him reminiscent of Black Zarak, but that is probably not intended.

As for Superlink Galvatron G, this is their version of the deco used for the powered-up Decepticon leader. He comes with an Energon Star of his own as well as a clear blade originally used by Cruellock/Dinobot. The colors are closer to the show, yet I find them to be not as nice as the Hasbro version.

The only other US release comes in the form of Shattered Glass Megatron, who was retooled with a head based on the Marvel Comics version of G1 Megatron and a color scheme more heroic than his positive-universe counterpart. The Rumbler tank is now colored to look like Megazarak yet there are no electronics.

Overall, this set is one I would recommend you get if you want to go for some of the special releases for the sake of the brand history. Optimus Prime isn't that great but looks nice thanks to the colors and chrome. That and he is an interesting smaller option for anyone wondering how he'd Powerlink with other Autobots. Megatron, on the other hand, is just as great as the larger Hasbro toy, but he doesn't scale as accurately with most of the characters in the show and is harder to get than the larger version. This set is mostly suited for anyone who wants to put these in their Optimus Prime and Megatron collections, while the larger versions are put with their Energon displays. That said, getting them complete will be very difficult, so if you want to get these two, know that they are meant for each other in the context of the 2-pack rather than the Energon line as a whole, and be ready to pay a pretty penny.

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