Transformers Age of the Primes Big Convoy review

Big Convoy represents a different kind of Maximal leader compared to the ones Japan had in their version of Beast Wars lore. Naturally, Optimus Primal remained consistent with his US counterpart as a noble faction leader and a respect-worthy captain of the Axalon (in spite of the dialed-up ab-lib humor); Lio Convoy felt more in-line with the Japanese trope of tough shonen protagonists with a sense of justice probably stronger than the boss monkey himself. Big, meanwhile, comes across more as a one-bot army in both his strength and personality. Not that he likes to work alone, but he tends to before of a militaristic tough guy that would give the late R. Lee Ermey a run for his money. Regardless, he still makes for a fairly respectable Maximal leader, flaws and all. Now we shall see if waiting for the Japanese Maximal Leader trio is worth the wait after having a longer time gap between Lio and Big than what we had with Primal and Lio.

Here we have Big Convoy in his mammoth mode. To start off with positives, this feels rock solid and very dense, which is one of the benefits towards making this a Leader Class figure. The anatomy is also kept intact, and we have very few robot bits peeking through beyond where the trunk and front section are. I would like to see some deco to help the fur pop even better, but me complaining about no deco applied onto the tusks should be reserved for when we have Nemesis Prime redecoed from this mold where he has blood on them or not. As it stands, still a good beast mode so far.

The only articulation in this mode is the trunk as well as the front legs. The former is disjointed so it doesn't look as natural, and sadly, even as a Leader Class figure, we have no Mammoth Tank mode for this toy.

For a beast mode size comparison, here we have a Big Convoy in-between Optimus Primal and Lio Convoy. Now this is where he doesn't quite appear as big as he should be. If we remember that Optimus Primal and Lio Convoy are generally close to their real world animal counterparts, then that would make Big Convoy closer to the size of a younger elephant past the size of a baby yet not big enough to be an adult. Granted, he didn't seem to be that oversized in the show he came from, but it'll definitely throw people off who never saw BWN.

Transformation is fairly involved given the Neo series' shellformery nature, with chunks of the alt mode barely integrating into the robot mode in a naturalistic way like with regular Beast Wars characters. Granted, some characters use the kibble for decoratively badass purposes, and Big Convoy is not as offensive as some others (cough Mach Kick), but the resulting robot mode almost looks kike he could have the rest of the beast mode parts shed off to display both simultaneously. It reminds me of the issues that plagued AOE First Edition Optimus Prime, though this is given some slack because it's accurate to the series and not an embarrasingly expensive downgrade to what we had with any version of the ROTF mold. I don't mind that we have to be accurate to the show if that's the point of the line, but jfc are his proportions a bit off compared to normal bots. That being said, I like that the figure has a bit of Optimus/Convoy motifs from the past with the chest merging both the red window look of the cab in G1 as well as the Maximal center bit from Primal. I also dig the asymmetrical arms that were no doubt inspired by the Transmetal 2 characters having some bit of asymmetry to them. I also dig the tusks peering out from behind as sort of like Liege Maximo horns, though the mammoth legs (which can face forward as cannons that I forgot to show), so look too much like the kibble pieces hanging off of the first MP Starscream mold. The back of the robot mode does look pretty bare without the kibble hanging off of it...

His head sculpt continues the trend of resembling the Optimus Prime motif, though with more animefications via the new antenna so as not to exactly copy the old head design 1:1. With his gun in his hand, his articulation consists of a ball jointed neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, butterfly joints, fairly deep elbows, wrist rotation, waist rotation, universal hips, thigh swivels, hinged knees, and ankle pivots.

His other accessories include a pair of Mammoth Hakens that can be stored within the forelegs or held in his hands like weird little horseshoes ready to be thrown. He also has the same deployable tonfas from within the forearms. They look a bit impractical next to the claws of Lio Convoy but they are something. 

He has his own Energon Matrix, which is perfect timing to remember that he was the first character to have a Matrix that is an actual separate piece rather than having it be sculpted in the chest, though it isn't purposefully similar to the role the normal Matrix in G1 played. On the bright side he can hold it better than most G1 Matrix bearers, even ones with articulated fingers!

The Matrix Cannon, Big Convoy's signature weapon, utilizes a stand so he wouldn't topple over while posing with this behemoth of firepower the same way we see with Iron Man/War Machine's proton cannon. Even the shoulder pads can flip up to reveal missile pods. Sunday best, indeed. It is also capable of being stored on the back provided it is being kept balanced by the mammoth legs/underslung cannons. 

Here we have him alongside the other Maximal Leaders from the Beast Era. I guess the scale does make sense if we were to follow the cartoon logic. Still, not entirely worth the Leader Class price point...by the way, you may notice Lio Convoy looks different than in the Beast Mode pic, and that means the 40th Selection review is FINALLY happening after all those delays. Stay tuned...

And here we have Big Convoy next to his Predacon enemy, Magmatron. While the Maximal is around 10 feet and the dinomess is around 14 feet, I want to say that the scale between these two are fairly in scale with one another, but maybe Lio Convoy ends up being slightly undersized than his official height. Honestly, a size bump would help justify their price tag this figure is going for; while I have been forgiving to some characters when it comes to the smaller size bumps, the price hikes and certain figures getting varying degrees of budget put into them makes me question if this figure is worth the money. In all honesty, it isn't. Not saying this figure is bad, but with the expectations for these figures getting higher like the prices in the economy, you may want to wait for a sale when it comes to a big Convoy. After all, he isn't a G1 character who people will praise no matter the quality (Megatron and Soundwave for example). I will b hesitant on saying the same when we get a Nemesis Prime repaint, but who knows how long that will take.

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

Transformers Studio Series 86 Thundercracker review

It's that time of the year again where the Seekers have yet another redo, this time for the Studio Series 86 line. It's amusing how far back we have gone with the Classics Deluxe mold and the stupidly compromised approach towards completing the main 3 and the cone head trio (two mainline releases, one Target exclusive with an Albino Prime many later wanted when an upgrade kit came out, three convention exclusives), and then there was the issue with Henkei Seekers either having poor quality control issues or bootleg infestations, Hasbro later painted 4 of the 6 Seekers while forgetting about Ramjet and Skywarp, and we finally had 3-packs sold only for Asian markets. Fast forward to 2019 when the Siege Seeker mold was made, and while we did have 3 main Seekers with a few non-Conehead bonuses, Earthrise came a year later and had us buy more faithful versions people would generally want in spite of the obvious Classics engineering with tweaks here and there. Is this new version of the design going to be a slam dunk, or should we give up on the Seekers altogether? Also, interesting choice starting with Thundercracker given the trope of starting with a Starscream, but I guess the Skybound comics were giving him the spotlight this time. Let's see what this mold has to offer.

Here we have Thundercracker in his jet mode, which is the usual design we have seen with this character by this point. It is kind of refreshing that it is not on the grey with red and blue accents seen on so many Starscream toys I have reviewed, but this shade of blue is much lighter than people normally expected fo Thundercracker, and the blacks are now a dark grey. By now, many should expect what this altmode is like when it comes to the proportions and details, the latter thankfully not simplified as badly as I expected given how hard Hasbro tried to make their figures so accurate to the Sunbow models. The grey bits in-between the wings are accurate to the cartoon, though they do appear random. One new thing is that he has landing gear, at least in the front. Nothing mind blowing but it amazes me how the Earthrise version skipped that.

Unique to this figure is an opening cockpit, which thankfully doesn't compromise the toy compared to PRID Airachnid, but idk if that justified making him more expensive than he has any right to be.

For a jet mode comparison, here he is next to the Earthrise version, which is the original Thundercracker we got back in 2020's Target 2-pack with Skywarp rather than the Dramatic Capture Series.  It much else to say beyond the different shades of blue, though the grey patches are at least "accurate" to the cartoon for SS86. I kind of wish there was silver added on what will be the robot chest and shoulder pylons, but again, accuracy. What surprised me is that they kept the cockpit canopies translucent rather than opaque.

And why not, here is a pic I took with Cybertron Skywarp. If only it was actually Thundercracker since they are both the instances of a mold first belonging to him rather than Starscream, especially since Cybertron Starscream had his own design. 

Transformation is pretty involved for a Seeker design, feeling closer to how the third Masterpiece version worked in the past. Gone is the borrowed engineering we had with the Earthrise Seeker taking from the Classics Deluxe, and we now have a somewhat new method of bringing the fuselage into the cockpit while hiding the nosecone better without it sticking out behind his head. As for the robot mode, it is once again very close to what the third MP looks like, though now at a much smaller scale and without being as rounded out if that makes sense. Being closer to the Sunbow design does mean that it isn't as "dynamic" looking as what the Earthrise figure has in its aesthetics (though they were once again taken from the Deluxe). The chest does look somewhat like it slopes downward a bit more at the pecs, or it could be how low the shoulders hang this time around. While he isn't as greebly as the older Voyager, he still has some details kept intact, so he thankfully won't be as lackluster as a Titan Hero. Honestly, this isn't a bad figure in terms of a Voyager, though somehow the rear stabilizer fins end up appearing oversized around the lower legs just from being raised up higher than they should be (they would probably not throw people off as much if they were right next to the feet). I kind of feel like the back panels should close all the way in to hide the nosecone, but it doesn't appear to. As for the edges of the wings, they come detached out of the box for spacing reasons; since the Seeker wings are going to have the same shapes to begin with, why bother making them separate pieces if you're better off saving money with just the one solid part? I bet you the next Seeker remake will have the entire wings detached and in another baggie.

His head sculpt has him with an open mouth, almost like he's in the middle of talking compared to the alternate open mouth yelling head we saw with Earthrise Skywarp. The face kind of looks doughy (probably thanks to the small size and grey paint combined), but it is G1 accurate...is2g that is starting to be more like an excuse for some decisions Hasbro does. Anyways the articulation includes a ball jointed head, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation (including the 5mm ports on them instead of the shoulders), hinged elbows, wrist swivels, waist rotation, universal hips, thigh swivels, hinged knees, and ankle pivots.

The rear stabilizers are on 5mm ports and can be removed to clean the lower legs up, with the backs of the wings having spots for them to peg onto. Would be nice if they were to use the $44 "budget" to make them relocate in the wings without partsforming, but at least this is optional. Sadly, this means the wings cannot fold back like they used to, even without the pieces attached.

Here he is next to his Earthrise counterpart. I appreciate that the new Voyager is slightly taller to be in better scale with the other characters who have been SS86-ified, but it's crazy seeing how much softer toys have gotten in terms of sculpted detailing no doubt thanks to fanboys complaining that their already G1-accurate figures aren't as Sunbow smooth as their brains.

And here we have him next to Megatron and Soundwave. Feels a bit weird not having Starscream in this size comparison, but besides that, the scale here is also kept accurately to the cartoon. I know Hasbro has a Shockwave on the way, but so far, I'm extremely uninterested in getting a smoother version of a character just for the accuracy when he is not upscaled and cost barely less than the price that Siege Shockwave went for in 2019. As for Thundercracker, is this the bestest version of the Seeker mold since the last one we got which was also since the last one we had? If you love your characters to be as accurate to the cartoon as possible, then by all means, this is a slam dunk. However, I'm not entirely convinced by the price hike being a factor that will go against this figure. I'm also not sure if the landing gear and opening cockpit, gimmicks we have seen on other figures long ago, is enough to convince people that the budget is used at its best. I mean, we have had Titans Return play patterns a decade ago, so this figure is far from mind-blowing on that front. As for a huge warning I must give out, while my copy is perfectly fine, there have been reports on either certain unpaintable parts not color matching the rest of the toy (which is nothing to do with yellowing like with a lot of 2020 figures), the wings' mushroom joints being poorly molded, and defective molding for the tips of the wings not pegging in right. If this keeps on happening with Skywarp and Starscream, you are better off not bothering with any other versions of the mold past that point. So I wrap it up by saying that Thundercracker is a decent figure, but totally not worth the $44 price tag.

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

Transformers Age of the Primes Targetmaster Sureshot review

The later G1 characters have very little to speak about compared to the 1986 cast, and that rings true for the Targetmasters. He has an ego, one that fits a name like his, though I wonder if he was also a partial inspiration for AOE Crosshairs along with the other Targetmasters. Granted, he has appeared in some other versions of G1, but I always felt that the Headmasters got more attention than the Targetmasters. After all, both Toei and Marvel made spinoff titles based on the HMs, and there is more appeal with having a smaller robot ride a Transtector than having a gun that turns into a robot aside from Megatron and Shockwave. But we now have Sureshot to complete the Targetmaster trio that began with Siege Crosshairs before we got Legacy Pointblank. Let's see if this figure is worth it.

Here we have Sureshot in his vehicle mode. It is a Cybertronic dune buggy that looks as Lego-like as you can get. It matches the old toy fine enough, and it has all the three warm colors of the rainbow with an almost white blue windshield. Is it really hard to say the altmode sucks in spite of being accurate to the source material? Granted, we have seen this trend where some 1986-onwards G1 characters had good altmodes (Hot Rod and Cyclonus) while others had some lousy garbage (this guy and either Kup or Broadside). Hell, even Sandstorm was better and he had to be a Triple Changer!

The Targetmaster partner can ride in front of the altmode, but let's hope Sureshot won't be blinded by something larger than Hot Rod's engine!

Here he is with Siege Crosshairs and Legacy Pointblank. Yes, the former is a retool of Siege Ironhide, though to be honest, I would rather get some upgrade parts to fix him than wait half a decade for a new Crosshairs to be made. I guess on the bright side, that would mean the Siege Ironhide mold would finally be retired so we can get a bit of symmetry for the trio, including Pinpointer not being a Battlemaster.

Transformation is pretty close to the G1 version, from the flip down legs to the arms unfolding from the back, it's almost close to what many would say we a pseudo Missing Link type of figure. With how there is no other version of the character past the old toy, this only makes sense with what they have. The robot mode is also a spitting image of his only other toy, though slightly more refined when it comes to the proportions. He kind of reminds me a bit of the physique we got with the Robo Racer from Power Rangers Turbo. The red for the entire legs almost looks like sweatpants, but with how basic the palette is, he really does feel about as standard as we can get. Nothing all that interesting, and in fact, he kind of resembles more like a knockoff genericon.

Head sculpt is pretty generic with a rounder Starscream helmet and a blue visor; not much else to say about it beyond it matching his Rebirth appearance. His articulation consists of a ball jointed neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, hinged elbows, waist rotation, universal hips (with slits more visible than the holes on RID15 Warrior Bumblebee), thigh rotation, hinged knees, and ankle pivots.

And here he is once again with his teammates, the Autobot Targetmasters. I guess it's neat to have all 3 of them together, but how long did we have to take to complete them, 5-6 years? It also doesn't help that they each have some pretty annoying flaws more than any other subgroup we got since Siege began; Crosshairs is stuck with an old mold and is mostly a recolor with a new head, Pointblank has his hips sticking out far more as well as having no bicep rotation, and a Sureshot that is so faithful to his old toy he ends up looking unimaginative and nowhere near as visually interesting as his partners. I know many want to get him since he finally fills in the gap for an under-represented subgroup, but at the end of the day, he simply is a gap filler and a real epitome of a glup shitto (accept it, Geewunners).

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

900th REVIEW - McFarlane Elite Edition Spawn review

To celebrate 900 reviews on the site, we'll be taking a look at a fairly reoccuring character who shows up every half of a year. Spawn should need no introduction, I assume; the dude has been created from a modern indie legend, has been part of some fairly prominent media (the 1997 movie, an animated series, and a few games with some guest appearances here and there), and remains one of the most recognizable non-Marvel/DC character you could find in the comic industry tied with Hellboy, Invincible, and The Tick. The appeal to me was the grim nature of the character's world that dealt with more than just edgy stuff people tried to make fun of the 90s for while propping up their shitty Whedonesque writing "quality"; from  exposing actual corruption within law enforcement to going after child abusers, Spawn knows how to tackle commentary better than people try to in recent times. And now with the Image Comics Founders getting their recognition in the McFarlane Toys Elite Edition subline, now we shall ask ourselves if the Toddfather managed to deliver the definitive comic Spawn or if it barely does Al Simmons justice.

Here we have Spawn in-hand, representing his classic design with a gothic mix of red, white, and black and a mix of spikes with chains and hellishly space-consuming cape with an over-the-top collar. In terms of aesthetics, Spawn at least manages to look fine for the most part. From what I can tell, this figure is a reuse of a prior Spawn figure, or at least reuses some existing parts, which I am on two sides of. On one hand, I can be fine with that if it's because the character and his design are at least the same, only with a slight tweak here and there for the aesthetics. On the other hand, with this being comparable to Hasbro's Maximum series for the Marvel Legends line, what's the point of reusing parts if it's meant to be a buck made from the ground up. The proportions could be a bit more dynamic; what we have isn't bad, but it feels closer to the regular builds we get from DC Multiverse. While I appreciate the paint apps used throughout the torso and arms, I am concerned in the longevity of the paint used for the elbow joints. I'm not sure if dual-molding joints is possible, especially when it comes to maintaining proper stability from the materials not breaking down, but it would have helped not cause any chipping. As for the cloth goods, the way Spawn's cape works in fiction usually makes it difficult to keep it either as dynamic as possible without going crazy on the amount of cape he can keep if we were to balance practicality with style. So usually, a cloth goods cape can be easier to maintain than one made out of rubber, though it won't look as dynamic given how over-the-top it's meant to look with its size and jagged nature. I want to say they did a good job with the cape, though I'm not too sure if the collar piece should have been cloth or molded as a static rubber piece. Taking this out of the package, the thing doesn't like to keep its distance with the back of Spawn's head when you take it out it the package. I feel it should have been wired like the rest of the cape, but because the designers likely wanted to maintain a thin shape to the piece without having any stitching for the wires bulk it up somewhat, they were at a dead end with what to do for their resources at this scale. So what we have is a reverse situation with Red Tornado, whose cape wasn't wired yet his collar was. And trust me, we will get to the cape on Spawn. As it stands, this figure mostly works fine for aesthetics, but I know that with how tricky it can be to get his design right with modern engineering, this feels closer to a regular $20ish release than a "premium" figure.

Head sculpt is generally good, though I know some will find the overly narrow eyes a bit distracting. Would be nice to come with different eye size options, but it at least fits the grim nature of the character. The articulation is standard for the usual figures we get from the McFarlane DC Multiverse line, so I will instead talk about his stand and cape. The former does the job fine enough with a bit of paint and sculpt work to make it look like worn out and as close to resembling pavement as possible. Would be nice to have a tombstone for Al Simmons, but it does the job. As for the cape, it's cool...in theory; while we can do all the crazy cape displays Spawn is known for pulling off in all the media he's in, the biggest drawback is how the wires were implemented; rather than have a single wire go through both edges of the cape and have the middle section either go through the neck or be covered by the neck chains, we have two wires used that don't connect, resulting in fewer posing capabilities comparable to the lousy efforts done by Beast Kingdom's DC figures. It sucks even more when you consider how often we used to have wired capes from McFarlane Toys before they started skipping them entirely despite there being small pocket holes for the bendy wires to go through, and on a premium release like this where the wire implementation is half assed, it makes me wonder why nobody tried experimenting with making the feature work without compromising the visual design.

His other accessories include an alternate head representing his unmasked yet undead face, one that used to belong to his old life as Al Simmons. I love the paint work and the stitching combined with the rotting flesh, but the necroplasm effect part, nice as it may look with the ghastly sculpt and paintwork, is very difficult to wrap over his hand without scuffing it up, and it doesn't help that making it as flexible as the rubbery accessories in the usual DC Multiverse line would have helped! His other accessory, a spiked club, is a good melee weapon, even if he usually comes with a meat cleaver sword or an axe. The weapon holding hands are decent but could be better at having a slightly wider grip to not risk scuffing for the handle.

The back is thankfully painted, which is a miracle one would hope to see given how most figures with capes often aren't looking at their backs. Two ports can be used to attach the chains for his more open hands to hold. I like that they're made of die-cast, and while many would wish there were poseable ones, this is still a good addition.

One thing that infuriates me with this figure more than the cape and two of the accessories being too tight to go on him is whenever toy companies show something that was meant to be included with a figure that ends up being scrapped in the final release. Now just because a disclaimer says that it's a prototype, doesn't mean we should have the fully unmasked Al Simmons head, the halfway masked head, and the upside down leg brace. If they were included with the figure, maybe the price would have been easier to stomach at $60+. 

For a comparison, here he is with Proto-Spawn and Mortal Kombat Spawn. While I am happy owning another version of this underrated comic book character, especially one that is straight out of the comics, I honestly find this version the most frustrating one in the collection. I really wanted to say this is a 10/10 release, but the handling of the cape, the collar being awkward at times, the excluded accessories, and the high price makes me think of why the Elite Edition is going through the same problems that the Maximum Series has had. It'd be one thing if this was around the price of a recent Collector Edition, or a few bucks closer to $40, but $50-60 is where the full price doesn't make the figure worth it. If you really want to get this version of the character because he's so close to the original comic run, who am I to stop you? But if you own the MK or Batman crossover versions of him instead, maybe stick with those instead of getting this. And while this is more poseable than the Kickstarter version, that figure still does some things better than what we have here. In all honesty, this and Doomslayer are probably going to be as far as I go with the Elite Edition, and I am so thankful McFarlane didn't make Zatanna part of that subline.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐