Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Transformers Studio Series Shatter review

Shatter's previous Studio Series figure managed to be just as bad as Chopkick; while slightly better in terms of certain aspects of its design, it's still got plenty of issues that keep it from being worthwhile unless you either REALLY love the character or are generally a completionist. Thankfully, we can take a look at how Dropkick improved significantly with the car version of the character. While it's odd to see Shatter do the reverse of going from car mode to jet mode (while Dropkick went from helicopter mode to car mode), a more important question needs to be asked: how does Studio Series Jet Shatter improve on the character's offering in the series?

Here is her backdrop, which depicts the scene where she hung out in the Sector Seven computers and looked over stuff like, IDK, the entire world, where B-127 could be, reasons why the film she's in broke continuity worse than The Last Knight did. It's an appropriate choice if I do say so myself since she has been affiliated with S7, though I wonder why she wasn't taken down like Bumblebee was years later.


Here we have Shatter in her jet mode. Can I say that it reminds me of when TFP Starscream and one of the Aerialbots have a baby? I say that because, in terms of size, the jet has the small feel that TFP Screamer's jet had while the proportions feel more reminiscent of the old Aerialbots. It also doesn't help with how huge the intakes are compared to the wings, and then there's the rounded off nosecone. I haven't seen a Jetformer with a rounded off nosecone for a while, and while I understand it's for safety reasons, it does make this jet feel a little odd in terms of looks. IIRC, the Harrier Jump Jet she takes the form of doesn't have these exact proportions. There were no winglets on the already modified intakes, and the wings weren't exactly designed like that.


The jet mode generally captures the design that she does have as much as it could, yes, but it is funny how the only Jetformers that do represent their alt modes accurately are Starscream and Jetfire since they have no license issues to worry about. Regardless, this jet mode does look alright despite some issues. Also, the guns she has can be stored underneath the wings.


There's a cockpit molded within the canopy, which I didn't expect them to include but they did nicely nonetheless.


Here she is with Dropkick, who yes does have his cockpit colored in black because the robot junk in there didn't look too hot. I feel that the size differences between the two may not look quite right given how erratic the scale was for the Bumblebee movie robots, but I guess it works fine here.


Here she is with her car mode self. Yeah, I know Transformers doesn't follow logic with scale, but the truth is that it shows how undersized their jet modes are when they turn into their car forms...might as well have Shatter be a drone and Dropkick be a giant toy helicopter.


And here we have the four vehicles together. Will we ever get triple-changing versions of these characters? Probably not, but I do hope that if an attempt was ever done, that they try doing so at a larger scale instead of a making them a Deluxe like what happened with the so-so Astrotrain from the Classics line and that horrendous Tankor that was actually meant to be Octane in Universe.


Transformation's...kind of like First Edition Starscream's if I'm being honest. Not that it's a bad thing, but it is funny how the leg transformation and how the torso swivel give me that Starscream vibe, even if they're not exactly like him. Additionally, the fuselage also uses part of the arms to make up that mass, and hey, even the nosecone is also in a similar spot like on First Edition Screamer. To criticize this mold's transformation, the way the wings work feels a little cheap, especially with how they stay in place as well as how the tailfin halves hinge upward. This figure's honestly reminiscent of some of the 2012 Transformers I own, like a few TFP figures and the FOC Deluxes. The way the arms move on their ball joints just doesn't feel right and I don't feel too comfortable with getting the big wings warped given how their plastic doesn't feel quite as strong as I'd hope.

As for the robot mode, it looks pretty good from the front! Aside from certain issues like how bowlegged the knees look compared to the thighs and how the hands look like they're etched into the plastic, this toy looks great from this view! Shatter along with Dropkick and Offroad Bumblebee are some of the better designs of the Transformers in the Bumblebee movie (by that I mean the least annoying when it comes to the Geewun fanservice). I like how she's unique compared to most female Transformers by actually looking like she transforms into something compared to characters like G1 Arcee and also manages to have a unique design while still turning into a car with jet elements on her back...speaking of the jet elements, she's got a back alright. No, not an afterburner for her to shake, but massive wings that would have knocked her over had it not been for those tailfin halves keeping her from falling back. I get it, this was the only way the jet robot mode can be done at this scale (and the attempt is fairly noble), but it looks like she had to tape the wings on her back when they detached from her. Sure, it's a Deluxe figure and it's gotta have some form of excuse, but I'm not going to lie when I say that those wings would probably look better if they were a lot smaller. And when viewed from the back, let's just hope that those hinges don't break over time. Her head sculpt is certainly better than the previous version, though it does remind me of some of the older Movie toys where the sculpting wasn't quite as refined as it is now. Not horrible, but noticeably lacking, I'd say.


Articulation is the norm as always. Head is on a ball joint, except it's a ball that's a part of the head instead of being a neck. Shoulders move front and back as well as in and out on a not-so-uptight ball joint, the arms swivel above the elbow and the elbows bend on plastic ratchets. Hips move front and back as well as in and out on more effective ball joints while the legs swivel above the knee and the knees bend. One thing I don't like is that without anything covering on the gap behind her head, it's easy to knock her head back. The guns can easily attach to her hands and they do the job okay.


However, one neat thing about this figure is the compatibility with Siege effect pieces! Let's take Firedrive's effect pieces and use them on her guns to show you how they look!


Even her feet can use Siege effect pieces, so if you want to display her on a flight stand, then you can easily add to the effect by giving her blast pieces like the ones that come with Hotlink! Wish Hasbro would give them to the Studio Series line.


Here she is with her 2019 self. Now she traded in her inability to pose properly for a massive backpack. Oh and she has a better head sculpt, though the weapons being different is questionable in a way. Like, I get that the old toy was going to have some inaccuracy issues, but the fact that it's a figure made after the shite that was 2012's TFP Airachnid was a very bad thing...and it didn't help that the recent best lines had stinkers like Chromia, Chopper Dropkick, WWII Bee, Cog, and Refraktor.


It's no surprise that this figure beats the original version of the character, but it's not quite saying much if you know what I mean. Also, I'm sort of taking back what I said: jet Shatter's massive wings aren't as bad as that mess on car Shatter's back.


Here she is with Dropkick and Offroad Bumblebee. The scale between the three of them works well in my opinion. Some will say that Bumblebee should be shorter than both of them, but he looks good enough as he is in my opinion. Plus, I'd rather not have to worry about the scale discrepancies that the Bumblebee movie made. Though some will say that Bee needs to have his VW kibble, I'm more interested in at least getting another Dropkick and kitbashing him to look more like he has two modes.


As nice as it would be to have the help Bumblebee needs to take on these Decepticons, Optimus is currently busy hoping that his precious B-127 stays safe on Earth. As for Shatter herself, while she is an improvement over her 2019 car mode self, I'm hesitant on saying that this figure is one of the best Studio Series figures in the line, let alone one based on the Bumblebee movie. Like I get that there was so much that can be done with a Deluxe figure at this point, but the way her back kibble works on top of the somewhat unsettling plastic quality prevents her from being one of the best entries in the line to date. She also places fourth on the ranking of the Bumblebee movie figures from the Studio Series line. Better than VW Bumblebee, Car Shatter, and Chopper Dropkick, but worse than Car Dropkick, Offroad Bumblebee, and Optimus Prime himself. Let's see how Blitzwing and Cliffjumper stack up when we cover them in the near future.


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

No comments:

Post a Comment