Transformers Studio Series Topspin review

Topspin may not say much in the film series (until he returned in The Last Knight and somehow got Leadfoot's head), and he may not have said any lines (again until TLK), but I still loved seeing him along with the other Wreckers. I dug that they were at least involved with the build of the Xanthium before they got in the Downtown battle near the end of the movie. In terms of figures, Topspin certainly had a decent DOTM figure that I did have except it was the Armor version where it was gray instead of blue. Afterwards, he hasn't gotten much in the other lines (since he didn't return until TLK and I gotta stop mentioning TLK in the same paragraph constantly), but the Studio Series line stepped in and gave him a brand new figure to go along with the armored version of Roadbuster. Let's see how the Blue Wrecker stands on his own!   

Here is Topspin's backdrop. It's the same scene from when Optimus fought against Sentinel. And he fits in the backdrop, too. Big surprise.

Here we have Topspin in his vehicle mode. Like with Roadbuster, it takes a NASCAR race car and gives it a weaponized approach. Unlike Roadbuster, his prior figure was already armored back in 2011. This guy does have a good amount of sculpted details that make the vehicle mode look ready for battle, what with the exposed engine and the guns added on the roof and doors. Now if you notice these guns up close or handled the toy before this review, you may realize that they're cast in a light gray. That's not as bad as the fact that they're made of PVC, and also came WARPED out of the package. The roof cannons coming out like that is expected since they're's no real way to take them off unless you heat the glue, but the ones that go on the doors were not properly inserted into the bubble case of the package. How is that excusable? The fact that they're PVC would have been acceptable if the guns were painted in silver or were at least more rigid, but the fact that they look cheap as they did flimsy doesn't work well with me whatsoever.

It's still a great looking vehicle mode that has all the details that you would expect for a race car, what with the 48 and the faux Goodyear tires that say "Ultra Wreckers), and the plastic looks nice when it's next to the painted parts that look like metal, but those guns, despite being molded decently, look bad and look worse with the warped status. 

Here is Topspin next to his partner, Roadbuster. They both look nice together and do represent the same form of vehicle mode while having their own traits to make them different from one another. For example, Roadbuster has an added cannon on the front of his vehicle mode as well as a more prominent spoiler while Topspin has a somewhat altered front for his vehicle mode and cannons on the roof. They are thankfully not like the G1 Seekers which are only different in terms of paint cosmetics. Though I will say that they have one thing in common with their vehicle mode: Roadbuster's only issue with his vehicle mode is that pegging the roof to the hood is not easy to do, and the same can sort of be said for Topspin.

The transformation for the figure is also different from Roadbuster, what with the sides becoming the shoulder kibble and the fact that front tires are hinged to be inside of the legs. I will say that he has some similar steps to Roadbuster, what with the roof going on the back as well as the front of the vehicle going on the back as the heels. The shoulder pads thankfully have slots to tab into, which make the parts a little more stable. The resulting robot mode looks pretty good, though it looks a lot more insane than the other toy does. Honestly, I feel the older toy looked decent even for today, but the new guy isn't bad either. It's just his kibble being more prominent. He certainly looks wider than the older toy, and I feel he could go for some yellow paint apps. In face, I think Topspin could go for more paint apps, which would at least make the arms and thighs look a little less plain, right? Also, those smokestacks around his collar are the same flexible material used on the guns.

The headsculpt looks pretty good, what with its approach in making the character look like a NASCAR fan, though he's got dreads that go with his flattop hair design. It's weird, but he has a nice metallic shade of blue paint for the visor. As for the articulation, he's got a ball joint for the neck, shoulders that move front and back as well as in and out, bicep swivels, elbow bends, and I guess you can say hands curling in. Hips move front and back, in and out, thigh swivels, and knee bends.

He has two claw accessories that are once again given the same pliable material to the guns. Alternatively, you can unpeg the shoulder kibble, swivel the guns around, and then swivel the shoulders forward so he can have some massive cannons if you want to give him more firepower. And yes, his guns can peg onto the claws or his hands.

Here is Topspin next to his partner, Roadbuster. Once again, he looks good next to him as well as contrasts the green Wrecker in terms of design. Aside from the head, the chest doesn't use any prominent parts of the vehicle mode, his shoulder cannons are much larger, and whereas you could say Roadbuster looks a little Master Chief-esque in terms of design, Topspin has more of a lanky yet still natural design to him that makes him look like a rookie with a lot of firepower and potential enthusiasm in terms of shooting up some Decepticons. As for the figure itself, it's another nice entry for the line, though I am certainly not a fan of the pliable rubber parts as well as the lack of paint apps for the robot mode. He's still nice to have if you want to complete the Wreckers, but there is room for improvement nonetheless.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐