Star Wars The Black Series General Grievous (Clone Wars) & Obi-Wan Kenobi (ROTS Archive Collection) review

Clone Wars series turns 20 this year, and The Clone Wars turns 15 this year! Two fantastic iterations of the best war in all of Star Wars shows how much the Prequel Trilogy was packed with tons of goodies, and while Revenge of the Sith doesn't turn 20 until 2025, it too gets to tag along for how much it contributed with the massive story, especially when it comes to two of its characters, Obi-Wan and General Grievous, clashing each others sabers till their final encounter in Utapau, where Grievous' uncivilized nature lost to the bold one himself. I now own their Black Series figures, so let's review them!!!

Here is General Grievous in-hand. The figure you see here is actually a repainted version of the regular Black Series figure in the color palette of his appearance in Clone Wars, which has a light blue gray for the joints and a pristine white for the cape. Said cape looks cheap on a figure with as much sculpt work implemented onto him as possible. As for the palette, it does look a little unusual to see a more cartoon-based deco on a 3D figure like this, due to it adhering to the way it looked in said cartoon rather than looking realistic like the ROTS version. It CAN work for a more pristine Grievous, though some may find the blue a little odd. It is better than the cel-shaded Marvel Legends or that horrible Lightning Collection comic Pink Ranger. The back panel on my copy does have the left side slightly warped, which should mean it's not glued in properly. But otherwise, it's the same cool design for Grievous, just in a slightly different color scheme.

Head sculpt is done up very well, with the proportions and subtle details captured very well on a small head like this. Though I will say that the panel-lining on the forehead and the mouth grille look a little thicker than they should be. The eyes are the best part of the head, with the slightly exposed flesh and the eyes themselves being equally organic. His articulation is pretty massive in terms of the amount of joints present, so bear with me: his head is on a bit of a ball and swivel joint, shoulders can move front and back on one joint if they were combined while they can move front and back on their own as well as in and out. The elbows can bend and swivel above said joints, in addition to the swiveling forearms. There is a bit of a diaphragm joint, the hips move around on ball joints, there are double-jointed knees, and the feet can hinge below the shin as well as have various joints at the ankles, with a swivel and hinge for pivot movement. He can wield 4 lightsabers that he can grip better than the Elite Series version, though getting them into his hands is not easy. And yes, the cape is removable. 

And here is Obi-Wan Kenobi, based on the aforementioned appearance in Revenge of the Sith. The robeless Jedi wardrobe Obi-Wan wears looks well textured on the figure, with the layers, folds, and slight creases giving it a cultured appearance that wouldn't be found on normal outfits. I do wish it had a subtle wash to make it more defined, but at least the belt is detailed nicely. And yes, the "skirt" is made out of a cloth good, but it fits in better with the figure and isn't cheap like Grievous's cape. 

His likeness to Ewan McGregor in 2005 is mostly good. Maybe the hair color isn't 1:1, but it does match his appearance pretty well. I think a lot of the Black Series figures nail the likenesses of their actors a lot more than either Marvel Legends or Lightning Collection apart from Mark Hamill. As for his articulation, his head is on a ball joint as well as a neck hinge, shoulders move front and back as well as in and out, the forearms can swivel and bend at the elbow (typical of the Black Series), wrists swivel and hinge, there is a diaphragm joint, hips move front and back as well as in and out if you move the skirt up, thighs swivel, knees double-bend, and the feet can hinge up and down as well as pivot. And as you can see, the Lightsaber can go from being pegged on his belt to held in his hand with the blade attached. 

The original version of Grievous is based on the ROTS appearance, with the more beige and dark grey color palette as well as a double+layered cape. His lightsabers appear to be different in transparency compared to the ones on the Clone Wars release. As for Obi-Wan, the face sculpt is worse on the Wave 3 version and maybe the colors are off but there is otherwise no difference between the two versions of the bold one. 

And that does it for the review, as we have them duel like in the good ol days. Both figures are solid releases, especially if you pay them for cheaper prices. I say that since they're not really the same value that Marvel Legends go for (and trust me, Legends are starting to not be worth the money) thanks to the slightly limited arm articulation and accessory count. I got Obi-Wan for a good price while Grievous was a little closer to $30.

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

Transformers Studio Series Core Class Laserbeak & Rumble/Legacy Bomb Burst review

The 2022 line-up of Core Class figures ends as we complete the last set of characters worth exploring before the newest additions for Rise of the Beasts and Evolution come into play. We now have a figure representing a Transformers movie that is NEITHER Bumblebee or 1986. We get yet another Pretender character to go along with Iguanus. Still, in between them both is a new experiment Hasbro wants to test out if they're interested in seeing who'd be willing to go all in with Soundwave's minions...again...Without further ado, let's get to the review!

What a variety of alt modes. We got a rectangle that plays music, a real-world car, and a made-up jet that feels like a Lego drone. 

Here is Laserbeak in his vehicle mode. And your eyes aren't deceiving you: Laserbeak is a pink Camaro and it is not a recolored Bumblebee. I find it amusing that so many people forgot this was a look that he had in the movie at one point back when the toy was revealed. Yeah, it was brief, but that's what happens when the fanbase kept wanking at all the numerous third-party Legends and MP-esque Primes rather than looking at other parts of the franchise. Obviously, Laserbeak never transformed into a Camaro when he obtained the disguise, but it is clear that it will be reused for an actual Bumblebee later down the road. It's neat how they had so many details and paint apps throughout the toy, from the windows to the stripes and the door handles. Even the little Chevy bowtie logo is on the grille. There are some holes on the hood for some reason.

The design is generally neat, the gun can stay on top of the roof, and his wheels are snap-on for the back and pinned for the front.

Transformation is pretty similar to numerous Bumblebee figures of smaller scale, specifically, the DOTM Legion figure back when Cyberverse represented a pocket-sized line and not a full-on franchise. While the legs and chest sort of transform similarly, the doors are on actual hinges, and aren't part of the arms, said arms on this guy are separate from the doors and are independent parts, and the back of the car juts out to make the legs flow a little better. The resulting robot mode looks a little odd in terms of proportions. It's trying to look more refined than the previous Legends/Legion figures, yet it looks rather awkward by comparison. I'm not expecting the chest to break up, yet it looks pretty oversized compared to the waist and arms, and said waist has these HUGE thighs and lower legs. The backpack being pink like the rest of the body ends up making the body's silhouette look fat. And the head itself looks like it's slightly smaller than the Legends figures he had in the past.

Head sculpt is nicely done for a Core Class figure, resembling a shrunken-down version of the character back in the Studio Series line. I like that the eyes are slightly pink yet look a bit red to stand out from the pink of the head. His articulation is pretty standard for the line, with ball joints for the neck, shoulders, elbows, and hips, though his knees only hinge. His gun can clip on his hand, though I wish it'd cover the hand a little mode.

For a robot mode size comparison, here he is next to the Studio Series version of the character in the same line. I kind of find it amusing how we get a normal Deluxe version of the character in one wave while the next wave gives us the Core Class equivalent for a different character. You can tell how much inspiration they took from the Studio Series version, especially for the head, though I'll admit Laserbeak is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of how his robot mode works.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Here is Rumble in his mini-cassette mode. A wee little rectangle, this guy has a much better resemblance to an Earth cassette compared to either Laserbeak or Ravage in the Netflix Soundwave set, as he has a few paint apps and fewer sculpted details that make him look as close to a cassette as he possibly can. It's got gaps and has a few parts exposed, but it gets the job done, right?

Here he is next to Gen Selects Frenzy. And yes, I'm calling the one on the left Rumble and the one on the right Frenzy. The reason being how the new SS86 guy has a cartoon-based deco, which contrasts the toy-accurate deco of the original toy found on GenSelects Frenzy. The latter toy has more sculpted details to show his alien origin in addition to not having the head on a ball joint, as it instead has the 5mm port on the center that flips down.

He can store inside Soundwave as expected, though you're going to need to get Legacy Soundwave since Hasbro refused to give fans Netflix Soundwave properly. Also, the piledrivers can have the guns on top for weapon storage..

Transformation is similar to the Siege Micromaster, but the hands fold all the way when turning him in tape mode rather than 75%, while the head can flip up and rotate like on Kingdom Eject, and the feet can flip down, which is not the same for the other characters. Oh and the guns peg on the back. The robot mode is much leaner like on the cartoon, especially with the proportions not being as wide as on the Siege toy. The figure's got a few paint apps on the legs to break up the lavender and baby blue, and looks nicely filled in from the front but hollow on the backs of the legs, torso, and thighs. 

Head sculpt is pretty faithful to the cartoon, especially with the red visor and silver face. His articulation consists of ball joints for the neck, shoulders, and knees, while the hips can swivel front and back as well as hinge in and out. He has no elbows, which is concerning since Kingdom Eject has elbows. I can understand the Micromasters not having elbows, but why not this guy? The guns can peg on the forearms, and the piledrivers can slide onto the arms if the hands are folded away. I like that you can pose him to make him look ready to crack the shell and bomb the nuts.

 

For a size comparison, here he is in-between GenSelects Frenzy and Kingdom Eject. Here, you can see just how different the media colorizations of each version of the blue partner of Soundwave looks, but we can also observe how inconsistent the benefits are for each type of Deployer. The Siege mold has no knees and accessories. Okay, that's understandable as a Micromaster. Kingdom Eject is made out of clear plastic likely as a part of the Legacy line since most of the earlier figures had clear weapons. He also lacks weapons yet has elbow joints. Rumble is sold on his own and has accessories of his own, yet he lacks elbows yet has feet. So there's that if you wanted to know how inconsistent these characters are. I honestly think that the Core Class cassettes will be irritating if they're going to continue being smaller than normal and justifying the prices with the extra accessories while not having elbow joints.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And here we have Bomb-Burst, the sole Legacy character in the review. A re-release of Soundwave is out there, but I already have him so expect him to be back in black next time! Anyways, Bomb-Burst is a little jet that sort of looks VTOL in design and more like a drone made out of Lego pieces if I'm being honest. It's just a trend I notice with the Pretenders' inner robots and how their alt modes feel sort of like after thoughts. He's light blue, has a raspberry cockpit, and has gray here and there. That's pretty much it. Oh and be sure to not lose the gun on the front.

For a vehicle mode size comparison, here he is next to Iguanus. I guess we can say that if Igguanus would work well for a motorbike that would be ridden by a spy or a footsoldier, then Bomb-Burst can be a glider for a Green Goblin type of character.

Transformation is very simple; guns rotate down, cockpit hinges back, legs flip down and rotate, that's it. Not as cool as Iguanus's transformation. As for the robot mode, it definitely has more identity going for it, what with the combination of the shell and the inner robot details that we've seen with Skullgrin and Iguanus, but it began much earlier and in an entirely different toyline with Bludgeon back in Revenge of the Fallen. I like that concept a lot more than trying to make some dumbass updates to equally dumbass Pretender shells with shitty inner robots. But yeah, Bomb-Burst has a more mechanized take on the Pretender shell design, and while he does seem initially wide from the front with the wingspan(?) on the arms, he at least has a bit of a reasonable backpack. You can remove the guns, but he can't hold them as axes (you can peg them on the back and the weapon, but I haven't done that, sorry).

Head sculpt is looks wicked, with an ugly badass Man-Bat face with big ears and gnarly nostrils complimented with gold eyes and slightly painted teeth. If the face had a wash, it'd look even cooler. His articulation has a neck swivel, ball joints for the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, and the feet can hinge up and down as well as pivot. His weapon looks like a monkey wrench.

For a robot mode size comparison, you can see he is shorter than Iguanus, and I still think that Iguanus is the better and cooler Core Class Pretender than Iguanus, making Bomb-Burst feel like a cool yet not-quite-there addition to the Legacy line's Core Clas roster, especially with how he doesn't feel as refined as his earlier partner.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And that covers the trio of Core Class figures! Everyone feels like a mixed bag here. One feels a bit clunky for a Core Class figure, another feels like it's trying a little too hard to mimic the smaller Deluxes like Cliffjumper with how they try to rework their role in a size class to justify the price they're going for, and another feels a bit meh. Let's see how Evolution works!

Transformers Legacy Armada Starscream review

Starscream is usually depicted as a backstabber who wants to take over as leader of the Decepticons. That is something every fan knows about. Armada Starscream, on the other hand, is not quite like the others. Having more in common with Dinobot of Beast Wars fame, he does not value Megatron's visions, especially given the abuse that Starscream did not deserve. He's best known for not only wanting to join the Autobots just to defeat Megatron for a brief moment, but he willingly sacrificed himself after a duel against his leader while trying to warn him on the looming threat of Unicron. He sadly had his character development mindwiped in Energon, but he at least grew interested in taking the Omega Lock and the Cyber Planet Keys during Cybertron. If you remember the Transformers Generations line in its earlier years, we had a version of this design during the Thrilling 30 days where he was a Deluxe. I don't own that version, though we'll see if the size increase and 8 year wait is worth it with Legacy's take on the character.

Here is Starscream in his vehicle mode. It's a pretty faithful recreation of the jet mode he has in the cartoon, from the turbines reminiscent of G1 Jetfire to the fins on the nosecone. He also has the collapsed arms on the underside of the wings, which isn't really practical but is accurate to the character. His head is also exposed from the top, though it is at least somewhat hidden thanks to the turbines. 

The swords can be stored underneath the wings. It's nothing that new if you ask me; other jetformers did that in the past lol.

For a jet mode size comparison, here he is next to SS86 Coronation Starscream. Yeah, I got Coronation Starscream for a cheap price. Their sizes are slightly different from one another, depending on how long or wide they both are, especially with the designs being entirely unique. Oh and who thought trading the tailfin paint apps for those negligible gray spots was a good idea for SS86???

Transformation is pretty faithful to how he normally goes into his robot mode. The leg transformation, the placement of the wings, the way the cockpit folds down, and the arms straightening out are all accurate to the show and character design. We'll get to how the fuselage works in robot mode, but I should mention that the fuselage going straight down to the waist does mean that one of his articulation points won't be as effective as one would hope. His robot mode is undoubtedly faithful to the Armada series, which is a huge relief as someone that does not feel too happy with the TFP characters in Legacy apart from Bulkhead. Imagine if Starscream was just an Armada-colored Earthrise figure...anyways, Armada Starscream's got everything down to a tee, from the tailfin shins to the fuselage tapering down to the waist as mentioned before, and his wings combined with the turbines making for a unique look in contrast to the G1 design or most of the other Screamers. I like how the color scheme looks on him, with red, black, and gray being fairly prominent, though I wish those panels on the back of the legs were black instead of red so they can look more filled in.

Headsculpt is another slam dunk, being different from the typical G1 look with a more stylized appearance, yellow eyes, and a stern look that benefits his character in Armada, being less treacherous and more resentful towards Megatron's abuse. The white paint on the face also works surprisingly well. His articulation is a little annoying, though. His head is on a ball joint, though you have to move the turbines back if you want to get a little more range. Shoulders move front and back as well as in and out, his biceps swivel, elbows bend (no wrist articulation), waist swivels somewhat thanks to the nosecone, hips move front and back, in and out, thighs swivel, knees bend, and ankles pivot. He comes with his regular sword themed after the wings, only it's unpainted gray instead of being red like with the promo images, and the Star Saber he has is a simplified version of the combined appearance of the Air Defense Minicon Team's weapon mode. If he had his normal sword in red, it'd probably be a cool way to remind me of when Anakin held both his lightsaber and Dooku's. You can also swing the cannons from the turbines and give him his signature shoulder cannons. One problem: no Swindle Minicon's included. I don't mind that the cannons aren't activated like in the past, but GIVE US OUR MINICON DAMNIT. I don't get why Hasbro is inconsistent with who can come with their partner and who can't in the Legacy line. Blaster and Pointblank come with their partners, but Soundwave remains without his partner like in Siege while Starscream, for the second time, doesn't come with Swindle. And no, Evolution's Hot Shot doesn't have Jolt.

For a robot mode size comparison, here is Armada Starscream with his G1 counterpart, now included with coronation gear. You can tell how much has changed between the first and second incarnations of the character, what with the color schemes, transformation layout, and design traits, yet they feel pretty reminiscent in some ways. Armada Screamer's also taller than his bad comedy counterpart. 

While you're not supposed to give him the Coronation gear, you can sort of have Armada Starscream wear them by hinging the shoulders back to make room for the pads to slide on, while the cape can sort of peg into the back (though without there being a proper 5mm port), and his head, while not the right dimensions, can wear the crown somewhat. You do lose the outward shoulder movement, but it is a neat display option that I think compliments his look very well! So overall, Armada Starscream is the definitive version of the character, though he is not without his flaws; the limited waist swivel and lack of wrist swivels are disappointing for a swordsman like him, and some parts of him do feel a little cheap, and somewhat see-through. I still recommend him nonetheless if you're a fan of Armada nonetheless.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐