For anyone wondering about my thoughts and opinions on Siege Chromia and Power of the Primes Elita-1, feel free to check out my older reviews here and here. Just keep in mind that my way of writing these older posts is different from how they're done today, both in photography and overall approach towards critiquing action figures.
Here we have the four fembots in their functionally identical Cybertronian vehicle modes. While far from what they looked like in the source material (aka the ever-inconsistent G1 cartoon), they do at least look decently convincing as far as alien/futuristic alternate modes are concerned. You have a general sense of where the headlights and the windows should be, and I also appreciate that they can paint up their front sections differently, so they can be mostly distinct from each other without the need to retool them. That being said, they have their hands and chests visible from the back, and oftentimes they don't really do much to conceal the hinge joint meant for the canopy.
Here they are with their Elita-1, who is a jet this time around, probably because Hasbro needed to retool some figure to make her a Voyager torso. Part of the cockpit is open, not to house a Titan Master but an Enigma instead. Because, you see, POTP had this idea where either those, Prime Masters, or Matrix Cores can be placed onto combiner kibble, Matrix frames, or a Voyager robot, as some sort of barely decorative gimmick that's somehow less enticing than Energon Stars.
The transformation is the same for all four figures, resulting in functionally identical robot modes, with a few minor differences. Other than their paint jobs, they each have a unique robot head, while Greenlight and Lancer have new shins, forearms, and torsos to further distinguish themselves from the first two iterations of the mold. For some reason, they lose the wrist hinges for transformation AND the 5mm ports in a line that was as crazy for 5mm ports as the Dark of the Moon toys. Moonracer has a sniper rifle, Novastar and Lancer come with the same gun but colored differently, and Greenlight is meant to hold a barely different redeco of Lionizer named Dazzler, but he kind of sucks as a weapon. They all function the same with the articulation: Ball joints for the neck, shoulders, elbows, and hips, the waists and thighs rotate, and the knees, as well as the feet in general, hinge. They thankfully don't have the detachable bikini of Chromia, but they still have the same giant kibble on their backpacks that totally doesn't come off as distracting. Not helping is that the Netflix WFC cartoon had Chromia keep that toy aspect in a way we haven't seen since the CG models for the Cybertron cartoon, but nothing compares to the decision to make a teal Chromia and name her Moonracer despite her already having a toy made 2-3 years before the show was made. Stupid Netflix show.
Here they are with their leader once again. Normally, I would use the Legacy version since she scales better and is a generally nicer figure for Elita-1, but for the sake of completing Orthia, this is what the team looks like. It's funny how I got to complete this set while I don't have any of the Terrorcons other than Hun-Gurrr. Maybe someday, I'll cover them before we get redoes of them past Age of the Primes?
After years of not having a chance to complete Orthia, I now get to finish the set AND revisit the old ways Hasbro used to do combiners. Bringing them together is very different from the approach we have nowadays for 5-piece components with Legacy Menasor and Age of the Primes Superion. No skeletal frame, no door system, no splitting two Deluxes to make them arms, and all Deluxes use the same ratchet joint for either shoulders or knees. If you remember the one Combiner Wars set I reviewed in completion, they used to have HFGs, or Hand-Foot-Guns for short, which served as the sole bit of partsforming for these modern sets. Here, each figure has a unique Prime Armor that serves as hands (which are color-matched to the fembots this time) and feet exclusive to Elita-1, with heel pieces to boot. As for Elita's torso mode, the homage to Movie Starscream is something we previously got with his G1 counterpart; it made sense for him, it's a cross homage between different continuities, but it comes off as a bit unfitting for Elita-1 since she's less the type to appear monstrous and inhuman in shape. Thankfully, the color scheme she sports, along with the combiner limbs, tries to make her a little friendlier than the traitorous seeker, though the limbs themselves have issues of their own. Firstly, as arms, the Moonracer mold doesn't have a decent spot for the canopy to stay, meaning it's either going to stick out, allowing for free bicep/elbow rotation, or keep it decently flush to the forearms, which limits any forearm movement. Also, unlike the HFGs from Combiner Wars, which used a single thumb that can be hinged on either side depending on where the arm is, two thumbs are included and require you to have one facing backwards and under the hand if you want it to be "hidden" away. As for the legs, the pegs for the feet are far too loose to keep them in place, and whether it's due to poor tolerances or the design itself, Hasbro should have refined the pegs to ensure they stay in place. They also seem to have a hard time getting the slots around the knees to stay in place, so the rest of the body doesn't collapse at the ankles, given the added weight. Also, the thumbs sort of clash with each other when the hand-Prime Armor pieces serve as heels.
Orthia's head sculpt is a larger, more stylized version of the regular Elita head, similar to what we had with Optimus Maximus from the original Combiner Wars version of the character. I don't mind this since it adds some synergy between the romantic partners when they're serving a non-traditional role as combiner torsos. They don't need to function the same way as other combiners who have diminished IQ points, so I'll go for a smart Prime/Elita duo anyway. Articulation is honestly frustrating for a giant combiner like her; the neck can rotate and look up and down, no problem, and the shoulders can ratchet front and back as well as in and out. Forearms rotate somewhat and can bend at two points if you choose to bend the lower legs. However, do mind the kibble surrounding the forearms. As for the hips, while they move on ratchet joints in any direction, front/back motion is EXTREMELY loose! See, Hasbro was wise enough to leave springs out for the ratchet system for that motion, yet moving them in and out is nice and sturdy in comparison. Who designed these figures, and why did they neglect such important pieces for stability?! As a result, her legs flop around harder than a tiny Power Core Combiner, and combining that with the loose rotation at the foot pegs or even thigh swivels, you have a recipe for disaster. Thankfully, the ratcheting knees and the ankle rockers are fine, but how hard should it be to pose a modern combiner? I thought Combiner Wars Menasor was bad. What is this?!
For a size comparison, here we have Orthia alongside the most recent 5-member combiner team in the form of the Aerialbots' Superion. I know it's not fair to compare these two because of contrasting design philosphies, budget differences, etc, but honestly, after having issues with these older sets, I would gladly pay a few extra bucks for a Commander Class figure that turns into a regular Voyager figure with a trailer or some extension piece to expand on the altmode or make the skeletal frame without issue. Sure, it's pricier, and I know it limits any Scramble City potential apart from switching Deluxes on either arm or leg, but fuck it, Legacy and AOTP did combiners way better than Combiner Wars and Power of the Primes. At least this nearly 5-year-long wait to complete Orthia is over since getting Elita-1, and it's at least cool to complete the general line-up for Generations Selects. IF you want to get the Female Autobots, I recommend you don't bother with Orthia and get the characters solely to represent their appearances in the G1 cartoon along with Legacy Elita-1.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (each limb)
⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Orthia)
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