S.H.Figuarts Sailor Moon Animation Color Edition 5-in-1 review

You may have seen me either interact with the fans of the franchise or post stuff about said franchise, but you may be wondering if I'd ever review any merchandise at all? Well, in short, Sailor Moon is one of those shows that I kind of have a soft spot for because of how amusing it was to see the Says clips that were sadly taken down by YouTube/Toei. If anything, it later encouraged me to see the rest of the series and better understand what makes it a favorite amongst the fans, and sure enough, I enjoyed my viewings so far! While media like Transformers, Power Rangers, comic books, and Star Wars would be the main juggernauts, Sailor Moon has been one of the few anime that I liked watching because the characters were great overall and are not as flat or forgettable compared to the modern stuff people make. Amusingly, back in April, I thought of just checking out the Figuart of the titular character herself after being intrigued by the series more and more and thought of her as a one-shot purchase to go along with the other one-shot figures I own. Anyways, here's a review of 5 of the currently available Animation Color releases.

Let's first cover Sailor Moon herself. Whether you call her Usagi, Serena, Bunny, or whatever name she was given, this figure looks pretty adorable. The figure's pretty faithful to the character design in the show, and I have to commend them for trying to make the anatomy as natural to the anime as possible while using all of the joints for articulation. I believe that the figure has been used with paint all throughout the toy to make it as consistent as possible, which is something that we've seen mainline toys not do as well as Figuarts. If I can guess accurately, the white part of the suit as well as the short sleeves and gloves are painted white for color correcting while the blue skirt and collar pieces are blue plastic. The bows on the chest and lower back may be painted red to match with the elbow guards, but the boots are red plastic. You can tell because of the sheen they have compared to the aforementioned red parts of her uniform. Her hair may be clear plastic now painted yellow to go with the color correcting matters (they have a bit of subtle sculpting to add a bit of implication that it looks like hair without making it too realistic). Her upper arms and most of her legs have been kept in their natural skin tone, which has a bit of a different feel for the surface compared to the rest of the figure. I think the exposed skin is also painted for color correcting if they're anything to go by when put next to the joints, yet below the neck, the exposed skin is painted in a shade that isn't 1:1 with her face, upper arms, and thighs. Suffice to say, this figure is nicely done and looks quite accurate to the anime (they even have her Season 1 brooch on her bow painted nicely as well as make her choker look accurate).

Head sculpt is adorable as hell, with big, blue eyes, a small smile, and a cute facial expression that fits her character quite well. Her hair is noticeably thicker in appearance than her 2D anime self, but that's how it is for a three-dimensional plastic toy. Her odongos (or spaghetti meatballs if you wanna reference the 90s dub) appear to be slightly sculpted on the buns of her hair, and they have red metallic paint with a surrounding circle of white paint. I guess if you wanted to make a custom version of a civilian Serenagi, just paint over them. Oh, and she has her tiara on her forehead with gold paint and a red jewel as well as earrings underneath her ears. Now normally, I would go over the articulation immediately after commenting on her face sculpt, but I have to go over the accessories of the figure, which is quite a lot: three alternate faces (one yelling, one angry, one crying), a right fist for holding the Moon Stick/Crescent Moon Wand as well as the item itself, a pair of fists, a V-sign right hand, a horns-sign left hand, a pointing right hand, and a half-open left hand. Tagging along the set is also a Luna figurine.

Now this will be pretty lengthy overall, but her articulation consists of a head joint that can look left and right, another meant for looking up and down, another for head-tilting motion, ball-jointed ponytails, shoulders that can move front and back on ball joints, in and out on shoulders, there are swivels within the short sleeves of the figure, deep elbow bends that don't rely on double-joints a la Marvel Legends, and the hands can hinge up and down but you can also swivel the base of the forearm so they can hinge in and out. There is a diaphragm joint and a slight ab-crunch joint that is hindered by her skirt, but the legs can move front and back, in and out (which does require adjusting the skirt and/or pulling on the hip joints), tightly swivel at the thighs, bend at the knees, and the feet can swivel below the boots before having a pivot for the ankles and a hinge. With the alternate hands, I can pose her doing her complete transformation stance, her famous "I'll punish you" pose, and her using the Moon Wand as she restores an enemy in Season 1. I also have her stand handy, which is has the heart symbol and has 6 points of articulation. 

As you saw above, the stand may have the tampographs in a spot where the heart is on the right side up, but the figure stands better when the stand is the wrong way, which is a weird design choice if you ask me. And yes, you can pose her with a crying face. Now, I have owned action figures with people having either stern or smiling faces, or ones that are yelling like Wolverine, but never have I owned an action figure that has a crying face, and I can definitely say that if I had a list of achievements that this site would have, Sailor Moon would be honored as the first figure on the site to come with an optional crying face. Oh and we also have Luna, who is only articulated at the head and tail. The figure doesn't really have much else to do other than be Luna, and I appreciate that she has a dark purple appearance (which is closer to black than Siege Shockwave!) One nit-pick, but her eyes should be red instead of orange because they weren't orange in the 90s anime.

She looks cute when put next to her owner, though I'm sure it'd be amusing if Tamashii Nations added more expressions on her to further depict the sometimes-on-the-same page and sometimes-at-odds-with-each-other chemistry they display. 

For a size comparison with some other tiny cats I have, here she is with, you guessed it, two feline Transformers in the form of WFC Netflix Ravage and his Studio Series ROTF counterpart. She's definitely a small cat, and around the same size as those two.

Next up, it's time for Ms. Moon to be put in a comparison next to some Hasbro figures! She is definitely shorter than both Marvel Legends Iron Man and Black Series Darth Vader. The height makes sense because she was a short character in the anime, especially considering how she is a high-schooler being put for a height difference next to two adults who wear exoskeletons to increase their height somewhat. I do think that Iron Man should have his height swapped with Darth Vader.

And for non-Hasbro size comparison, here she is in-between McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse ZJL Cyborg and Jazwares Halo Infinite Master Chief. On top of being shorter than both of them, her aesthetics clash with the heavy sculpt work of both characters given how she is an anime character juxtaposed with live-action/CGI characters. Once again, I think Cyborg and Master Chief's heights are switched.

Now we shall go over the mold's previous uses. This is the original version of Sailor Moon, depicted in her more metallic pink for the parts that are normally red, paler skin tone, and hair that is slightly transparent at the tips of the ponytails. Her odongos have metallic paint apps which are a little inaccurate. The faces she has that the most recent Figuart lack include the winking face that she is most commonly known to do as well as a tiara-less head face that goes with the effect piece of her using the finishing attack. She also comes with a Moon Stick that has the Silver Crystal attached to it, completing its appearance and proving she is the Moon Princess (though perhaps the hairstyle wasn't a giveaway). This figure has been knocked off countless times, so perhaps it may be best not to be near this one specifically.

There was a previous anime-colored edition that was a convention exclusive, I believe. Basically, she's given much more saturated colors that make her look more like the R movie but with the Season 1 Brooch and accessories. Her hair appears to not be as translucent and is a vibrant yellow on par with Venus's, her bows, odongos, elbow guards, and boots are a normal red, and she has a bonus open smile face that she is also known to pose. There was also a yet-to-be-revealed R version of Sailor Moon, with a Season 2 brooch as well as a Cutie Moon Rod/Moon Scepter. Sadly, that version has yet to be made, though I feel it'd be appreciative if a definitive set for Sailor Moon combines all of the details of her regular, R, and S suits since she was fairly unchanged apart from a few tweaks. Maybe it'd work better on a larger scale figure.

And now we have not the actual Sailor Moon but an evil imposter, that being Zoisite disguising him/herself as the heroine. This release replaces all of the red with purple and has a new evil face that represents Zoisite and not the actual Sailor Moon. Also included is a shocked Luna that I think will compliment the real Sailor Moon. The figure also has a boomerang, but I have to commend them for making a solid repaint out of a niche appearance in the show (one that some TV commercials used to make the series have more action than it really did).

Next up, it's Sailor Mercury, the one many weebs and non-weebs would go for because of her blue hair or her voice or just because of how gentle she is. This blueberry girl has a scoutfit that may seem similar to Sailor Moon's, but there are a few differences apart from the replacement of red with blue, as we'll get to. But with her more normal haircut combined with her use of two shades of blue, this design doesn't have the same traits that Sailor Mercury's leader does yet still feels different in a way from some of its differences.

Face sculpt captures the peaceful expression of Ami Mizuno/Amy Anderson, what with the calmer eyes that aren't as big as Serenagi's, and apart from the details of her eyes being different, her tiara jewel is blue instead of red, and she has her own earring design. While her costume is not as out there as Sailor Moon, Mercury's accessories help her stand out a little more. She has her own unique open smile face to go along with her yelling and angry faces, two hands meant for holding the when it's closed and her activating her visor respectively, two karate chop hands for her blast attack, two splayed-open hands for her Mercury Bubble Blast power-up, two fists, and a hand made for holding the open computer. She also has the aforementioned computer in its open and closed mode as well as an alternate hairpiece depicting her visor.

The poses and display options are plentiful when you manage to make them match up to how they look in the show, especially with the articulation being the same as with Sailor Moon's, but it's her specific accessories and the further addition of display options being what makes them feel more plentiful by comparison, so we have her walking with her computer before she deploys her visor while reading something from the villains, and her initial attack can be recreated with the third and fourth pics if you have the patience to pose her right as well as display the arms properly. Also, the stand she comes with can have the pegs be in other spots. It's something mentioned with Sailor Moon's stand, too, though you may be annoyed with an asymmetrical spot for the crane. Now putting her next to Sailor Moon should give you an idea of what kind of differences there are between the two. Apart from the heads, the two characters have different centers for their bows, with Mercury having a blank button while Moon has her transformation brooch.  The bows as well as the elbow guards, tiara jewels, chokers, and boots are blue for Sailor Mercury but red on Sailor Moon. Mercury also has blank spots for her choker and upper parts of her boots while Sailor Moon has the obligated moon crescents added. At first, you may think that the blue on the collars pieces and skirts are the same shade, but Mercury's is more of a normal blue while Moon's is more of a slightly darker shade. And surprisingly, Mercury is slightly taller than Moon, even though one would assume that'd be the opposite, but I guess not every leader is taller than their teammates.

As far as reuses are concerned, this is the first Sailor Mercury, who looks worryingly desaturated and a bit unhealthy with her skin. I do not understand why Tamashii did this with their releases. She otherwise has the same accessories that came with the modern release. This basically applies to all versions of the inners.

Now here we have Super Sailor Mercury, who has glimmery parts on her that are blue, new shoulder pads, an altered back bow, her own harp, and a Crystal Change Rod. While the skin may or may not be super faithful to the way it is on the show, this looks more interesting than the normal version due to the added accessories making it more complete. She even has two different closed-eye faces: one for her smile and one as she prepares for an attack.

Next up, we have Sailor Mars. Whether you spell her name as Rei or Raye, one can find it amusing that the red one isn't the leader of the team (a contrast when put next to the likes of red leaders like the Red Ranger or Optimus Prime). Apart from the red on her scoutfit, the bow is actually purple instead of a different shade of red this time around, and of course, helping her stand out is her black hair, which is pretty spot-on to how it looked, but since it's plastic, it means she may have trouble standing, and my copy has loose knees as well as possibly bent heels on the high-heels she wears (which are different from the first two's boots; that also means her lower legs are more exposed. Amusingly, her back bow is red while the one on her chest isn't, and while one can say how interesting it is that Serenagi and Amiy's uniforms are similar to what they actually wear in school, Mars stands out for having her outfit be nothing like her uniform's. It should be mentioned that she has one white stripe on both sides of her collar piece.

Head sculpt captures Mars' own face quite well, though with how thick the front of her hair is, it's not easy to see the rest of her face. Thankfully, you can tell that her earrings are different as well as the color of her eyes; they're purple like in the anime, though Sailor Mars' hair in this figure is black without the purple highlights like in the 90s anime. Her accessories come with a yelling face, a frowning face, a closed-eyes face, two conjoined hands for one of her attack poses, a pointing right hand, a pair of splayed-open hands, two nearly complete fists, and two normal fists. Unique to her is a right hand made to hold the included paper used to inflict curses onto her enemies.

The poses this figure can be achieved no problem when using the stand, and you can recreate her transformation completed pose, a normal pose of her pointing at an enemy, a pose of her using her fire attack, her preparing to use the sheet on an enemy, and her preparing her Mars Fire Ignite attack. Her hair has two points of articulation to make it much more dynamic than without it. The paper has some nicely applied kanji on it, but I'd prefer if it was glued in place instead of being separate because it's so fucking small!

For her reuses, her regular release is barely different from the first one that I decided to skip it and focus on Super Sailor Mars. Apart from the aforementioned additions to her uniform, she now has a winking face, a looking-at-the right side face, and three flame effect pieces: one for her normal fire ignite, one for her fireball attack, and one for her bow and arrow attack. I forgot to show the multiple paper accessory and her Crystal Change Rod but there's so much this version has anyhow so moving on.

Next up, here we have Sailor Jupiter, who is noticeable for having a new torso that is slightly elongated to make her taller than her teammates. Apart from the green added on her skirt, elbow guards, and collar piece, she also has pink bows on the front and back. She has shoes with nicely detailed laces and even has the little hairband with the marbles on it to give her a distinct ponytail. Her school uniform in the initial seasons was brown given that she was a transfer student, but the brown hair compliments the green, white, and pink outfit quite well. Much like Moon and Mercury, she has two stripes on both sides of her collar piece.

Head sculpt may look similar to Moon's, but her green eyes and distinct paint apps help her stand out, and the unique hairstyle combined with the color being brown makes her stand out more. As far as her alternate pieces are concerned, she has a Jupiter Supreme Thunder Crash face, an open mouth face with slightly different eyebrows, an angry face, a pair of fists and open hands, claw-like hands, web-thwipping esque hands but with the thumbs on the middle and ring fingers, as well as her signature transformation hands. Much like Sailor Mercury, she has an alternate hairpiece meant for her lightning attacks.

The posing options work so well if you want to go for her iconic pose after her transformation as well as her thunder attack, and the articulated ponytail makes it even better. I always found it amusing that Jupiter's angry eyes look very different from her normal eyes, which makes her look like a different character just from that emotion. I think you could pose her ready to fight because she is the strongest of the team in terms of human strength. I should mention that the antennae for the headpiece should be a little more centered with where the jewel is.

The reuses for Jupiter include the first version and the Super version, which has new lightning pieces as well as new winking and closed-eye expressions that further give her the personality she has in the show. The green is more forest green to go with the new outfit changes.

And here is Sailor Venus, who interestingly went from having a uniform similar to Sailor Moon's when she was Sailor V to having her own standard uniform (though she had this outfit in the past before she was reincarnated. She has a creamsicle deco to her scoutfit with a nice mix of orange and white, with other colors like the blue bow and the back bow being yellow like her hair. She also has a red bow on her hair, and I should mention that despite being blonde like Moon, her hair color is a different shade, which is consistent with the show sometimes. Much like Mars, she has her own long hair with articulated points, though it's hard to tell if their hair sculpts are reused or not. She does have a single line for the collar piece, and she has her own footwear.

Head sculpt may be similar to Sailor Moon's at first glance, but it has a few differences of its own as we'll get to. Then again, it makes sense since it appears Naoko decided to have the character design be retooled for Sailor Moon as Sailor V came first in terms of appearance (especially in the manga). Her alternate accessories include her own yelling, angry, and open smile faces, a pair of fists, a pointing hand, a karate chop hand, her own horn pose hands, and splayed-open hands. Unique to her is an alternate right hand holding her shades, an alternate headpiece with the glasses attached, and Artemis.

The display options are once again great to have for her character, whether she's completed her transformation, is about to do her Venus Crescent Beam, or is set to wear her shades. Artemis is a nicely detailed accessory with the same points of articulation Luna had, but the white makes it easier to see the whiskers and mouth better, even if they may be a little too thick than they normally are. The paint application for his forehead crescent may not be complete, but at least the eyes are accurate.

And of course, you can always display Artemis with Venus the same way you would with Luna and Moon, though let's be honest: Luna has better chemistry with her owner than Artemis does.

And finally, we have Sailor Venus's Super form, who has her own effect pieces for her attacks as well as an alternate face for looking to the right, a winking face, and a cutesy face when she sees someone she goes gaga for, which was the case for SuperS when she meets the Amazon Trio.

It should be worth mentioning that Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus may seem like they have similar faces, but the paint apps and the molding of each alternate faceplate make them distinct from one another. Sailor Moon's eyes are a lighter shade of blue, her eyes are slightly bigger, there is an extra white anime eye detail that Venus lacks, her eyebrows are a different shade from Venus's, the tiara jewel for Moon is Red while Venus's is metallic orange, the subtle smile sculpts are different, as are the frowns, but the open mouths are different from one another. Most notable difference for the sculpting is that the top of Sailor Moon's alternate faceplate is flatter while Venus's has a point, likely to accompany the inner space of their hairpieces.

I even have to say the same for Luna and Artemis and commend Tamashii Nations for making their sculpts different from each other; I suppose you can say they mirrored the sculpt so they can be distinct from one another. There's not much else I expect from them, though maybe have Artemis's face a little thinner than Luna's? IDK, much like G1 Transformers before it, Sailor Moon's Toei animaters fluctuate between animation styles sometimes.

 

And that covers the core team! This has been quite a lengthier than expected review, mostly because taking the photos of these figures isn't always easy, and I don't like having to contend with issues like figures that have small feet or feet that suck at keeping a figure standing. I don't always have an issue with the Marvel Legends, and it varies with Transformers. Another issue comes from how frail the figures are, which is especially concerning with how thin their limbs are and how bending a part funny may result in it being damaged. These figures lack the same durability found with Hasbro stuff, so they're much more like display pieces than before, though the cheaper Figuarts like the Mario Bros and Pac-Man have better durability due to their character designs. But that being said, I have to commend them for being faithful to the series as well as adding as much articulation as possible, though the bicep swivels and thigh swivels are nearly impossible to access. The alternate accessories for them are neat, though some effect pieces could help make their attack poses look even better like with some Marvel Legends and Lightning Collection figures; Sailor Moon could use more accessories like the Moon Tiara effect piece and as well as the extra faces and her extra Moon Stick with the Silver Crystal. Still, unless you're into the plushes or chibi figurines, these are the most definitive versions of these characters yet. After all, unless Bandai America does their Anime Heroes line some Moon magic like they do with the other Toei properties, you've got only these since the older merch was just dolls that looked ugly as fuck, especially the American ones. Then again, I collect action figures so I have my own priorities set. These being the anime color editions means they may be the best options right now, the older releases may have knockoffs everywhere.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (overall)

Transformers WFC Trilogy Covert Agent Ravage review

Beast Wars knew how to do G1 fanservice right, compared to some modern attempts at doing the schtick. See, instead of going for the minimum effort of making forgettable crossovers and making people think that the licensed novelties matter more than the official War for Cybertron stuff, Mainframe previously had Starscream had a guest appearance that made sense and didn't feel like he'd take the spotlight of everyone else. The same went for the G1 characters shown in Season 2 and 3, who were pretty much in stasis lock, but Ravage's guest appearance in The Agenda and the original Megatron's cameo from the Golden Disk combined with the Maximals living in the Ark after the Axalon was damaged made for a focus on the G1 stuff without overthrowing the characters that were already in the show. See, Hasbro, you can let your then-new stuff get all the attention without suddenly making G1 the main focus out of nowhere like you did with Studio Series 86! Ravage himself was given a new body and went from Decepticon to Predacon, and his more independent form granted him a robot mode even though he still turned into a cassette. Anyways, onto the review!

Here is the micro-cassette Ravage in his tape mode, which is labeled as Decepticons Forever Ravage in reference to the phrase he said in the show and the fact that he still turns into a cassette as mentioned before. It's a pretty decent take on it, what with the details including the tape reel, a Decepticon logo, a vague Japan word (it looks better on the other side), and holes like a normal cassette would have. It's pretty panel-heavy, but it does the job well enough.

If you wanted to see something not many people know about with the G1 Cassettes if they have them but not the WFC Micromaster partners for Soundwave (or vice versa), here is G1 Ravage next to the WFC Trilogy Netflix version of the character, seen here painted to look as cassette-like as possible. The attempt is appreciative, and I'm sure it looks better than the other one, but I won't lie when I say that the G1 version looks much more convincing if you ask me.

Transformation is pretty simple, for the guy, as you have the beast head to flip out, animal legs to straighten, tail to flip out, and the rockets to attach near the rump. The jaguar mode is very flat, especially when viewed from the front, but I think it was neat that Takara engineers managed to make an animal out of a shape (especially since this was a Micro Change guy before he was repurposed as Ravage by Hasbro). The design is pretty decent, and the cannons do give him an extra bit of width at the very least. Of note, the die-cast parts on him are not chrome like on the G1 toy but are instead in the bare-metal look of the Masterpiece Movie figures. That looked more appropriate for those figures because it better suits the real-world look, yet this clashes with the G1 guys since they look worn out (and the figure's guns are chromed, too). While he is articulated in the legs and a bit at the head and tail, it's not easy to pose him without him falling over.

For a jaguar mode comparison, here he is with the previously shown Netflix WFC Ravage. The size is different between the two, but my god does the WFC version look thicc. It's a little more fitting for someone like Steeljaw, but I never really liked how the WFC version of Ravage looked. The G1 toy does a better job of being more like a jaguar, but the Universe version is the best mainline approach.

And here we have the Covert Agent side of things, with the Deluxe-ish Ravage in his beast mode. He never transformed in the show, but this is a reference to the fact that he transformed in the Takara version of the Beast Wars toyline (which had a Ravage figure of its own). This beast mode is certainly a mix between organic and robotic compared to the other characters in the line, and it mainly boils down to the fact that it reuses parts while also striving for the robot mode accuracy. The jaguar mode we end up with is done up rather well, with a good amount of anatomy kept intact while striving to be a transforming toy, and the proportions are made to fit a jaguar more given how its stature differs from the cheetah or some of the sleeker feline predators. The legs of the robot and beast mode are the same that came with Shadow Panther (which we'll get to), though I will mention that you may have had a copy with swapped parts. It should be easy to switch the jaguar legs around, no problem, given how it's all on ball joints.

The beast mode definitely starts to show how much it favors the robot mode from the sides because the weapon storage is a vague echo of the G1 toy's rocket launchers. Of course, they're pointed backwards, but it's still amusing nonetheless. I won't deny that the thighs being unchanged for the robot is amusing since everyone else hides their robot parts better than him despite him being the more premium toy. That said, Ravage's articulation is a little better than the other guys: his legs have most of the same range as the original Cheetor figure, but the waist swivel is freer for him, his tail can move up and down, and the head can turn left and right on top of an articulated jaw. Some of the added points give him more posing options that the original Cheetor tooling lacked because of how that figure transformed its beast mode torso, which is different from Ravage's as some of the beast mode parts Cheetor had were used for the robot mode design. Since it's the same as on the robot mode, I should mention that it's going to deviate itself from the show as it prioritizes being used for the beast mode as much as it has to be screen-accurate, so it may not look 1:1, but more importantly, it also has the added fur sculpt work that the CG model didn't have given how it was smooth and shiny from the CGI quality at the time.

For a beast mode comparison, here he is next to Shadow Panther, who may look like Ravage to some less experienced fans. So basically, Shadow Panther began life as a Takara-exclusive repaint in their BW line before Hasbro brought him to their defunct collector's site to tie-in with a release of a Walmart Tripredacus Agent repaint of Transmetal 2 Cheetor, the black repaint of Cheetor went from being called Shadow Panther to Tripredacus Agent with a new bio making him less of an evil clone to hide among the Maximals to being a new take on Ravage. Amusingly, Hasbro never imported the actual Ravage. Anyways, both of these two have different proportions, with Ravage being taller, bulkier, and having added articulation. The head sculpt is especially where it stands out, with the different design and head movement that doesn't have it stuck facing down.

Transformation is very different from Cheetor when going from the waist up, as the torso doesn't change due to it being a more humanoid chest design like in the show, so it has to open up in order for the arms to hinge out and unfold while the organic part of the body that has the jaguar head has to hide inside the torso and the front legs go on the back all the way (differently from the Cheetor tooling where they hang on the shoulder parts. The tail stays in place, and the beast head becomes the robot head. The resulting robot mode ends up being very faithful to the show model apart from some transforming toy liberties and reused parts, but it kind of struck me that he looks a little weird for his proportions. The torso is at a superhero-like V shape, yet the skinny arms and thick legs make him look a tad obese. It may just be from how the figure is designed, but it is a thing you can't unsee, especially when they don't go all the way down because of the tabs used to secure them. The new parts are plentiful for the robot mode, even the thighs are new for this guy. The kibble does hang to the back, but at least it does so in a decent manner and don't get undone like with the Cheetor figure.

Head sculpt is the same as before, so I'll mention that he has just about the same articulation that Cheetor had for the robot mode, though his arms have double-jointed elbows. His jaw not only has added paint for the teeth and tongue to further make him look more complete, but he also benefits from having more display options for photos to take. Ravage comes with two guns that don't seem blast effect compatibility but are decently painted like they are in the show. The designs are a bit generic, though. Comparing him to the original Metals Ravage, and you can see how night and day they are when it comes to accuracy. The original figure, being a retool of Transmetal Cheetor, tries to be closer to the cartoon design yet ends up being more robotic and not as slender as the new guy. The head is especially distinct, looking nothing like how it did in the show. That being said, both figures are good in their own right, with one being the more show-accurate approach and the other being a more fun toy to handle (on top of the Transmetal figures still being good from what I have seen in reviews).

I should mention that the backdrop this figure comes with is reminiscent of the Studio Series backdrops as well as the Pit of Judgement set from the WFC line. This guy takes it a step further by making a more interesting design. Honestly, with how often we've seen the same locations for the Studio Series line (apart from 86 ones though I don't own the boxes for those because they don't fit the same approach), so I was happy to see how this one spices things up as a diorama. It's angled differently for the inset part of it, there is no base that has the logos or other nonsense, it's sturdier than the other options, and there is a bit of interactivity for the cassette deck meant for the G1 toy. It's even displayed in mid-air thanks to the plastic tray! I'd say this outdoes ANY of the Studio Series backdrops. And here he is with Shadow Panther for a comparison, which shows you that the two really aren't anything alike. Their lower legs are pretty similar, but that's the only main thing reused between figures. Shadow Panther is basically a mostly black Cheetor with a new mutant head in homage to the old toy. Ravage, on the other hand, is a wholly new design that was loosely inspired by Transmetal Ravage. The shades of black between the two are the same, but the silver on Ravage isn't as shiny as it is on Shadow Panther, and Shadow Panther has black pins instead of silver like with Ravage. Oh, and you can store the guns on the hips, though they do bulk up the already bulky legs a little more.

And here he is with the Season 1 Predacon cast, which is appreciative since adding Dinobot with the Maximals, we'd get 7 characters for the main team and a lot of underrepresentation for the Preds (if you exclude the non-show toys). He's also of a decent height that doesn't feel too undersized when put next to Megatron. Terrorsaur is far away in 2022 while Tarantulas and Inferno have yet to be made. So now what with Covert Agent Ravage? Well, he's currently priced at $52.99, which is rather overpriced when some initial listings had a lower price. Apart from the packaging and backdrop, you're mainly getting a Deluxe figure with a bit of budget, which makes him feel similar to Studio Series 86 Hot Rod, who was a Deluxe figure with Voyager engineering and an increased accessory count. On top of that, he comes with a reissue of G1 Ravage that has die-cast parts kept intact. The set itself is nicely done, and is more accessible than any figure from the Collector's Club from years ago, but I must confess that the price is not worth it for those that have to buy plenty of things in 2021, especially with Kingdom being a massive line as well as having Studio Series, Generations Selects, and any remnants of Siege and Earthrise. That or if you took advantage of any gift cards for select shops and used the normal money for Hasbro Pulse or BBTS. I doubt this guy will have a discount on Hasbro Pulse, so the set is up to you if you want to get it right away.

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

Transformers Kingdom Waspinator review

Do you know what was weirdly missing in the Kingdom series? Waspinator! He was not only nonexistent in the show itself, but his toy was made very late in the toy line. Honestly, the former itself is fine with me because I hate that show and am happy Waspinator was not treated in such a light. The latter, however, is weird, mostly from the fact that he would have been an easily marketable figure to sell in the line, but I guess that wasn't the case until he was leaked. Anyways, Waspinator, along with Shadow Panther and Tigatron, was revealed along with some Wave 3 repacks, but so far, I can only cover one of the two new molds (Shadow Panther will get the spotlight, don't worry). So let's cover the green bug himself!

Here is Waspinator in his beast mode, a green wasp. The design of it is obviously going to be hard to translate given how you have to merge a very small and skinny insect into a robot that is of general proportions. The robot legs are visible underneath, but at least they're not at the sides nor are the robot legs on the back pretending to be the beast mode legs. I will say that Waspinator is a little less wasp in terms of appearance and looks a little more bee-like, with his proportions not being as angular or droopy as they were on the Thrilling 30 version (the original had him look straight). Also, his wings are purple, as are his eyes, which are kind of reminiscent of Animated Waspinator, but I think they make sense for him given how they tend to look like that in the cartoon.

His insect articulation consists of ball-joints at the wings, swivels for all sets of legs, a hinge for the wasp head, swivels for the antennae, and mandibles that can open and close. This can be further effective with a flight stand (one that is more Transformer-friendly would be nice). For a size comparison, well, the Predacons weren't about consistent scale since the bug, arachnid, and scorpion are all bigger than they should be in real life, but this is Beast Wars so who cares. I don't.

Transformation is very involved, and I believe somewhat unique from how the other ones work in terms of how the arms transform as well as the legs. The limbs of his robot mode interestingly switch the amount of bug legs they'd have compared to previous versions, but I think that because of how they're posed and their inability of being removed, they do get in the way of the wings for the arms and require to be leveled with the feet on the latter. Thankfully, it's manageable, but not 100% perfect. The robot mode itself is another show-accurate interpretation of the design, which is also applicable for the previous Deluxe figures anyhow. Kingdon Waspinator just does his own spin on things, many with the colors. I like the green and yellow, especially with the bits of black and purple here and there to break up the palette. I'll be the first to say that the design of the character is honestly kind of hard to screw up, but what I don't like is how the torso doesn't hold together as well (the bug head doesn't tab in anywhere, and the tab for the upper torso to connect to the waist is not strong enough); it there was a way to fix them, that'd be neat, but not 100% something you should have to do to a newly opened toy. He has some hollowed-out parts on the back, but they can be covered well enough by the wings and wasp abdomen.

Head sculpt is very cartoon-accurate, and the amount of paint applied onto the figure combined with the nicely sculpted details and the light piping make this part feel like the best part of the figure as a whole. I love that he has the stripes on the antennae and that the mouth is painted, it further completes the look of a unique head like this. His articulation is pretty good along with the other WFC Trilogy guys. Ball-jointed head, shoulders that move front and back, in and out, bicep swivels, elbow bends, wrist swivels, a waist swivel (that is limited because it catches on both mandibles), hips that move front and back, in and out, thigh swivels, knee bends, and ankle pivots. His gun is just a bit of the wasp ass that feels like it's missing an extra tip that gives it a more distinct look than it currently has. It reminds me of Classics Mirage, where it's less like a proper weapon and more like a chunk of the altmode taken off and vaguely passing as a weapon.

As far as repaints are concerned, this is Legacy Buzzsaw, a repaint that now turns into a yellow jacket in addition to having a new head sculpt based on the robot head that the original toy had (which was a feature older Beast Wars toys had; Waspinator used the mutant head in the show with new liberties taken to make it more characterful). While it's hard to determine exactly, I do hope he doesn't feel as cheap as Waspinator does.

Later on, we'd get a Skywasp repaint that is similar to the Timelines Parasite repaint of Thrilling 30 Waspinator, and Horrorcon Waspinator, which came with the alternate robot head in addition to the Waspinator head. As part of the Buzzworthy Bumblebee Creatures Collide 4-pack, he comes with a toy-accurate Scorponok, a Ransack reused from Legacy Kickback, and Goldbug.

And for a Takara repaint, this is Waspeeter in the Beast Wars Again subline featuring a more cartoon-accurate repaint. The color break up on him and the better use of clear plastic helps him feel closer tl the CG model, but no word yet if the figure has better tolerances.

For a robot mode comparison, I have the original version of Waspinator with the closest deco to the show and the Thrilling 30 versions for an idea of how they stack up. I think that they each make for great iterations of Waspinator, with the original holding up better than most figures in the line he came from. The articulation is great, the design is already spot-on, and the beast mode doesn't look too bad. The Thrilling 30 version is even closer to the show model, with a more devoted cartoon head and details that make it feel much closer to the show. I will say that the beast mode legs of that figure are better handled than on the Kingdom version because of how they're pointing up instead of betting in the way. Honestly, Waspinator's figures have each had some flaw that pushed them back from making one better than the other. Maybe the Thrilling 30 version is the best one, but that wouldn't make me want to replace the Kingdom version.

And for a size comparison in robot mode, he and Scorponok are definitely shorter than Blackarachnia and especially Megatron. Looking forward to getting Terrorsaur, Tarantulas, and Inferno, but I want to be honest and say that Waspinator himself is better than I expected. He's not 100% perfect, and while Blackarachnia makes for a better Deluxe figure because of her engineering, Waspinator comes in second place because his beast mode works better than Scorponok's and has a pretty solid robot mode all around. Some fixes here and there would make him even better. Just make him less likely to untab from the waist and maybe tighten the tolerances of the wings a bit. Oh and make the waist swivel a little less compromised.

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

Transformers Cyberverse Cheetor review

Before Kingdom brought back a good majority of the Beast Wars characters in the same Maximal and Predacon factions, Transformers shows made after the Beast Era would usually bring in one or two characters based on mostly the Season 1 crew. Rhinox made a small cameo in Armada, Blackarachnia and Waspinator were new takes on their Beastie counterparts after being originally non-organic, Optimus Primal showed up in Power of the Primes to tie in with the Optimal Optimus Fan Vote toy, and Cyberverse brought in Cheetor himself. His role was pretty much a better handled version of Primal's role in POTP, as Cheetor practically guarded the Allspark after it was long separated from Cybertron, and he adopted a feline alternate mode that helps in towing the gap between familiarity and new iteration. He may not be the Maximal rookie, but the new role is quite nice to have for a character like him, and I loved seeing him be an additional teammate alongside Bumblebee and Hot Rod. In honor of his sacrifice in the beginning of Season 3, let's see how his long-awaited Deluxe figure turned out!

 

Here is Cheetor in his beast mode. It is a very mechanical design that has an organic silhouette to it. The animation style of the show helps make the design feel more consistent than had it not received the full-on organic beast mode nor a fully mechanical beast mode that's more on-par with Ravage or Laserbeak. The color scheme mostly consists of cheddar yellow with black spots and some light brown parts here and there, most prominently on the forelegs and jaw. They may not be 100% accurate to the coloring of the show, but they at least do add a good amount of color breakup that looks somewhat natural (well, as natural as a beast mode can be in this design). The rest of the beast mode looks fine even if the back has the normal robot mode legs hunched up. The articulation consists of an opening jaw, forelegs that move front and back as well as in and out somewhat, bends at the elbows, hindlegs that mostly move back, straighten at the knees, and pivot at the ankles. The tail has some articulation, which is kind of rare because it usually has to partsform except here, where it doesn't. I'm covering the articulation because it's a little more restricted with the attachments on. You can slide the claws over the front paws, attach the swords around the inner part of the shoulders, and a mask that slides over the face. It's a little reminiscent of the Beast Machines design, what with the inclusion of green in some areas.

For a size comparison in the alternate mode side of things, here he is in-between his vehicular friends. Bumblebee and Hot Rod. I have to say that he might fit in with the size if we're to consider that he'd have to be in a good size for his robot mode, so I'd say it works.

Transformation is very much in a vein similar to the Kingdom figure of the Beast Era guy, which consists of the cheetah head going onto the chest, the arms folding out from the stomach, the beast legs being on the back, and the hind legs becoming the robot legs simply by straightening them out. It's nothing too new, though the cheetah head does have a tendency to detach at times if you're not transforming him right. The resulting robot mode is much more accurate to the character model than the other toy was, but the deco itself isn't 100% accurate. It's not awful, but I should mention that in the show, the back of his hands, the biceps, the upper parts of his shoulders, and one trim of the back of his cheetah legs should have blue. Even without the deco, it's not 100% terrible and still looks good either way. The design of the figure looks proportionately accurate otherwise, and he doesn't have any of the oddities that the smaller figure had. The back does have hollow legs, but it's otherwise fair for a figure with this budget. By the way, is it me or does Walmart have this figure at a lower price than the norm? Most have the same price as a WFC Deluxe, but this figure is like $14 give or take.

Head sculpt is very accurate to the design, which is pretty reminiscent of the Universe Deluxe face in terms of it being more feline than youthful. The green eyes are decently applied, but the blue face should be a darker shade like in the show. His articulation is pretty good overall, with ball joints at the head, shoulders, wrists, and hips, swivels for the biceps, waist, and thighs, and hinges for the elbows, knees, and ankles.

You can display him with his swords with no problem since those were a regular form of weaponry that he had, but that can be taken even further with the armor, giving him shoulder pads and the tiger head as a shield of sorts. As a result, the figure is mostly armored from the top, but I think that apart from the head, the shoulders add a bit of extra color that doesn't clash too badly, and the design of them is reminiscent of the claw shoulder pads of Thundertron. Very nice attention to detail.

For a robot mode size comparison, he's taller than both Bumblebee and Hot Rod. I haven't messed with the latter two for a while, but I must say that Bumblebee's still a pretty solid figure and I grew to like him even more. Hot Rod's still got some issues for the deco and design, though. But yeah, this trio definitely makes me want to revisit Cyberverse in spite of the ads being in the way, but Cheetor himself makes for a pretty neat entry in the line. After the mixed bag of Wave 3 Cyberverse Deluxes in the form of Prowl, Starscream, and Soundwave, it's nice that Cheetor has not only been made even after his death but that he's also a well thought out figure that doesn't feel compromised even with the intended budget. I'd say get him if you can because he's a release with spotty distribution (no pun intended).

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐