Transformers Cyberverse Deluxe Megatron review

Megatron returns in a new Transformers cartoon after being entirely absent in RID15 (aside from a few namedrops) and obviously not being allowed in the Rescue Bots series. Like with 95% of the characters, he has the G1/Evergreen design with a few aesthetic changes. Since we hadn't gotten Megatron in the Bumblebee movie (thankfully because that film fucked up continuity even more than TLK) and I didn't like Autobot Megatron in the IDW comics, I loved seeing this guy in action; his voice wasn't trying to be like Frank Welker and sounded sinister yet still familiar. I also dug seeing him abuse Starscream for an actual plot and later helping Optimus take on the Quintessons with a stolen Matrix from Megatron X (who later returns for the finale). Now let's take a look at Deluxe Class Megatron!

Here is Megatron in his tank mode. As far as designs go, this is pretty distinct from what Tank Megatrons have been in terms of G2, Armada, and ROTF; maybe he's got some cues from WFC, but he's actually different from the Evergreen tank mode. It's a decent design that makes him look more alien by comparison, and what I like is that the fusion cannon making the barrel of the tank mode. Also love the two-tread look of the toy, too.

It's also pretty sleek, which is kind of interesting as most tanks don't really look sleek that much. Still, I commend Hasbro for making him be as such despite his size class.

Interestingly, the rear treads do not have tiny wheels, and he now has a cylinder behind his head to serve as such.

The blast effect piece can be added to the barrel and adds a neat display option if you ask me! Certainly a cool way to take advantage of that 5mm hole.

Transformation is a little more involved than with Optimus Prime. It's also interesting how this is the reverse of Siege Megatron's transformation, what with the front becoming the legs, the turret becoming the back, and the rear legs becoming the arms. Also, the upper torso rotates rather than having the waist be what swivels. The resulting robot mode looks pretty good from the front at least. I say that because the shoulders and back are pretty clunky if you ask me. Cyberverse Megatron is pretty sleek in terms of character design, which is something I can understand from a design budget, yet some of the simpler toys manage to have a cleaner look for their back by comparison. At least he doesn't feel hollow for the most part. I also like how the Decepticon insignia looks on his chest, and I feel there should be red for the biceps as well as some details for the waist.

Head sculpt is good, yet could really go for some paint for the face in order to distinguish it from the rest of the helmet. Might also help his lips from looking like they're puckered. As for the articulation, it's the same that every Cyberverse and mostly every WFC Deluxe has, though the shoulders have a tendency to pop off when they move out too much. The hips are also pretty loose, which is pretty disappointing because I'd expect better from a toy priced at nearly $20.

The arm cannon can be placed on the forearm while the lower legs can have the missile pods placed on the sides of how lower legs. The fusion cannon looks pretty neat, though the handles on the side look a little odd. Of course, the pegs are used for dual-wielding the cannon in a fashion similar to the Cyberverse Ultimate toy, both of which are inspired by the method used by Megatron in the first live-action movie.

The fusion cannon can use the blast effect piece in a friggin' sweet display option, and it's even better than the tank mode because of how distinctly Megatron it is. The articulation complements such a display option, though I should mention that the looseness of the hips may affect the poses.

The effect piece can be taken apart so you can probably alter how you place the pieces. On the left, it could almost be like a repulsor blast for his back; on the right, the fusion cannon can be seen blowing up from the side while the crotch is shot. Not sure why you'd display him like that but there you go.

This figure comes with the upper torso of Maccadam, which has some decent paint apps applied on him as well as three ball joints waiting for a pair of shoulders as well as a noggin. As for Megatron himself, much like Optimus Prime, Megatron would be better if he was bigger; I say that because I'm sure they'd be able to fix some of the kibble issues I have with the toy, but then I wonder how the Cyberverse Ultimate toy can look so clean without having too much engineering applied. Might be because of the turret being different. It's a shame because I felt both Optimus and Bumblebee were both decent figures, yet this guy's problems are more apparent than with either. If you want to get this guy, be wary of both the tolerances and the distribution, though he's easier to spot than the other guys are.

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

Transformers Cyberverse Deluxe Bumblebee review

Given how there's not much else to say about Bumblebee at this point, I can at least say that Cyberverse Bee was cool to have him be a little different from the Evergreen design. While he did have voice problems twice in Season 1, he was at least able to speak in full sentences in Season 2 and 3. He was pretty prominent in the first two seasons, yet Season 3, despite having the late moniker of "Transformers Bumblebee: Cyberverse Adventures", didn't show Bumblebee as much given how the Quintesson story mostly focused on the likes of Hot Rod, Clobber, and Maccadam. Still, I'm content to see Bumblebee return, but with plenty of releases being gimmick toys with mixed results, how does the Deluxe version fare?

Here is Bumblebee in his vehicle mode. As always, he's in a car reminiscent of a Camaro that he's taken the form of since 2007, but it's a fitting idea given how neat it was to see Bumblebee go from Minibot to being part of the main team even more. That being said, compared to the Camaro, the Urbana 500, and the Windblazer (the latter two being fictional vehicles BTW), this feels a little less aggressive than the other two in terms of design. Bumblebee's vehicle mode just feels less badass and more casual if you ask me thanks to the rounded edges, and it's got more of a Hot Shot vibe to him, but the difference between Bumblebee and Hot Shot is that Bumblebee is usually experienced and knows how to get himself out of sticky situations whereas Hot Shot generally wants to show the older Autobots that he can be as tough as he is, though the eventually learns how to be more responsible over time.

It's overall a decent vehicle mode, though aside from the design not being a little rounder than the norm, I feel that there are some missing details for this guy. The blue for the rear part of the window is one, but the most striking aspect of this car mode is the coloring used for the rims or lack thereof on this toy. They should have light blue paint like with the windows, and it sucks how they're not painted. Some may find the lack of a spoiler jarring, but he didn't come with one in the show despite a few toys saying otherwise.

One of his weapons can be stored underneath the vehicle mode, which is neat since it is out of sight and out of mind. This is his regular pistol, BTW.

His other weapon can be placed near one of the hindquarters of the car, which is kind of jarring since it feels like it's hanging out there randomly and isn't integrated properly. It is useful with stinging someone in their vehicle mode, though.

The transformation is somewhat reminiscent of the Thrilling 30 Bumblebee figure from the Generations line. Notable aspects include the shoulders, the leg transformation (which is now accompanied by a waist swivel), and the placement of the wings. The chest is faux as well, but instead of his hood, it's the roof like with G1 Bumblebee. The tabs used for the shins feel a little thin, and I worry the tabs will snap off from repeated transformations, but everything else is more or less fine. As for his robot mode, it's certainly more distinct among the G1 character designs because this guy is based on the Evergreen look. This guy has plenty of stylistic tweaks compared to the normal design, which isn't a bad thing as the Cyberverse line. He's got a few details missing in terms of paint, but I do wish his shoulders don't have the hinges visible from the front; they make the figure's anatomy look a little odd and kind of reminiscent of how weird the shoulders were for Combiner Wars Megatron. Another problem is how thin the wings look, what with the paint being visible from the side. Otherwise, this figure's design is perfectly fine in robot mode.

Head sculpt is pretty good, though both the eyes and the rest of the head could use better paint applications. There's a lot of nicely sculpted detail that could benefit from decent use of paint apps, especially his head's stripes and the outlines all around it. As for the articulation, it's about the same as Optimus Prime, but he lacks forward ankle movement, his shoulders are a little limited in movement, and the head doesn't move as much.

Bumblebee's accessories are pretty neat, what with his pistol being a small yet nifty gun and a stinger that has a nice use of silver paint. The latter weapon is especially neat to have a version of as it's a sweet inclusion to his design like how Animated Bee has his own stinger. This weapon was also noteworthy for freezing his opponents! You can even complete that look by attaching the effect piece! What's not to love?

I didn't do a size comparison with Optimus Prime last time, but here is Bumblebee next to a few other Deluxe Class Transformers I own, which include Roadbuster and Prowl. I'd say he's in-between them in terms of height, though his plastic's a little thin compared to both of them.

As part of the Maccadam build-a-figure line, he's got the lower torso for the character. It's got some silver paint to contrast the orange of the character. Note the ball joint in the middle. As for Bumblebee himself, if you fix the plastic tolerances and add a bit more paint he might be better than Optimus. As it stands, they're on equal footing. Then again, I established Optimus needed to be bigger and have some improvements. If you want to get Bumblebee, take note of the figure's distribution; he may or may not be available at your place given the restock some olaces may or may not have.

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

Transformers Cyberverse Deluxe Optimus Prime review

Optimus Prime's naturally going to appear in every new Transformers series with Cyberverse being no exception. This incarnation uses the Evergreen design with a stylized take on it, making him look more like the love child of G1 and Animated. It's a good aesthetic, even if I'm not 100% on board with the Evergreen/G1 aesthetics being used more often for every bit of media. That being said, I did want a version of Optimus Prime based on the cartoon, though Cyberverse continued the same problem that the 2015 RID line did and make gimmick toys prominent with random sizes and making the toys feel more like afterthoughts than the RID stuff. Now we've gotten to the Deluxe Class subline, which gives us 8 characters to collect; each one comes with a piece of the Build-A-Figure Maccadam. With all that said, does Optimus Prime make for a good Transformer despite his size?

Here we have Optimus Prime in his truck mode. Design-wise, it's the typical 1984 homage that Cyberverse generally has, though with a modern look that is mainly from the Evergreen aesthetics. It's moreso prominent with this design as it has a roof and different grill design that the Evergreen version of Optimus Prime has, giving it an animated feel to it. The headlights are reminiscent of Animated Optimus Prime, which is another comparison that this version of Optimus Prime normally gets. It's almost like Cyberverse Optimus Prime is the midpoint between Animated and G1. Aside from the way the bumper looks, this doesn't look too bad as far as truck mode proportions look, and it's undeniably got that classic feel to it with a modern vibe. I like that the windows, while not translucent, are a light shade of blue as they pop among the red plastic. One nitpick I do have is that part of the grill doesn't have any red paint nor is there any silver paint applied to it.

It also hides most of the robot parts with no real problem, though the lower legs look a little noticeable and the front of the truck does lean forward a bit, much like with Beewun Optimus. It's not a killer, but it does make the middle tires kind of hard to roll. There are some crevices from where the shoulders are placed, and the windows are unpainted, but it's otherwise no big deal.

His ion blaster can be stored on the back, and his effect piece can be placed on the exhaust port to make it look like he's got nitrous.

Transformation's basically what you'd expect a G1-esque Optimus Prime to do. Arms go out, waist swivels, head faces forwards, and it's an example of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" that I think suits a transformation scheme like this (don't confuse me saying that it applies to how the designs change). Robot mode also looks pretty good. I like the Cyberverse designs, and Optimus Prime's was one that I wanted to get a decent toy out of. The other versions not being poseable enough or remaining in the Voyager Class size did hurt me, and while this guy is a Deluxe, he's a pretty nice take on the guy. That being said, the Autobot insignias having differently thick outlines is bothersome and inconsistent. The forearms having chunks of the altmode from the underside is distracting, but at least it's not so bad from the front. Also might be hard to tell in these images, but some of the red plastics are also inconsistent in terms of the shade of red they have; a few parts have a more matte shade of plastic while the shoulders have a more metallic shade that's done up like that likely because of their durability when used as ball sockets.

Head sculpt looks pretty decent for its size, and it captures a stylized take on the G1/Evergreen design. I like that the face is silver like the mouthplate, which can't be said for Earthrise Optimus Prime. Faceplate should be darker, though. As for his articulation, the head is on an expressive ball joint, shoulders move front and back as well as in and out on ball joints, the biceps swivel and the elbows bend 90 degrees, and his wrists are able to move around on their ball joints. The waist swivels, and the hips move around on ball joints (though any forward movement is compromised because of the waist armor. That being said, if you use that hinge for an ab crunch, you can fake any additional leg movement. The legs swivel above the knee, the knees bend, and the ankles can hinge as well as pivot. The ball joints on my copy's hips are a little loose, so do keep that in mind if you have yet to buy one.

His accessories comprise of an ion blaster and an effect piece. The former looks decent yet doesn't go all the way in his hand because of the peg used to store it in vehicle mode, but the effect piece looks pretty sweet when used on the gun! It's so refreshing to have Transformers come with effect pieces without really compromising them too much. See, Hasbro? Your WFC guys can come with em, too! On a side note, the weight of the effect piece does make the hand flop around a bit when attached.

You can remove the longer piece and give him a different look for the blast piece when it's attached, but the fun doesn't stop there as he's got a pretty sweet addition in the form of the Matrix of Leader ship. It's not removable, may need some gold paint for the core and it may not be designed accurately to how it actually looked, but it's a sweet bonus that Hasbro didn't have to include yet they did for attention to detail!

The best part is that it's also compatible with the effect piece, meaning you can have him light our darkest hour against not Unicron but Starscream (and twice!), for that back-stabbing Seeker turned against everybody in Seasons 2 and 3. In terms of other things worth mentioning, he and 7 other Cyberverse Deluxes include pieces for Maccadam, the first time we've had a Build-A-Figure gimmick within toys since Beast Wars 10th Anniversary's Transmutate (that is if you exclude combiners). It's neat that we got a version of him because he's a pretty awesome character in the show. More on him later, though Optimus Prime includes his left forearm, which has a few paint apps on it as well as a wrist swivel.

Optimus Prime's a decent figure for the Cyberverse line, but aside from the cosmetic issues I mentioned and the tolerances of the hips, I wish this guy was bigger! Imagine if Cyberverse and RID15 did what the Movie lines and Animated have done and make toys that are for kids yet feel like stuff collectors would be happy to own. They were pretty happy marriages between those concepts, and even if that weren't possible, I'd be fine if the kids got bigger versions of the characters with electronics while the older fans had the more traditional Deluxe, Voyager, and Leader Class figures. Now as for getting Optimus, I got him when the Cyberverse line had a restock of Deluxes when Wave 2 popped up, meaning now your chances of getting a copy may vary if you can find one in stores or not (online prices will be skippable if needed).

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Transformers Studio Series Devastator review

At last, the Constructicon giant is finally complete. Announced in late-2018, then with its first two members released in mid-2019, followed by the release of the second pair of members, and the second to last pair coming out in early 2020, and the final pair released four-6 months before the end of the year. It has been an honor to take a look at the 8 Constructicons individually, and while some are better than others, I never felt annoyed with the figures like I did with the Combiner Wars figures because these Movie guys feel more distinct from one another. I'll delve into more of that discussion in a bit, but first, let's take a look at what I think of Devastator in ROTF: he is one of the coolest parts of that film and the Movieverse in general, and I feel that unlike Infernocus, who just plain sucks and has no real interest outside of his film, Devastator is at least iconic for his bestial design and his Kirby-esque Vortex Grinder. He's a monstrous combiner yet still looks great if you ask me, but it sucks that neither the Supreme version from 2009 or the Walmart-exclusive Legends version did that much to make him worthwhile in plastic. It's about time we finally fix that as we delve into the review of Studio Series Devastator!

UPDATE 11/16/2020: Studio Series 69 Devastator included in mold history

Alright, before we get to Devastator himself, I want to take a look at each of the 8 Constructicons and rank them from worst to best. Let's begin with the fairly basic guy himself, Scrapmetal. I feel he's at the bottom of the list because of how plain he is. Sure, he's not an awful toy, but I feel there are better ways to make him visually interesting since he currently looks as plain as the Beewun designs. He does remind me of RID Grimlock, the 2001 version, but he's still not as interesting as the other Constructicons.

Next up is the only other Deluxe in this team, that being Hightower. I like how unique his design is, as he's not a typical up and down robot and instead looks more animalistic. He's also more realized than the only other version of him, the Legends one; that said, I still wish he'd look a little more realized than he currently is. As it stands, he gives me the vibe of an animatronic that is used for dinosaurs made with practical effects. At least the transformation is decent.

After the Deluxes, we go to a Voyager in the form of Scrapper. This is the weakest Voyager of the set, in my opinion. The first problem comes with how awful his vehicle mode looks, with toyetic proportions on-par with the Combiner Wars version of the character. Also, this guy's transformation is fairly Gobotish if you ask me. Robot mode isn't too bad, but it reeks of M.A.R.S. Converters Earthmover. The sad part is his arm mode's underwhelming. I mean it'd probably look fine when combined with Devastator, but Scrapmetal and Hightower at least look cool when combined.

Another Voyager Class figure, this is Rampage. At first, I thought he was going to be a sucky toy, but he's actually pretty good. Unlike that stupid ROTF toy, this guy has no shitty gimmick to ruin him, and I prefer how poseable he is, too. I also appreciate the fact that he's a good size, even if his vehicle mode looks a little too big. Still, a great addition for the Constructicons, even if his weapons are a little too small for him to look convincing.

With one half of the team covered, let's start covering the other half. This is Scavenger, and he's certainly a big guy (but not as big as we all hoped Demolishor would be in 2009). I know some people don't mind the ROTF figure, but I feel this guy is more fulfilling due to how his tires (or one tire) works as hard plastic, and I also appreciate how beefy he feels by comparison. And best of all, he has claws that look pretty good. Vehicle mode proportions are a little funny, though.

In third place is Mixmaster, who thankfully isn't as difficult as the old Voyager in terms of transforming him. I will admit that his design is a little more wonky than the old Voyager, but I guess that's to make up for how he transforms as the head of Devastator (so I guess that makes him a Headmaster?). The cement truck mode's beautiful, and the head mode is a pleasant surprise because of how detailed and monstrous it looks. No cannon mode, but I don't mind that.

In second place is Overload. The recent guy is finally here, and while his vehicle mode isn't the best, I love his design and how unexpected it looks with all those arms and how wide he is. He's almost like Bonecrusher but without the tail claw from the back. And of course, it's finally good to have this guy complete the entire set of Constructicons. Some would love for him to be a proper Spider-Bot, but I think he's good as he is.

In first place is Long Haul! This guy was hard for me to find because he disappeared after seeing him one time at my college's nearest Target, and I at one point went to 5 Targets in hopes of getting him, but nothing came about, sadly. That is until I found him on Walmart.com and got him for a bit of a cheaper price than I normally paid for these figures. I love his beefy design, and while the articulation may not be the best, I at least see him use his mass as a weapon whenever he pushes someone aside or punches them real hard in the fiction.

It's certainly nice to see all of the team together for a robot mode shot, as previously mentioned in my Overload review. You can certainly look for the other reviews for my extended thoughts on these figures if you so desire, but I think it's time we get into some serious business, yeah?

Here they are in their vehicle modes for another group shot. Yes, I plan to make a stop-motion with these guys at some point in time so be sure to wait for it.

And for the moment we've all been waiting for, it's time to merge for the kill! I already talked about how each figure transforms into their component mode, with the easiest being all of the figures that become arms, the more intermediate ones being Mixmaster, Long Haul, Rampage, amd Overload, and the hardest being Scavenger thanks to his unique design. The way the pieces combine is fairly familiar in terms of how the arms attach similarly to the Combiner Wars figures, while the two legs, the waist, and the upper torso is used each slide into their rather tight slots, which may require a bit of force yet they help keep this guy fairly solid. The head, which kinda makes Mixmaster a Headmaster, is kind of hard to tab in right. He has two C-joint clips that need to clip onto Scavenger, yet it's fairly tight, and I fear of damaging the clips because of how small they are. Oh, and you need to make sure that the Vortex Grinder is clipped on to where it'll remain fairly sturdy while also attaching Rampage's stand on the butt and Scrapmetal's shield on the leg.

And now it's time to take a look at the big kahuna himself! Devastator is an impressive beast, and he captures the design of the combiner very well despite standing on two legs. I know some people will say "But Quantum Surge, this sucks because he's not like in the prototype image", and I know that he was altered between 2018 and 2020, but shut the fuck up and feast your eyes on this guy! In fact, here he is next to the other versions of Devastator! The Supreme version doesn't capture the proportions all that well and looks very toyish, the Legends version is better yet comes at the cost of being puny, and then there's the...Mega Power Bots version? Eh, had to add at least one more Devastator, but he's not really bad for what he is. And I know as he is, Devastator should be on all fours like in the movie and could go for more parts to beef him up a bit more, but if we can accept Combiner Wars Devastator and his cheap ass compromises, then we can accept Studio Series Devastator for not being able to be on all fours officially. And we'll get to that part in a bit.

The side and back both look pretty good as far as monstrous gestalts like Devastator go, and while there are some parts that could look a little funny, they're at least not as prominent as stuff that would be present for the CG model, like the treads making up a part of the Vortex Grinder. Also, I don't mind that he's standing up because he is at least hunched forward so he can sort of mimic the posture. 

The head is certainly monstrous, and I especially love the beautiful sculpting as well as a great attempt to make the red parts of the face prominent from the gray and black parts of the face. Even the eyes are picked out differently from the rest of the face, and that is a very nice touch. As for the articulation of this guy, he doesn't have any for the neck, but his mouth can open and close. The shoulders can hinge front and back if you use what were Scavenger's arms, the parts that Scrapper and Hightower connect to are able to swivel, and their ratchet pieces can make them move in and out. Scrapper's claw can hinge at three points while Scrapmetal's claw can move at 10 points! There is no waist swivel despite there being a seam that would make you think it's there at first glance, but the hips can move front and back as well as in and out, the thighs swivel, and there really is no knee movement; the ankles, however, can hinge as well as pivot, with the sideways rocking supported by the ratchet joints.

Now it's time for a size comparison between him and a small selection of figures in the Studio Series line. Firstly, we have the tallest Leader Class Transformer in the form of Grimlock, one of the taller Voyagers in the form of ROTF Megatron (who should be on a pyramid yelling Devy's name out), and a standard Deluxe with Bumblebee. He towers over them without a shadow of a doubt, and not even Grimlock is as tall as he is. On the other pic is Masterpiece Movie Optimus Prime, who was in a similar height to Grimlock, and not a Transformer but a mecha in the form of the Beast-X Ultrazord from Power Rangers Beast Morphers! The Ultrazord is a little taller than Devastator is, but Devastator's heavier than the Ultrazord is, who suffers from being a little light due to his plastic not being as dense as the Constructicons are (still better than people give them credit for).

Now here's the thing people are wondering about: Can you display Devastator by putting him on all fours? Not like this you can. See, there is no proper neck movement for Devastator, nor can the limbs actually be posed as if they're flat on the floor.

However, with some modding, you can achieve Devastator in this form simple by detaching Mixmaster fron Scavenger and using the same pieces used to connect to the top wheel of Scavenger onto some unused tabs for Mixmaster. Then you're going to want to hinge the Scavenger arms forward and upward. You're also going to want to flip Scrapper upside down, flip the tires back in their vehicle mode spot, and hinge the claw scoops up so they can be more claw-like while on the floor. Then you swivel the forearms of Scrapper around and use the legs as the back fingers of the left arm. This configuration of Devastator was covered by the likes of TonTon and PrimeVsPrime already, so it's old news by the time both of them got Overload, but this is possible to do if you want to give Devastator a more movie-accurate look.

Devastator being on all fours is pretty neat, though I can see why Hasbro chose not to go this route and went with the official configuration. I have a feeling they didn't feel too confident with Scrapper and Hightower/Scrapmetal cooperating with Scavenger's arms since they all have a lot more joints than normal, and Devastator's head looks fairly thin when viewed from the dead-set front of his face and could go with a few more parts to fill in the gaps he sort of has. Still, he at least looks more ready to suck up the Twins and climb up a Pyramid to uncover the Sun Harvester! Oh, wait, I don't have the Twins in Studio Series form, as they have yet to be made (and I hope they get made because I'm not like those soy boys who bitched about them for being hip), so in the meantime, B-127 and My Name Is Cliffjumper will take over until we get proper Twins. Would love to see the be done up as the Green Beat and Reddish Orange Trax, Hasbro!

Oh, and before I forget, if you happen to get Skipjack, you can make an even more screen-accurate Devastator by replacing an reddish leg with a yellow one! I mean, it's neat, but it's not extremely important to me for now. Still, if I get Skipjack, then Rampage will be displayed on his own in reference to his brief yet cool encounter with Sam, Mikaela, his family, and Bumblebee. Plus, I know Rampage was fairly hard to find.

Now to go over the 69th release of the Studio Series line! This Devastator gift set justifies its release by adding a few more paint apps, coming in a massive backdrop, and contains every single release from the line, though Skipjack replaces Rampage. While I'm already happy with getting every single Constructicon in the line so far, I can see this being a great way for any fan who missed out on the releases to buy this set at once. I should mention that in terms of the money spent on these guys, I paid around a total of $282 compared to the $260-270 paid. Not much of a big difference, but if you can't find the individual releases (especially on clearance at places like Marshalls or Ross), then definitely take action with this set!

Putting Devastator back in his stock form, let's close off this review with a bit of a reflection on the Constructicons, the path getting to Devastator, and Devastator himself. Each Constructicon figure is great in terms of looks for at least standing out for one another, even if some look better than others, and I also love how there's a little more color variation, even if the only unique ones are Mixmaster and Long Haul. As for gettigng to the entire set, it was a little better than I expected. At first, I didn't buy the first wave of Constructicons because I was focused on getting Beewun Prime, Cogman, and Shatter, with the former being hard to find already. I thankfully got them along with Hightower and the other guys to complete the 2019 wave. I did get Long Haul in 2020 online, and I later got Mixmaster in-person and later bought Scrapper along with Sentinel and later Scavenger online with Apeface before rounding out the team with my preorder of Overload (who cost me 20 dollars less than he is right now, btw!). So it was a little long to get there, but I'm happy to have the entire set for once. And for the actual resulting Combiner, this has been a crazy ride for me, as I was honestly not expecting to own a complete Devastator. Sure, I had to wait a nearly 2 years to own him after seeing the prototype at a toy convention back in 2018, but it feels so damn good to finally own a version of the character that's not missing any important things, it doesn't have any bad proportions, and it feels very worthwhile after years of having barely passable versions of Devastator in the past. Again, I know that there are some things that deserve to be criticized, like with the exposed head for Overload and the fact that this guy doesn't stand on all fours. But I'd rather appreciate what we do have, because who knows when we'll get an even better Devastator officially made by Hasbro. I doubt we'll ever get Masterpieces of the Constructicons, so I'm happy to say that this guy is a better option than all the other ones we've got so far. Plus, I'd rather accept this guy than deal with the embarrassing Titan Class Devastator and Predaking figures, who have issues that are way more prominent than with this guy. So I don't give a fuck if you're against this design, or if you're not interested in the Studio Series line, because this is easily one of the best Combiners I've ever held in-hand, and all I can say is that I'm happy if we don't get any other combiners because unlike Devastator, no one cares about Infernocus or Dragonstorm as much. I'd rather Infernocus be 6 Deluxes combined into a Leader, anyways. So overall, I recommend getting this guy, whether it's by collecting the individual figures or getting them all in one set!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐