Nightbird (Jungle Mission 3 pack)

Nightbird was a pretty pleasant surprise in the Jungle Mission 3 pack. Initially I wasn't concerned with her toy. She looked cool, but memories from Transformers fandom days of old kinda tainted her for me. However looking past all that nonsense, I really dig her new design for ROTB. She looks super cool, and honestly makes think of the original Shadow Striker with her colors. Considering that particular version of Shadow Striker's history, it's only ironic that a new Nightbird would look so much like her. With that considered, it's funny that it's all due to a Beast Wars flavored movie. All that aside... this is a great figure.

One thing I really like about these ROTB mainline figures is how they are traditional Transformers through and through. They tie into a new TF movie, but could be from a cartoon. These just feel like how a Transformer should feel. Speaking of feelings, I feel like Hasbro is going back to the 2007 book with ROTB. Clearly trying to build on the franchise like in 2007. I haven't seen the movie yet as of this writing (but will have by the time you read this), hopefully all these good vibes don't go to waste.

Back to Nightbird, I like this toy a lot. I'm saying that about everything regarding ROTB and that's a good thing. I'm not paid off like some others, this is my honest opinion. This is wholeheartedly genuine. Nightbird is freaking cool. She turns into a sports car that looks really great. There's a bit of the 'get everything exactly right for no apparent reason' in the transformation complaint I've been having recently. That's something I'm going to have to learn to live with. A cool feature in vehicle mode is her spoiler. Which is Nightbird's weapons in robot mode. The connector pieces make a cool wrist mounted claw weapon, while the fin is a neat sword. The car kibble gives a cool winged appearance to the robot mode that according to various commercials, isn't just for show. 

Nightbird is pleasantly articulated and I just don't have really anything bad to say about this toy. If anything that transformation gripe is a slight annoyance and I'm not super fond of her feet. Their bird like. It matches with the overall design... I'd just like them a little more substantial. Really surprised that I liked Nightbird so much. I wanted the set for Wheeljack and Cheetor mostly, so this is an all around win. I'd absolutely like more toys like this in the future.