Supersize Mech

It's time to start another week of robots, monsters, and misadventure Zone Base readers! I hope everyone had a great weekend, mine sure was! Friday morning I headed out shortly after eating breakfast to get a copy of Pragmata for my PS5 before they sold out. For whatever reason, my local Target didn't get any (they're actually getting terrible at launch day releases). So after a visit to the Mrs workplace to drop off some stuff, I stopped by Best Buy shortly after they opened and got a copy. It's funny, Pragmata is a pretty big deal... and I was the only person who knew what it was at either games department. It's really, really good and I'm looking at some serious time spent having adventures on the the moon. I also picked up Age of the Primes Sideways while out Friday morning! This is a toy I've been looking forward to greatly and am so happy to have one!

Saturday, the Mrs and I went to Daiso. I'd been looking forward to this little trip all week as I'm starting a binder project for the various cards and instructions that come with my models. I'm starting small with Blokees, but plan to work my way up to the larger kits. This is the kind of project that's going to be an ongoing adjustment, so I'm predicting a lot of trial and error. I got some binder pages intended for storing Bikkuriman type stickers, which is just right for the pogs and mini cards that come with the blind box Blokees, this project is going to be fun! While there, I also got some figure stands, a Street Fighter blind pack acrylic stand (got Guile's electrocuted skeleton), and some ramune candy for my desk at work (love that stuff). Also of note, I picked up a bity blocks (their version of Nano Blocks) of a little converterting robot that turns into a space ship. I've got a Nano Block backlog that's demanding attention that it's going into. Maybe those will start showing up here. 

Another neat thing Daiso had was little models of Police motorcycles and helicopters that looked perfect for Diaclone pilots. I didn't buy any, but was super tempted. We then stopped by Walmart where I picked up Age of the Primes Big Convoy and Liege Maximo! I've been chasing Big Convoy all year, so this was a big win for me! Also, they had restocked MOTU Mighty Masters and I got Man-at-Arms and Beastman completing the first series. Hopefully these continue as they're certainly coming to random Wednesday posts here soon!

The rest of the weekend was spent playing Pragmata and assembling a desk for the Mrs. I intended to do some room organizing, but my knee was giving me a lot of trouble so that got put off until next weekend. I had broken my left knee a long time ago and there's lingering pain that comes and goes, especially when seasons are changing. Spring is quite chaotic here in the American South, so you can be sure that I'm feeling it literally in my bones. I spent all weekend in my brace unfortunately. However I did get some Blokees assembled Sunday (Sunday is build day!) and enjoyed an excellent Red Robin dinner Sunday courtesy of my mother. She gifted me a dancing Megatron found on clearance and I'm admittedly fond of the silly thing. 

Well, it's time to get this week started Zone Base readers. I've got a fun week in store for you all. Thank you all so much for reading the site. Please share it with your friends and be excellent to each other!

Rescue Bot Heatwave [Age of the Primes/Voyager Class]

In Generations, there’s been an attempt to take Transformers from various series and essentially give them a more traditional-looking bot design. Rescue Bots, being a show aimed at preschool-aged kids, originally had some extremely cute and chonky toys—perfectly sized for small hands. Well, just like Chase and Medix (I’ll eventually make a post about him), Heatwave has now found himself worked into mainline Transformers.

Heatwave is one of the more popular Rescue Bots, and he’s popped up in various other Transformers media over the years. I’m particularly fond of his role in Transformers Angry Birds… I really liked that game. I even won a Halloween tournament in it one night while watching a marathon of the various versions of Disney’s Halloween Treat and handing out candy to kids. Good times.

This new figure of Heatwave is pretty great, and it does something I’ve wanted for a few years now. You see, it’s a retool of the Legacy Bulkhead mold from a few years back. That Bulkhead was one of the first examples of characters from series with very specific visual aesthetics being given a more traditional Generations look. I really liked that Bulkhead (don’t think I ever covered him here), and I kept hoping they’d use that mold for other truck-based characters. It just felt like a good, big, utilitarian truck-guy base. I didn’t anticipate Heatwave being made from it, since the previous reuses were all characters from the same Prime series Bulkhead came from-but honestly, it’s perfect for Heatwave.

Now… when Heatwave was first introduced in Rescue Bots, I was a little sad they didn’t call him Rescue Roy. Rescue Roy was another toy aimed at younger kids from the early 2000s that I missed out on due to making “responsible financial decisions” (dammit) and focusing my Transformers budget on Robots in Disguise (2001). Heatwave always kind of looked like Rescue Roy to me, and in this toy that resemblance is even stronger. In a lot of ways, this feels like my spiritual Rescue Roy.

That aside, on its own this is just a really cool Transformers toy. The base mold is pleasantly big and chonky. With the new parts, what was once a military truck is now a genuinely solid fire truck. All of Heatwave’s signature visual cues carry over nicely, resulting in a figure that could almost fool someone into thinking it was an all-new mold.

Heatwave is nicely articulated and transforms fairly easily. There are a few fiddly bits that took me a little extra effort, but nothing major. Thankfully, he’s not one of those Transformers with Lament Configuration–level transformations. I’m pretty sure I summoned the Cenobites more than once during the Revenge of the Fallen toy line. For me, the sticking points were getting the arms to fold correctly into the cab and lining up the legs just right. If you get it wrong, the truck ends up uneven—like the remains after Wile E. Coyote dropped a boulder on it.

There’s a new ladder piece that looks great, but it does need to be removed during transformation. It pegs nicely onto Heatwave’s back in robot mode and attaches to the back of the truck in vehicle mode a bit differently. It looks like it should just rearrange from its backpack position, and technically it can, but it’s not quite an exact fit.

I don’t remember this being an issue with Bulkhead, but it’s very easy to accidentally remove Heatwave’s arms. They’re on simple shoulder pegs, and it’s surprisingly easy to slide them off while transforming, so just be mindful of that. He comes with some neat new weapons too: a water cannon and his Energize Energy Axe, both cast in a really nice translucent blue. I like translucent colors—they just look good. Both weapons can store on the sides of the vehicle mode, which is something I usually appreciate. Not all the time, but there’s just something about a vehicle covered in gear… you know?

It’s actually kind of remarkable how closely the vehicle mode resembles Heatwave’s Rescue Bots alt mode. I’d almost swear this was planned during Bulkhead’s original design process—but even if it wasn’t, it’s really well done. I was genuinely happy to unwrap Heatwave on Christmas morning as one of the presents from the Mrs. He’s a fun, well-executed Transformer, and if you didn’t know better, you’d swear he was an original mold—which says a lot, considering how noticeable retools usually are.

There’s just something deeply satisfying about a big, chonky robot fire truck.

I swear it was just Sunday...

Good morning! Another week has begun on Planet Zone. Another week of robots, monsters, and misadventure! I hope everyone had a great weekend, mine was just what I needed after a rough week. The last two weekends had been ones spent at home due to the winter weather, so getting out was a lot of fun. We finally finished the Mrs birthday shopping weekend with a trip to Daiso! We really love it there, if only one were closer with the closest being about 40 minutes away with some less than ideal traffic. While my focus was on showing her a good time (we also went to other stores she likes), I picked up a few fun things for myself. Some new tweezers for smaller parts and stickers for when my bent tweezers aren't a good fit. Some retractable cutters for various reasons and to fill in for that missing hobby knife. I also picked up a Shin Chan pouch to store the new site stickers in when out and about. A Street Fighter acrylic standee and an eraser set of a gorilla, toilet, and poop. Yep, I bought pooping keshi. I got a few other things, but those are most notable. I doubt my new tablet bag is that interesting to you.

I also picked up Blast-Off and Sureshot from Age of the Primes. I guess the universe heard my annoyance at being behind on the line and threw me a bone. I spent a lot of time catching up with Kamen Rider Zezt some and playing games this weekend. I finally got that SD Card into my Gamestation Go and played my Switch 2 as well. My Blokees Wheels came in during the week and I built 3 as well as 4 Defender Version kits. Wheels are very interesting, more so than I thought they'd be going in. I'm going to enjoy this line. Wonderfest Winter took place this weekend and I've been appreciative of pictures from the event. There's going to be a lot of time spent perusing them.

The new Voltron movie finally got announced to be released this year on Amazon Prime Video later this year. Hasbro will be handling the toys and with Toy Fair around the corner, it looks exciting! Speaking of, Armored Cyber Changer Arachnid got leaked this weekend. She looks great and I hope more reveals will come from Toy Fair. Speaking of shows that I'm looking forward to images from, All Hail Cybertron will be taking place in March. An all Transformers doujin event looks to be amazing and I wish I could go! Hopefully plenty of pictures will find their way online. Well, I've got some chores and exercise to do. I hope everyone has a great week, there's a bunch of fun posts coming your way here on the site. Thank you for reading Zone Base. Please remember to share the site with your friends and be excellent to each other!

Defeat Monday (please)

Good morning Zone Base readers! Another week of robots, monsters, and misadventure is starting full of fun for your eyeballs. Tomorrow is Setsubun, and while we don't celebrate it here in the states, I think it's really neat! I hope everyone had a good weekend, mine was pretty good! Another weekend of winter weather kept the Mrs and I home while roads got icy. We had a small amount of snow, but nothing major despite local news reports predicting a winter wonderland.  So obviously we didn't get out, but still had tons of fun at home. I spent some time playing Shadow Labrinth. I've actually gotten so many games at Christmas that I have a hard time picking one to play at a time. Shadow Labyrinth is a really neat game that got my attention when released and I was delighted to see under the tree as a gift from the Mrs. It's a really cool Metroidvania style game set in something of a Namco expanded universe. I really like it. I also finally got in some episodes of the new Kamen Rider Zezt. it premired last year and while I inteded to watch it weekly... those plans feel though. Fortunately it's easy enough to watch the show in it's entirety thanks to Tokushoutsu. I'm glad I did finally watch it, it's awesome!

Upcoming toy news from the weekend was certainty exciting. There were looks at upcoming Transformers from the Age of the Primes lines. Smokescreen from Transformers Prime is getting a new figure I'm really looking forward to. His original toy from the Prime line was a nightmare to transform and wasn't exactly screen accurate, so it'll be nice to have a hopefully better incarnation as I enjoyed the character on the show. Of course it'll be the Generations style Prime toy that's more traditional looking... but I kinda like that to be honest. Prime has a specific asthetic that looked great, but I do like the style unification in Generations. Also shown was Nexus Prime and Liege Maximo. Like Jhiaxhus, Liege Maximo is a must get as a G2 comic fan. Nexus Prime is a new take on the character that strongly resembles Courageous from Gobots. It apparently will form a combiner with the new Combaticons, so I'm pretty interested. The original Nexus Prime was a TFCC exclusive combiner whose members were membership exclusives. It took me 5 years to build that one, and frankly is still pretty high on a pedestal in my mind. However, this one looks like a lot of fun! I'm actually pretty far behind on Age of the Primes toys, so here's hoping I can catch up soon.

Also news of upcoming Cyberworld toys came this weekend. There has been leaks of upcoming toys in the line, but a picture of a new large scale Bumblebee and listings of upcoming Cyber Changers were unleashed this weekend. The prior leaks are from a reliable source, but theseare a little more concrete for the time being. The larger scale Bumblebee looks fun from what I can tell. Like Scorponok, it looks to be a bit of a playset... and I get Shogun Warrior vibes from both... and that's a good thing. According to the listings, the Cyber Changers (the real meat of the line) are an Optimus Primal truck and an Arachnid that looks to be an Armored Cyber Changer figure. The Arachnid doesn't seem to have many details ther than a hammer weapon. I hope she's a spider... but will gladly take a helicopter or drone as she's been used as. The Optimus Primal truck may be a reuse of the Offroad Optimus Prime toy, which was a figure I really liked. It did specifically say gorilla truck, so I wonder if it'll be a beast mode with wheels type alt mode like Sky-Byte. Either way, I'm super excited. I had so much fun with the prior Cyberworld toys, I can't wait to get my hands on more!

There was also news of new Masters of the Universe toys that tie into the upcoming movie. I haven't covered a MOTU figure in a while here despite still getting a fair amount this whole time. I actually don't cover every toy I get here, but try to make posts on ones that'd make for good material. The random Wednesdays just might be getting more He-Man this year as these new movie figures look great! There's the new Chronicles line that looks to be taking over Masterverse in the higher end 6 inch action figure area, while a more simple and less exspensive movie tie in line that looks like a lot of fun. Right now I plan to cherry pick figures from boths movie based series, but to be honest, I'm really looking forward to the Evil Warriors from that more simple line. They look like a fun little series to collect and talk about here. What is it about the more simplier figures that makes for good blogging material?

As for purchases, I finally ordered the Blokees Wheels series 1 box. I'd been wanting it for a bit now and finally took the plunge. It should be here this week and I'm excitied! I also ordered the Blokees Defender Version Bruticus kit. Defender Version 06 came in last week with the last few Combaticons members. Be sure to look out for an upcoming post about that team. I've been building models my entire life, but for the past few years Transformers models kits have been commanding a larger portion of my attention than the regular toys. It's a bit of a struggle giving models and toys a decent amount of site time. Models are a lot of fun to write about and I can tell by the views they seem to be more popular with you readers, but I don't want to give figures the shaft either. We'll, I guess we'll just see what I talk about each week! I also got some of the new McDonald's Changeables! You all know how much I love the classic ones and this new series is excellent! I've been trying to watch what I eat, so it's a tricky balance of working Happy Meals in with a balanced diet. Fortunatley the Mrs and my Mom are willing to help. So far I've gotten 2 CapCaps, FR-135, and Torrus. I hope to get more and am hoping to find the ones I miss on the aftermarket for reasonable prices. It's actually a pretty popular promotion, so that might be quite a challenge. I also ordered a new SD card reader as I still can't locate my old one. Good thing they're cheap! I can't wait to load the card I built last weekend onto my Atari Gamestation Go.

Well, it's Monday, so that means it's time to get to works taking toy pics and doing some household chores. Of course I also need to get my daily exercise in. Five miles on the exersize bike as well as some included exercises only takes around 30 minutes a day... but man... sometimes is hard to make myself do. Oh well, it's for the better. Thank you all for reading Zone Base. You'd never know from social media, but several thousand of you show up to read daily and I really appreciate it. It's super flattering. I've got a fun week in store for you all with some fun posts headed your way. You could say this week is leading the way... you know that sounded better in my mind than typed out. I guess that's what happens when you try to be clever with toy based tag lines.  Please don't forget to share the site with your friends and be excellent to each other!

Carnivac w/ Survivor [Age of the Primes / Wreck ’N Doom Collection]

Carnivac is a really cool addition to the Age of the Primes series. He’s the main reason I wanted the two-pack he comes in alongside Fisitron, who I talked about earlier this week. Carnivac is another somewhat obscure Transformers character. He’s featured more heavily in various comics, but exists just under the surface enough that mainstream audiences—and even some fans—may not be aware of his existence.

His biggest role is in the Marvel UK comics, where he was featured regularly. Similar to Dinobot in Beast Wars, Carnivac was a Decepticon whose own sense of right and wrong led him to become a more heroic character. Eventually, after a major event, surviving Autobots and Decepticons formed a new group known as The Survivors, which later led to another group known as Earthforce. I particularly enjoy those issues. 

This is Carnivac’s second official toy to date, the first being a Pretender. This time around, he’s a Headmaster with a new partner named Survivor.

I don’t know if Carnivac being a Headmaster instead of a Pretender rubs anyone the wrong way, but I love it. I love Pretenders, but Headmasters hit a particularly sweet spot for me. Not to mention, he looks a lot like the inner robot from his original toy—which is how I’m used to seeing him anyway from those UK comics.

Also worth noting: my own G1 Carnivac is missing his Pretender shell. I picked up the inner robot for practically nothing from a dump bin at Charticon, so I’m just accustomed to seeing him that way. Another sweet spot for me is that they used a Titans Return mold as a base, which is absolutely one of my favorite Transformers series. This one is hitting all the right chords for me.

Oddly enough, the Takara version has the Headmaster as Carnivac himself, with the main body intended to represent his Pretender shell.

As mentioned, Carnivac is made from a Titans Return mold—specifically Wolfwire/Weirdwolf. There’s only a small amount of new tooling here. He gets a new wolf tail that becomes a sword in robot mode, along with a blaster. Survivor has a new faceplate for head mode, tooled after Carnivac’s appearance in Time Wars. I really like that—he looks almost straight off the comic page and makes me want to dig my copy out and re-read it.

Outside of that, Wolfwire/Weirdwolf makes a solid base for a very well-done Carnivac update. Despite the mold being about ten years old, it still looks great. Carnivac’s mix of metallic purple, green, and copper looks fantastic and makes the whole thing feel like a more premium offering.

Robot mode offers a decent amount of articulation—more than his boxy looks would suggest. When Titans Return first came out, many described it as “G1 with knees,” which is clearly something people still love, as Missing Link has proven. Combined with his new face sculpt, Carnivac is really expressive. He just oozes attitude, and I love it.

Transformation is very straightforward. Pop the head off and fold the beast-mode head over. You essentially lay him down and adjust the arms and legs into the wolf’s legs. The sword becomes the tail, and his gun mounts on the back for some canine firepower.

Survivor can unfold into his humanoid mode and hang out, or fit into a cockpit on the wolf’s back. He doesn’t slide in as smoothly as you might expect—you’ll basically need to have him in head mode to fit properly—but once he’s in, it’s a snug fit.

It’s impossible for me not to get Zoids vibes from this, though I get that from other beast-mode Headmasters as well. I also get slight Beast Machines vibes, specifically from the legs and transformation, which heavily remind me of Night Slash Cheetor. I always liked that toy, and while this isn’t the same thing exactly, there are enough similarities to make the connection.

Every use of this mold that I’ve picked up has been pretty great, and as Carnivac it really excels. It’s funny how a toy meant to update one character can work so perfectly for another. This is one of those toys that gets me excited and happy in that fanboy way that’s hard to explain to people who don’t get it.

This two-pack is pretty great overall. I might be tempted to grab the other Wreck ’N Doom Collection sets—but I also feel like I already have the star of the show.

Fisitron [Age of the Primes / Wreck ’N Doom Collection]

Back in the day, Ironfist was a bit of a Mandela Effect for many Transformers fans. He was released late in G1 in European markets, in that gray area between G1 and G2 often called G1.5 by many fans. Like many other G1.5 toys, he was also released in G2. This tends to be confusing, as everything is pretty identical and G1.5 toys are often lumped into G2. To be fair, it is a bit confusing.

Adding to his Mandela Effect–ness, he’s often been confused for an Ironhide toy. This is due to the fact that the Generation 2 Power Master Ironhide toy has a similar alt mode, and obviously the names are similar as well. At some point he was redubbed Fisitron. This cuts down on the confusion—not only is it similar to Ironhide, but there’s also a Marvel superhero named Iron Fist. Fortunately, that one doesn’t have an alt mode.

Fisitron comes in a 2-pack with Carnivac (we’ll be looking at him a little later) as part of the Amazon-exclusive Wreck ’N Doom Collection. The name plays up Fisitron’s role in Last Stand of the Wreckers. This 2-pack was one of my Christmas gifts from the Mrs. this past year, and I was pretty excited to get it.

Fisitron hadn’t really appeared in any official Transformers fiction outside of a toy bio until around 2010, when he showed up in both IDW’s The Last Stand of the Wreckers and Fun Publications’ Wings Universe stories. He’s got two distinctly different personalities in each, though I tend to favor the Wings Universe incarnation. I’m a cartoon guy, and the G1 cartoon is my preferred fiction for these GeeWun bots; Wings Universe is set in an alternate version of the classic cartoon.

Not to mention, he’s a gun nut there, and I absolutely cannot not associate Fisitron with Doom Guy / Doom Slayer due to his appearance in this toy. The Wreck ’N Doom Collection name doesn’t hurt either, as you’re all well aware I enjoy playing Doom for hours on end. For what it’s worth, it’s hard not to love Fisitron in Last Stand of the Wreckers as well—I’m just more of a cartoon guy.

Fisitron is a pretty extensive retool of the Legacy: Evolution Detritus toy we looked at a little while back. I enjoyed that figure quite a bit, but I can honestly say I like Fisitron a whole lot better. The new parts really upgrade the mold for the better. I’ll be focusing on Fisitron in this post and his differences, so feel free to check out my take on Detritus in his post.

This version of Fisitron is a combination of his different designs. There’s a mix of the G1/G2 toy along with his IDW and Wings Universe looks. It makes for one attractive toy, though I do find his mostly gray alt mode funny, as it resembles that G2 Ironhide a bit. It never ends.

Fisitron has a new head that, of course, resembles him instead of Detritus. Most notable are the new roof and windshield areas, which cleverly change a Jeep into an armored truck. Is that called a canopy? I have no clue. If I were an influencer, I’d say “let me know in the comments” (cringe).

Speaking of that vehicle roof area (maybe it is a canopy, who knows), they’ve added some new parts that are removable and can be used in robot mode.

Those parts resemble the original Ironfist’s Lightformer gear when in vehicle mode. Unfortunately, they don’t form a cannon like the original does, but I appreciate the effort. The parts can be removed from the roof (can we call it a canopy?) and used in robot mode. Well, the laser gun can, obviously. But also the round dish-like thing—whatever the hell it’s supposed to be—can be removed and used as a shield if one so chooses.

The other portion remains as a backpack, which is where I chose to leave mine’s dish-like thing in this post’s pictures. It never occurred to me that it could be a shield; you don’t have to let me know in the comments. The laser makes for a nice rifle, with a bright yellow that contrasts nicely against Fisitron’s grays, blues, and copper colors.

I really like this toy—more than I thought I would going in. Detritus was already a good toy, making a solid base for the new parts to improve on. It’s like that extra pass over the mold provided room for improvement. Not to mention, Fisitron just looks sharp.

It’s a great-looking figure of a formerly obscure character who, despite a little time in the limelight, seems to be slipping back into obscurity. Hopefully this great figure inspires future uses of him in Transformers media.

Horri-Bull w/ Kreb [Age of the Primes/Target Exclusive 4-Pack]

Horri-Bull’s eyes opened. In front of him stood his partner, Kreb.

“What’s today?”

“EH?” returned the Nebulon, with all his might of spite. 

“What’s today, asshole?” said Horri-Bull.

“Today…” replied Kreb. “…it’s Christmas.”

“It’s Christmas Day!” said Horri-Bull to himself. “I haven’t missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can. But so can I… HEAD ON!”

He had no further interaction with Spirits, but lived upon the ways of the Decepticon regardless, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him that he knew how to stop Christmas, if any bot alive possessed the knowledge. And so, as Tiny Tim observed, Take cover, everyone!

One thing I’ve grown to really appreciate about these Target Exclusive 4-Packs is the Headmasters created for the sets. Almost each time, there’s an updated classic Headmaster character creatively made from a Titans Return toy mold. This time we’ve got Horri-Bull, made from Titans Return Skullsmasher/Skullcruncher in a very clever remold. Actually, all of these Headmasters in the 4-Packs have been very clever remolds, and I’m thinking a look at ones I haven’t covered here on the site is in order.

Horri-Bull is known as Bullhorn in Masterforce, so if you’d rather use him as Bullhorn… go right ahead. I’m forever delighted by pun-based names, so I’ll stick with Horri-Bull. I don’t believe I covered Skullsmasher/Skullcruncher here on the site, which is another thing I should probably go back and do. I’ve also been considering an in-depth look at the Titan Masters from Titans Return, but for now, let’s look at our grumpy star of the season.

Horri-Bull is a pleasantly articulated toy that’s wonderfully blocky and chonky in the vein of classic G1 Transformers. Skullsmasher was a great base to use, as his basic silhouette isn’t all that different from Horri-Bull’s to begin with. Really, it’s his head, colors, and beast mode kibble that make the visual difference. This was seemingly easy (or as easy as new parts are probably still an undertaking) to accomplish, with the bull monster head and claws being new parts and Skullsmasher’s alligator tail being removed.

Also remolded is his chest, which you might think is missing a cover for the Headmaster technical data, but this is true to his original toy. Considering Titans Return toys were originally released almost a decade ago, the mold has held up pretty well, though his arms did feel a little loose. I’m guessing the mold got a bit of refurbishing with this update, but time still seems to be catching up. With his cool late-G1 colors, he looks great. I’ve always been a sucker for those post-movie Decepticon palettes.

He’s got both his Concussion Blaster and the beast mode tail, which becomes a double-barreled flamethrower. The two guns can be combined or held separately.

In beast mode, Horri-Bull is a cross between a bull and the Terror Dogs from Ghostbusters. So really, he’s a robotic incarnation of the Hodag in wonderful colors. Transformation is pretty easy: remove Kreb and fold the beast head into place. Arms and legs become the monster’s legs, and the robot mode feet fold around the upper thighs, becoming the beast’s rear end. As mentioned above, the two guns combine to form a tail.

Beast mode is simple but effective. The legs can move, most notably the front ones, and the jaws on his head can open for a little chomping action. Speaking of that head, the horns will need to be moved around a bit for the proper look in both robot and beast modes. They’re separate pieces that need to be clipped from sprues out of the package. The horns are also painted, so there will always be a small spot left from clipping unless you touch it up with paint.

Of course, Kreb can pilot Horri-Bull in this form via a cockpit on his back. I’ve always really liked that feature on Headmasters. Kreb himself is a remold of Grax (Skullsmasher’s Titan Master). I do wonder why they didn’t use the individual Titan Master Terri-Bull for this project. Maybe the mold wasn’t available? Weird.

Regardless, the whole package is another well-done Headmaster update pulled off in these 4-Packs. They’re really the highlight of each set for me, and I’ve always been especially fond of the Headmasters from Masterforce. All in all, this year’s set has been a really good one, and as always, I’m ecstatic to have it.

Primus bless us, everyone...RUN!

Nemesis Prime [Age of the Primes/Target Exclusive 4-Pack]

"I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come?"

A solemn Phantom, dark and hooded, came like a mist along the ground toward him. The grumpy one bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved, it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery.

It was shrouded in deep black armor that concealed its form and left nothing visible save one outstretched axe. But for this, it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded.

He glanced toward the Phantom.

"Lead on. The night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me, I know. Lead on, Nemesis."

One reason I like things such as store-exclusive repaints is the deep dives they tend to take. Sure, to those not in the know, they’ll get the standard complaint: “another lazy repaint by Hasblow.” However, for those of us in the know, they’re pretty cool homages that aren’t always obvious. Today we’re looking at Nemesis Prime from this year’s Target Exclusive 4-Pack — the Voyager Class figure of the set, taking the Legacy Animated Optimus Prime mold and giving us an update of a previously very hard-to-get figure from the past.

Like I said in the Ultra Magnus post earlier this week, Optimus Prime toys tend to look good in any color. A black repaint is practically guaranteed with most Optimus toys. It’s another color scheme I always like as well, just like with Magnus. Normally these repaints are called Black Convoy in Japan — pretty straightforward. But here in the United States, they’re usually either named Scourge or Nemesis Prime.

Since this is a repaint of a toy I’ve covered previously, I’m going to focus on this version’s differences and what makes it special. I’ve linked to that post and its other repaint in case you’re not up to date on it. Also, I like the toy and want to show it off. Like a mama otter holding out her baby. Except I’m a grown-ass man and this is a robot toy. So instead of adorable, it’s kinda unsettling and you wish I’d stop.

Earlier I mentioned this was an update of a harder-to-get toy and then said black Optimus repaints happen fairly often. Both of those statements are true. Often the black repaint is an exclusive of some sort, and in the case of Optimus Prime Black Ver. (after the 2007 movie, Convoy was often called Optimus Prime in Japan), it was exclusive to the Transformers Museum event at the Seibu department store in 2010. If that didn’t already make it tricky to get, the release was limited to 300 pieces. There are probably a few hundred thousand of this new update available, so it’s a nice alternative.

Obviously Nemesis Prime is mostly black as opposed to Optimus’s red and blue. There’s also some nice metallic teal used for accents that contrasts really well against the dark body. His windshield and eyes are a dark red that looks menacing and fits perfectly. In robot mode, he has an alternate head with a mouth plate instead of Animated Optimus’s open-faced design. It’s a darker gray that pairs well with the rest of the deco, giving him a more threatening look.

Nemesis comes with the same axe weapon Optimus had. The blade is that same dark red used for the windows, and the whole package looks forbidden — like the outlook isn’t too good when this guy shows up.

The colors transfer nicely in truck mode, and Optimus’s lightbar makes a return as well. It plugs into the top of the cab. I guess you can technically use it as a weapon. A weird weapon, sure, but getting hit with one would still hurt. Nemesis Prime looks threatening in truck mode too thanks to the colors. I wouldn’t want to see him behind me in traffic… or in general.

The look of Animated Optimus Prime is stylized already, but it looks really sharp in these colors. Without the red, it’d be more slick than scary. Funny how much difference just one color can make, huh?

I’ve liked each instance of this mold, so it’s probably no surprise I like this toy as well. Frankly, it’s hard not to like something like this when you’re into this sort of thing. It hits all the right points and has more depth to it than a simple repaint normally offers. As a fan, I like that — and as a fan since the beginning, I remember seeing the original on the news sites. This one has a slightly different color scheme, which is fine. But still, it’s nice to finally have a version of this toy after all this time.

Weird… time seems to be a recurring subject this Christmas season.

Ultra Magnus [Age of the Primes/Target Exclusive 4-Pack]

"Come in! Come in, and know me better, mech!"

The grumpy one entered timidly and hung his head before this Spirit. He was not the dogged grumpy mech he had been; and though its eyes were clear and kind, he did not like to meet them.

"I am the Ghost of Christmas Present," said the Spirit. "We have matters to deal with now."

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again: Ultra Magnus’s cab mode looks spectacular. There’s just something about that classic Convoy design that looks great in any color. White though—white looks super nice.

This toy comes packaged in the currently available Transformers Age of the Primes Target Exclusive 4-Pack. The set doesn’t have a themed name like some have had in the past, or much of a specific theme either. It’s just a neat multi-pack, and I’ve been a big fan of these over the years. It’s one of the things I look forward to each year: Walmart’s exclusive capsule line and Target’s exclusive multi-pack. Well… Walmart kinda crapped their pants with the capsule this year, but Target’s set is another strong one. As with Bumper, whom we talked about last week, Ultra Magnus is another deluxe-class toy from the set. He’s a straight recolor of the Legacy G1 Optimus Prime toy I raved about earlier this year. Since it’s a straight recolor, I’m going to focus on what makes this version different.

One thing I really loved about that Optimus toy was how it remade the original figure with modern engineering, similar to a Masters of the Universe Origins release. It’s such a neat idea; I’d be all for it as the mainstream Transformers line. I know Missing Link is doing that, but I mean as the line available at general retail. It’d be so cool to see recreations of classic toys—considering Generations is mostly updates of those designs anyway, I think it’d be super popular. I’d like to think so, anyway.

Matching his G1 toy’s original deco, Magnus is mostly white with gray and silver parts. Bits of light blue are used throughout, giving him a slightly icy look. Just right for Christmas time. Ultra Magnus has the two different variations of G1 Optimus’s rifle that the base mold came with, now in white. I’ve always preferred the fatter version of the gun and think it looks much better—especially in white. Magnus also has a blue version of the Energon Axe, which is very similar to the Masterpiece MP-2 toy. It matches nicely with the various blue accents on his deco. Also like MP-2, there’s a silver version of the Matrix of Autobot Leadership that fits in his chest. It’s not unheard of for an Ultra Magnus toy to come with the Matrix since they’re often redecos of Optimus, but the silver Origin Matrix works well here. In this context, I like to think it represents the brief time Ultra Magnus carried the Matrix in the 1986 movie.

In truck mode, Magnus is once again a white version of the classic Convoy semi truck—missing his trailer in this release, of course. Like the Optimus toy, his tires are rubber, a nice throwback to the original G1 toy. I know there are issues with rubber tires popping off or dry-rotting with age, but I’ll be damned if they don’t feel nice and give the toy a higher-quality feel. Also like Optimus, Cybertronian Radial 275/80 R22 is molded into the tires. That’s a reference to the fictional tire brand from Transformers Alternators.

It’s been over 20 years and I’m still blown away by Alternators. They may not have been the most fun toys to transform, but they looked amazing. I have nothing bad to say about this toy. I love the idea of it, and I never get tired of cab-mode Ultra Magnus. It’s a great way to enjoy what came before in present-day design, and a solid part of a great 4-pack.

Autobot Bumper [Age of the Primes / Target Exclusive 4-Pack]

"I am the Ghost of Christmas Past."

The grumpy one then made bold to inquire what business brought him there. “Your spark!” said the Ghost. The grumpy one expressed himself much obliged, but couldn’t help thinking that a night of unbroken rest would have been more conducive to that end. The Spirit must have heard him thinking, for it said immediately: “Your reclamation, then. Take heed! For the seeds of the future lie buried in the past."

Bumper is an oddball Transformers who’s been around since the beginning but has only really been a character for about the past 20 years. As has been said more times than necessary, the bulk of the original Transformers toys from 1984/1985 came from Diaclone and Microman molds. Bumblebee and Cliffjumper specifically came from the Microman Micro Change line. They shared engineering — essentially the same toy skeleton with different car parts and robot heads.

Another robot from that Micro Change series was MC-04 Mini CAR Robo 02 Familia 1500XG. Same engineering again, but transforming into a Mazda Familia 1500XG as the name suggests. All of these toys came in multiple colors, but it’s common to see this one in yellow. When the molds were used for Transformers, Bumblebee and Cliffjumper were released in their familiar yellow and red. Though, as many know, reversed-color versions also slipped out. During that weird early era, the Mazda mold ended up released in Cliffjumper packaging in yellow. Rumors persist that it also came in Bumblebee packaging, but no packaged sample has ever surfaced, while Cliffjumper-labeled ones are plentiful.

Plenty of speculation says Hasbro may have intended the Mazda toy to be its own character and that’s what caused the weird release — but nobody knows for sure now. It’s just one of those oddities from the strange early years of Transformers. Multiple toy lines mashed together to create a single brand. It’s been 41 years and we’re still discovering things from that time. The toy was widely known as “Bumblejumper” in the fandom for years, eventually shortened to Bumper by some. During the Dreamwave comics era, he was made an official character and officially named Bumper. Twenty years after being released seemingly by mistake, he finally became part of the team!

Bumper has always been special to me. Not just because getting one back in the day meant a lot, but also because I once had a cat named Bumper. I remember bringing that kitten home from the store, watching him roam around the living room while I tried to think of a name. I wanted a Transformers name… let’s see… Eject… Swerve… BONK! He walked head-first into the wall. Bumper. And that was that. All these years later, Bumper finally gets an official toy actually named Bumper — only his second ever. Imagine how slighted he must feel.

The figure itself is a remold/repaint of Studio Series 86 Bumblebee. I talked about that figure in a prior post, so most of the ins and outs are there, but let’s look at what makes Bumper different. Obviously he has a new head sculpt faithful to the original Micro Change toy. It’s hard to notice without comparing them directly, but he’s a different shade of yellow. Headlights are colored a little differently. His Autobot symbol has a silver border, making it look more like the stickers from the original toys — a nice touch I really appreciate, probably thanks to my early-2000s Mini-Bot obsession. It wasn’t uncommon to see one in my messenger bag back then. These days a Legion/Legend Class Bumblebee lives in my sling bag. Guess some things never change.

When Studio Series Bumblebee released, a lot of fans scoffed at his very angular car mode. Robot mode was perfect, but the car was off-model from the classic VW Bug. As Bumper though, it works so much better. Not exactly a Mazda Familia… but close enough. I really like this toy, and that carries over here. Guess I just like these guys. Bumper has the same gun as Bumblebee, now molded in a gunmetal color. It can store on his backside in car mode. It’s probably no surprise that I like this toy — the base mold is one I already loved, and the old-school fan in me appreciates the new Bumper figure even more. I spent more time looking at the past than the present with this one, but a toy like Bumper is the type that makes you look back.

Venin/Venom [Age of the Primes/Deluxe Class]

I’m double-dipping into things I love with today’s toy. Both an Insecticon and an Armored Insect Corps Beetras update, Transformers Age of the Primes Venin is a treat for me. Of course, the name Venin is an alternate name for his real name, Venom. Despite the Insecticon Venom pre-dating the extremely more popular Marvel character… he’s only had three toys total. And there was a 29 year gap between the first toy and the second.

During those 29 years the trademark lapsed and Eddie Brock got the symbiote suit… and a ton of toys. Actually, that second toy and now this new toy are both named Venin, so it’s not too hard to adjust. However, venin isn’t just a made-up word — it’s the toxic component of snake venom and literally means “venom” in French. So it works, even if it doesn’t exactly make for the best character name. Much like the rest of the original batch of G1 Transformers, Venom was made from a pre-existing toy mold. The Deluxe Insecticons came from the Armored Insect Corps Beetras toy line. These weren’t from Takara, so they didn’t show up in the original cartoon. Venom was made from the Beet-Zeguna mold, though with very different colors. Interestingly, the Deluxe Insecticons do appear in their Beetras colors on the 1985 Transformers box art. Always found that neat.

Unlike his second toy which I love, this new Venin is a direct update of his G1 figure. The modern engineering gives us one well-articulated bug robot. His bright colors look as great as always. The Insecticons usually stick to darker palettes, so Venom having this bright green and orange with light gray robot parts really makes him stand out. Not just visually, but as a personality among them. It just looks great. His colors and helmet have always reminded me of Samus Aran — same era, so there was probably some shared visual inspiration floating around. Ironically, it occurred to me that one of the core reasons I like Insecticons and insect-themed robots is likely tied to my appreciation of bio-horror. Metroid itself is heavy bio-horror. And yeah, I am really looking forward to Metroid Prime 4.

Venin has recreations of his original toy’s electric-blaster gun and battle axe. I honestly forgot about the axe entirely since my G1 toy was bought loose and missing it. I really like it — it’s not your standard He-Man style axe. Both weapons store on the sides in beast mode. Speaking of, Venin transforms into a cicada. Being from the American South, I’m used to hearing these guys all summer. It’s generally pleasant… unless one gets on your window. Then it’s maddening. I once had one trapped under some porch furniture that screamed non-stop. When I tried to scoop it up, IT GOT LOUDER. I never thought flinging a bug across my yard would be so satisfying. Little bastard.

Transformation to bug mode is pretty easy. His arms fold into the upper torso while the legs fold into themselves. Then it’s just arranging bug bits into a pleasantly blocky robot cicada with the most adorable face. In beast mode, his wings and legs have decent articulation, and the weapons can store on the sides for added firepower. If there’s anything to complain about, his wings can get in the way in robot mode, and folding his arms into place during transformation feels like the toy is about to break. Some sturdier plastic would have helped. But it’s not enough to ruin the toy. I’m admittedly biased when it comes to insect robots and am loving this one unabashedly. It is a good toy outside of my affections, and it’s just great to see a new Venom figure. I wouldn’t mind finding this cicada on my porch. Well… assuming he isn’t loud.

Skydive [Age of the Primes/Deluxe Class]

In our ongoing quest to complete the Transformers Age of the Primes Aerialbot team of five buttheads, today we’re looking at Skydive! Skydive is the bookworm of the squad — well-versed in aerial tactics, strategy, and history. He's also the most visually distinct member of the team thanks to his mostly black color scheme, compared to the primarily white look the rest of the Aerialbots have going on.

This figure is a remold of the Air Raid toy we looked at a little while back. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have noticed if it hadn’t been pointed out, but side-by-side the shared engineering is clear. Still, the sculpting and new parts are handled so well that it doesn’t feel like the same toy with a new coat of paint. And really, it makes sense to stretch the tooling budget when the original characters themselves shared similar silhouettes in the first place. Skydive and Air Raid have usually been “same shape, different guy,” so this is just accurate to life.

As I’ve been saying with these current Transformers Generations figures — Skydive looks like he stepped right out of the cartoon. Which would be terrifying if he did that while I’m napping during G1 reruns on the Transformers channel. Damn.

Skydive is nicely articulated and comes with two blasters. They work well in robot mode and can also peg under his wings in jet mode. Transformation is quick and easy: legs compress, arms fold in, the backpack settles into place — your standard modern jet-transforming-guy routine. In jet mode, Skydive’s unique colors stand out even more. The darker gray body and lightning pattern on the wings look great, and now that I’m thinking about it, that kind of flashy detail seems to originate back to his G1 toy. I don't remember similar patterns before him, but plenty after. Neat!

Like his teammates, Skydive forms part of Superion — and we’ll take a full look at that combined mode once Fireflight finally joins the squad. These Age of the Primes combiners are a big improvement over the Combiner Wars versions from ten years ago (which I actually liked a lot at the time), so I’m excited to see Superion come together here on Zone Base.

Micronus Prime [Age of the Primes/Deluxe Class]

It's no secret — I love Mini-Cons. Mini-Cons, Micromasters, Battle Masters, Titan Masters, Prime Masters, BotBots… the damn site is named after a Micromaster Base, k? Micronus Prime is where the Mini-Cons began, after all. That's right — they are his Cybertronian descendants, and today we're looking at his most recent toy.

One of The Thirteen Primes highlighted in the current Transformers Generations: Age of the Primes line, Micronus Prime is one awesome toy that's right up my alley. You might ask yourself why such a little guy has a new toy in the Deluxe Class release. Well, that's because he comes with a really cool transforming exo-suit. It's taking a lot for me not to just type "this toy is awesome" over and over again.

Micronus Prime himself is a short, stout little Mini-Con with a good amount of articulation in a mix of translucent and opaque greens and blues. He transforms into a disk that resembles the Mini-Con storage panels from the Transformers Armada cartoon or the data disks characters like Eject and Ratbat turned into in the Fall of Cybertron toy line. These disk modes pop up all over Transformers history — and I always love them. And now that I’m thinking about it, this also feels a bit like the disk alt modes from Robots in Disguise 2015. I liked those too.

Clearly non-descript disk alt modes are my thing.

But the similarities don’t stop there. There's a lot of old toy DNA here, and this post is probably going to go down as the epitome of me comparing new toys to old toys. But that’s what you come to Zone Base for — right? (Unless you're an Amazon seller or someone looking for a firewall, in which case… sorry this keeps happening to you.)

In his disk mode, Micronus Prime fits snugly inside the chest of his exo-suit. It closes up tight, almost completely hiding the little pilot. The exo-suit itself is a pleasant mix of greens, silver, and black. The included Chimera Stone fits onto its chest or Micronus’s back. The suit is nicely detailed and articulated — I’m fond of the gun-barrel hands.

There's strong Pretender shell energy here, with a bit of Transformers Prime Apex Armor influence as well. The armor can be disassembled and connected to other Transformers figures, similar to Siege Weaponizers and their contemporaries. In a further bit of neatness, the armor also transforms into a one-wheeled bike vehicle Micronus can ride. Translucent pilot + power suit + vehicle mode = full-on Microman / Micronauts vibes. This toy’s practically a pocket history of Transformers.

This toy is truly wonderful. I’m honestly having a hard time being critical of it. The closest thing to a flaw I’ve found is that Micronus didn’t fully close into disc mode on mine — even straight out of the package. Not the end of the world, though. I'd also love just a little more paint on the exo-suit to bring out the sculpted detail. And the one-wheeled bike can’t stand up on its own. (I even tried using the Chimera Stone as a kickstand. It did not work.)

But that’s basically it. The positives absolutely outweigh the nitpicks. This thing hits so many of my collecting sweet spots at once. I’m really hoping this mold sees multiple colors and multiple characters — it deserves it. And while I was writing this, I realized the bike mode can kind of be arranged into something vaguely similar to Revenge of the Fallen Demolishor. Probably coincidence, but neat all the same.

Onyx Prime [Age of the Primes/Leader Class]

Closing out our spooky celebrations for the year is the Lord of the Beasts himself, Onyx Prime! Onyx Prime is the first Transformer with a beast mode and all other beast formed ones are his spiritual descendants. He is in tune with the creature of the natural and world and those in the spirit realm. With the power Primus granted to him with the Triptych Mask, he's able to cast his spirit across vast distance to communicate with the dreams of beings far away. Even the afterlife! Despite his inherent spookiness, Onyx Prime is very friendly and kind hearted. You can't always judge someone by their appearance, it's just that for him everyday is Halloween.

I picked up Onyx Prime a few weeks ago. Happy to see my local stores restocking in the first time in forever. However, not just happy to see something new, but happy as I've been looking forward to this particular toy. You've got to admit, he's got one neat design. In robot mode, Onyx stands tall and beastly. He's got big pointy wings that match pointy armor full of creature flavored details. If you noticed the chest armor looks like hooves, we'll get to that a little later. Speaking of hooves, check out the legs. He outright has big ole hooves with legs similar to an animal that would have hooves. Hooves. Technically that's called digitigrade, but I'll call it backwards knees. Because that's how you'd know what I'm talking about. Robot mode is pretty large and nicely articulated. You might notice his hands open up. That's both due to beast mode and goes along with his accessories.

That Triptych Mask I mentioned earlier combines with a pole to form a big spear... or staff if you so fancy. It's also a rather big arrow for a bow that's formed from his tail. With those articulated hands he can hold these weapons and draw that really big arrow. I wasn't initially aware of the bow and arrow, it just somehow escaped my attention. Remember that chest armor that looks like hooves? I talked about it last paragraph, and said hooves a million times, how could you forget? What if I told you they actually were hooves? THEY ARE! *no shit* Folding those down and some adjustments here and there will reward you with Onyx Primes first alt mode- a winged centaur! This is a pretty cool form that you wouldn't expect normally. It really fits with that bow and big ass arrow!

From here, with a few more twists and folds you'll find the third mode. A winged dragon monster type creature! This beast mode is super gnarly with six legs and those giant wings that have been prominent in every mode. I'm very fond of its head with horns and opening mouth. The colors of Onyx Prime really shine in every mode... but make for one interesting beast mode. A mixture of black, copper, brown, with silver and gold highlights creates a figure seemingly out of some old Dungeons & Dragons source book. This is one cool toy that I had a great time playing around with. His transformations and overall design really brought back memories of older Beast Era toys. Not just because of the beast mode, but the actual transformation schemes and overall design and look of the toy. If not for the newer engineering, I'd almost swear this was an older unused design Hasbro had sitting around in the vaults. He'd have made an excellent Transmythics toy!

I didn't expect to like Onyx Prime as much as I did. He's a very cool toy with a design right out of my dream journal. I've always thought of leader class figures as more nicer size class when it comes to standard retail Transformers. With this toy, that thought process feels proven. Onyx Prime is a big and ornate beastly bot with fantasy looks and modes whom is a pleasure to hold. Looking like something you'd find sculpted at a museum, he's got a mythic air to him. That's freaking neat. His dangerous looks and supernatural powers give way to a friendly robot who paved the path for animalistic Transformers that came after him. Truly one of those toys that just doesn't come around often enough.

Alchemist Prime [Age of the Primes/Deluxe Class]

To be completely honest, I had hardly any interest in Alchemist Prime before buying him. Literally, the only reason I did buy him is the desire to complete the 13 Primes from this series. Neat looking, sure, but eh. Upon opening him, however, and what a great toy! I was truly blown away by just how good of a figure this is. Alchemist Prime has dominion over the elements and legend has it he chose to walk among the mortal Transformers. No bot knows if that's actually true... but rumor has it that Maccadam, whom runs Maccadam's Old Oil House, is actually him. Of course it's silly that the legendary bartender could actually be one of The Thirteen... isn't it?

Isn't it?

Alchemist Prime is a burly hoss of a robot with glasses and a handlebar mustache and beard. He makes me think of various old world characters from TV shows. The design of his body armor even resembles a suit with a vest. He could be working that bar when not up to adventure. Considering his *ahem* magical nature, you can be assured that his stories are beyond your wildest imagination. He's seen Unicron and the Demons that live under the surface and still got that friendly smirk when you ask for another drink. 

It's a good think his figure has so much articulation and is so expressive, because you can tell he talks with his hands. His weapon is a weird one. Clamped on his forearm they make blasters or can be flipped around for energy blades. If the situation calls for it, they can even be held for a more direct attack. If you noticed that there is what appears to be lenses on them, that's because once joined together they form a magical pair of glasses that allow for vision beyond our comprehension. Though any mortal can pick out the ancient Transformers symbols, it's probably best these are left up to the more enlightened to use.

Transformation to vehicle mode is pretty easy, though getting the rear portion exactly in place can be a little fiddly if you've got clumsy fingers. Once done, he's a neat looking heavy duty vehicle of sorts. It looks like an armored Strike-X side by side ATV, and that fits such a fellow whose seen a lot of adventure. The weapons can attach on the roof to provide some vehicular firepower... I'm sure that comes in handy. It's easy to overlook Alchemist Prime with his drab green colors... but their fitting of someone like him. They match his utility vehicle well and carry over to his reserved look. Like I said, I really liked him a whole lot more once the box was opened... wand that is fitting considering how much more there is to Maccadam than meets the eye. It's almost like he's the standard bearer of that old tag line.

Silverbolt [Age of the Primes/Commander Class]

I'm putting a solid effort to complete all the current combiner teams. Not finishing Menasaur a few years ago left a bad taste in my mouth, so it feels like an accomplishment to be so close with Superion. We'll be looking at Silverbolt today, he's the leader of the Aerialbots and the core component of Superion. While the toy is sold as a Commander Class, Silverbolt is closer to a Voyager Class toy. The price difference comes from the extra parts that are used to for Superion in conjunction with the other Aerialbots.

Fortunately these parts do serve a purpose when standing alone. They can form something of a battle station or combine with Silverbolt's jet mode to form a larger aircraft. Initially I was a little snarky over them, but grew more fond of them once I started folding them into these forms. You can combine them with Silverbolt to form a skeletal Superion, but I won't be showing that today. Instead that'll be for a completed set post after I get the other two later this year.

Silverbolt is pleasantly articulated and really feels like an evolution of his original toy. He's got a cool little blaster that matches the rest of his team. Speaking of the team, while they tend to be a bunch of buttheads, he's a lot more cool and collective. He tends to try and teach them lessons and be a positive role model. Unfortunately... he's afraid a heights. Considering he transforms into a Concord jet and leads a team of jet buttheads, that's not so great. He does get over it, but it was that initial fear that prompted Optimus to put him in charge of the team.

What the hell Optimus?

Transformation to jet mode isn't hard, but it does take a lot of extra folding. Silverbolt's arms halfway go inside of his upper torso, while his legs do a bit of a pretzel fold around them. It works well, but might take a minute to get in place. It's worth noting that Superion's head folds into that same upper torso in robot mode, and it's got to be just right or won't work. Lots of precise folding going on here. When completed, you've got a pretty decent looking Concord jet... with a giant block of robot kibble underneath.

The extra parts for Superion can connect and form a super jet that does look pretty neat. I appreciate the effort even if mine kept coming apart. It's a good use of the parts and Superion's big gun. Like I said, those same parts can form something of a battle station as well. It's not much, but an effort was made. I definitely like the super jet use better. Overall Silverbolt is a fun toy that manages to use some extra parts creatively. I'm really looking forward to completing the team. Superion is a great looking robot and so are the individual Aerialbots. Not bad.

Sky-Byte [Age of the Primes/Voyager Class]

It's pretty cool that I get to talk about two different new Sky-Byte toys this close to one another. Even better, both are really neat. Today we'll be talking about the new Voyager Sky-Byte figure from Transformers Age of the Primes. Like most Generations releases, this is an update of the original toy using modern engineering... and they nailed it! This is literally the original Sky-Byte toy with a bunch of extra articulation.

The improvements are specifically noticeable in shark mode, where his head can be moved around to mimic his appearance in the show Robots in Disguise (2001) in which he stole the fan bases heart. It's funny, considering the original toy was a repaint of a Beast Wars toy (Transmetal 2 Cybershark) that sat on clearance for quite some time. Yet later reached stardom thanks to that show. It's still one of my favorites and is always good to see one of the characters get some attention in the mainline.

Like I said, this new figure improves upon the original adding a great deal of articulation and improving on other things. Most noticeably, the sharks body is no longer curved. The sides of the shark become giant dramatic shoulder armor in robot mode. Not being curved makes this much more pleasant, look better, and not potentially get in the way of the arms. Those shoulder pads plug into place, so you can wiggle them around while transforming for extra part clearance. Sky-Byte has a something extra in terms of weapons as well. Those pectoral fins can be used as little swords... which I found pretty neat. His gun no longer features firing missiles but still retains the originals look. I've never cared much for it, but appreciate the effort. Honestly this is a near perfect update of the beloved original toy.

My only complaint isn't a complaint about the actual toy itself, just wishing it had paint apps the original had. Being such an improvement of the original... I can't help but to wish he had that fabulous chrome. I know it can flake over time, but it looks marvelous. That and it'd been nice if his Spark Crystal had been painted. I really liked the Spark Crystals from Transmetal 2 and when they carried over with reuses of those molds it just made me happy. So really, that's it. No actual complaints. Just wishing for a few extras that would have been appreciated. Sky-Byte was such a great character that he's managed to become a mainstay of the Transformers brand. Part of me hopes they release a Cybershark version of this new mold... just because the original's paint apps came off almost instantly. I don't know if Sky-Byte will ever get a much more premium figure... but this one feels like a Missing Link version of the original in some ways. Maybe they can release a special edition with some chrome.

Megatronus The Fallen [Age of the Primes/Leader Class]

The Fallen is one of those characters that shows up in Transformers occasionally, but when he does, it means trouble. Megatronus is the Dark Warrior Prime who deals with entropy and destruction. While he originally fought against Unicron with the other Thirteen Primes, his eventual betrayal to them and joining sides with Unicron led to the name we all know him better as- The Fallen.

In addition to being big and imposing, he uses dark magic, has mystical abilities, and gravitational powers. He also carries the Requiem Blaster, Spark Fuser, an Energon Machete, and has additional weaponry mounted across his body. He doesn't understand the term overkill. This newest toy of Megatronus is heavily based on his appearance in War Within: The Dark Ages where he was introduced. His melee weaponry is mostly influenced from his various toys from Robots in Disguise 2015, which is probably my favorite version of him so it's nice to see a little of that flavor here. The barrel of the Requiem Blaster can also be used as a shoulder cannon, which is something I didn't do in the picture. It's worth nothing the Blaster can be held or forearm mounted as well.

If you've noticed the similarities in his arm cannon, or the particular way his face looks, or how similar his name sounds to another bot... there's good reason. He's the first Decepticon, his face is the inspiration for the Decepticon symbol, and the Megatron we all know named himself after Megatronus. It's probably an understatement at this point but, he's bad news. This is a cool looking toy of The Fallen and in robot mode. Big, chonky, and imposing. There's a lot of meaningful articulation and he looks great. The dark colors are highlighted by the yellow from his heat vents. That's actually UV reactive, so they'll glow a nice fiery color under a black light. You probably noticed that he's on fire... yeah... that's something he does. Included are come great flame effect pieces that bring that to life quite well and complete the look. The Spark Fuser and Energon Machete can be combined to form a spear. The melee weapons and blaster can store on the robots back in case he would rather punch someone. 

Unfortunately it's not all great, I did not care for the transformation. At all. It feels like Megatronus opens up to an almost flat shape and you wad up the edges into place. It's not a smooth transformation, parts are either too tight and can't go in easily or just don't stay put. Apparently some folks have issues with a tight thigh and inner thigh connection that cracks the plastic. I've seen various complaints online with his transformation, so it's not just me. I guess he's not just trouble fictionally. Tank mode looks fine, but mine would not stay together. There's places to store the spear and flames with the Requiem Blaster serving as the tank cannon. The tank doesn't look bad, it's just after all the trouble it's hard to appreciate. That's a bummer as I've really enjoyed the toy until then. Really though, The Fallen is a character you buy a toy for the cool looking robot. So as long as you keep him in that mode, you'll be happy.

Solus Prime [Age of the Primes/Deluxe Class]

Joining the ranks of the butt heads I talked about last week is Solus Prime, another figure from Transformers Age of the Primes that I had bought and almost forgot about. Solus, like Prima Prime, is a member of The Thirteen. One of the original Transformers made by Primus. Solus Prime's role is maker and creator. With that fancy hammer you see her holding in the pic, she can make just about anything.

The Thirteen Primes are the template for the Transformer race and all female Transformers are based on her. She was also in a relationship with Megatronus Prime, which obviously didn't go as planned. Solus Prime created many of the more powerful and mystical objects in Transformers lore. Personally I think it's cool that they made her a more in depth character and didn't go down a cringe route like often happens with female characters.

Solus, like Prima, has a more fantasy themed appearance. I've always liked when robots are designed with similar cues. Egyptian, Easter Island, Mid-evil, and similar design elements make for an interesting looking character. Solus is pleasantly colored in dark purple armor with gold highlights on her grey robot parts. She's pleasantly articulated, you can even move her dress (is that a dress?) in sections to allow for leg movement. Her hammer can be held by one or both hands, though you'll have to disassemble it first. Solus Prime transforms into a Cybertronian Armored Truck, and that's unfortunately where things go south.

Transformation is not a pleasant experience at all. Honestly, it feels like the alt mode was an after thought. It looks cool, but the shape suggests they initially had something else planned. There's a few spots that feel over complicated for no particular reason. The arms, for example, form the front wheel assembly. By itself it's fine, but there's an odd flat plate in both shoulders that has to be folded into the truck body. I never noticed these panels in either mode and have no clue what purpose they serve. Fitting them into their spot in vehicle mode wasn't easy for my big fingers either.

Then there's the feet. the legs fold up into the rear section of the truck. Like the arms, that's mostly ok, but getting the feet to fold into place is pretty unclear and awkward. Even looking at the instructions, it just doesn't work until miraculously it just does. Of course you'll have to knead the toy a little to get everything to align properly after doing so. It just doesn't seem to work right. The biggest problem that's actually a problem and not subjective is various parts just kept coming off during transformation. The plastic grade on some joints isn't great and various places (like the knees on mine) pop out of place while you're folding them around. It's infuriating. Several others have complained about this online, so I can be assured it wasn't a case of clumsy fingers or QC issues specifically with mine.

Truck mode looks neat, though after the unpleasant transformation it'll take a minute to appreciate. The hammer can attach to the side. You'd think since it can be disassembled that the pieces would be distributed about the mode. That's another thing that makes me think the truck mode wasn't originally intended. She folds up into a shape and there just happens to be truck parts to put into place. The dark purple and gold highlights are dominant in the form and once again look great. It's a very neat looking toy, I just wish the less than stellar transformation didn't overshadow the positives. 

Air Raid [Age of the Primes/Deluxe Class]

Rounding out the second new Aerialbot available as of this writing is Air Raid. Air Raid, like his team mates, is a butt head. He's fearless, reckless, and often in some sort of trouble. While that doesn't sound so fun to most folks, Air Raid couldn't be happier. I've actually got a bit of affinity towards the little shit. When I was younger Air Raid was my first Aerialbot outside of Easter Basket bootleg sets.

I had acquired him for cheap and happy to finally have an official member of the team. Those G1 toys are actually pretty small, and Air Raid found himself in my bag for a little while. I still remember a late night visit to Dunkin Donuts with friends after work with Air Raid getting passed around. Good times.

Air Raid is very faithful to his appearance in the original Transformers cartoon. He's well articulated and just overall pleasant. To be fair, the Aerialbots are pretty plane looking... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *cries*.  Originally, the Scramble City Combiners and Metroplex were designed to be Diaclone toys, but were released as Transformers only. I can see that Diaclone heritage in this Air Raid toy a lot. Makes me wonder what if Transformers never happened. Imagine if Diakron and Kronoform had lived and this was a new updated toy from those series? Air Raid has two blasters that can connect under his wings for alt mode firepower. That's a small thing that's done often... but I like it.

Transformation to his black F-15 Eagle jet mode is pretty easy. Everything just goes into place easily. The only place where you've got to be careful is when folding his legs into the rear of the jet. There's nothing too hard about it, but it's another one of those exactly right or it's not working type spots. It took me a second to get the two sections to snap together out of lack of wiggle room. Not a deal breaker and or a dark spot. Just a brief moment of saying dammit. Air Raid's mix of white, red, and black looks great. It gives a fairly simple looking bot and give him some visual pop. It's funny that a team of butt heads have such simple looking figures. I guess the old mantra 'keep it simple stupid' is always true for a reason. Air Raid looks great in his simplicity and jet mode is fun. Maybe I'll take him with me to Tim Hortons and relive some old memories. My local Dunkin sucks.