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05-01-2012, 07:37 PM | #1 |
WINGNUT & SCREWLOOSE!
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Dallas
Posts: 2,172
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I thought I'd give a shortish review of this year's botcon set. I won't really talk about the molds, and assume most everyone familier with Botcon will probably be familier with those.
Also, I'll grade them on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the tops. First out of the gate, I would like to acknowledge the effort FP went into choosing SG toys that could have alternate uses for us non-SG collectors. Three of these have tiny, but significant details that are easily overlooked, but really stand out. And I thank my friend Cujo for being the one to point this out to me. (I honestly don't know if I'd have fully realized this at first.) I'll mention these when I get to the figures. Box Set: Box- Pretty. Great art. Nice layout inside. Typical FP, not much to say, really. Gigatron, The Overlord (From RotF Bludgeon) Overlord was a highly anticipated figure for many fans. He was a much beloved, if obscure character before that demi-god of a writer slash artist known to us meer mortals simply as "Nick Roche" got ahold of him. A lot of people felt let down once the figure was revealed. -Tank Mode: The tank takes the colors fairly well, honestly. All the shades chosen are fairly flat, and really feel like colors you'd see on a TF from the late eighties (FP hasn't always gotten things like that right in the past). There's not much in the way of added details worth mentioning. -Robot mode: This is where everything falls apart. "Samurai" does not suit Overlord, and I don't care how FP rationalizes it. There is no perfect mold choice to be repainted as Overlord, but I do feel there are better choices out there. Also, I feel that the colors do nor work as well in robot mode. They break down *extremely nicely, and they do bring out a lot of the sculpted details, better than the previous uses, don't get me wrong. It's just... at least in my eyes, they don't look as good on this mold as they may another. Or as another set of colors may. Maybe it's the 80s type colorscheme, on this ultra detailed ultra modern movie-ish mold. it just doesn't sit well asthetically to me. There also aren't many added details or small florishes, either. Gigatron is one of the figures to get a brand new head. I feel it falls flat of doing Nick's designs justice. The sculpt is ultra simple and underdetailed (His mouth looks like the muzzle on a Gelfling, from Dark Crystal), as well as extremely oversized. This triple combination looks extremely out of place on a movie-ish mold. -3/10 Ultra Magnus (From RtS Optimus Prime) -Truck Mode: He's a very muted shade of blue. The plastic has a very subtle metallic flake sheen to it. But with the colors chosen, and the way the mold breaks down, it's very monotone, with only a little bit to help break it up. He has some... interesting details though. On his hood are two tribal style designs, mirroring each other. He has a silver stripe on each side to help break up the blue as well. The window pieces are either molded, or painted solid with a large SG Autobot symbol on each one. Very pretty colors... just... boring. -Robot Mode: This mode introduces a little more red, and introduces some black. It still feels very monotone, though. I don't think this mold takes the Diaclone Magnus colors very well at all, honestly. However, there is one important feature that really makes this stand out...The molded Matrix has a very light silver drybrush across it, really popping the molded details out. This is one of the figures to use the alternate hasbro head. It's has a skull face, and the helmet looks like a very warped, and almost melted Optimus Prime. A lot of people have speculated or been convenced that it was intended to be Motormaster or Nemesis Prime/Scourge... but to me it looks like it's been dipped in acid. I'm pretty certain it was ment to be Toxitron. Overall, it's a very pretty deco, the colors work nicely... but it just feels boring. It's not a very creative use of the mold. -5/10 Turbo Tracks (From RtS Tracks) This is where the set starts to get interesting. Our first duel use, as the deco homages the eHobby character Roadrage. This also has one of those subtle and easily overlooked details mentioned up top. The symbols are neither red, nor purple. They actually seem to be maroon. When you look really closely, they're purple. But when you set it down and look from a foot or so away, they wash out on the red background, and look red themselves. -Car Mode: Car mode is a very bright red, with a black stripe that follows the contures of the body. On the hood is the traditional Tracks flame detail, with the triangle and autobot symbol. On his roof is another symbol. -Robot Mode: In this mode, Tracks really comes to life. There are a lot of added details. And lots of new colors spring out. White, Black, Metallic Grey, and a shade of purple that really pops against the red and white. He has a lot of painted details that every other version seems to lack. Even the sides of his forearms are painted red, with yellow and blue (Neither yellow or blue are used anywhere else on the toy). The only critisism I have, is absolutely not FP's fault. The only problem is the mold does not do female well, so using it as Roadrage is a stretch (Which is something I predicted as soon as I first saw Tracks/Wheeljack). All in all, I'm still deciding if this or "Over-run" is my favorite version of the mold. -9/10 Metalhawk (From Generations Thunderwing) -Jet Mode: Another muted and darkish blue for it's primary color. Though he's got some bright red, and white painted details that help break it up. Not much else to say. -Robot Mode: Again, there's honestly not much to say. I always thought that the Thunderwing mold was a fairly boring one. It takes the colors well, but not in a very exciting way. Though in thois mode, the blue isn't as overwhelming as it might be in vehicle. his upper arms and thighs are pure white, and the red on his chest and wings really spreads the colors arounr really well. The colorscheme may not thrill me personally, bit I admit it works really well. One of the figures to get a brand new head, and as we all know, FP went in an... interesting... direction. It's purely up to personal taste if one thinks it's successful or not. I'm not a big pretender fan, so it doesn't do much for me. But I will admit this is definately a creative direction. FP took a gamble, and I do think it paid off in the long run, because he certainly is different. The sculpting leaves a lot to be desired though. I'll admit, I would enjoy this take a lot more if they had made Metalhawk's inner robot mode as an add on or the attendee figure, from Energon Skyblast. While it wouldn't fit inside, it would still acknowledge the pretender gimmick, and have a nice size ratio to the deluxe "Shell." As well as they would look nice displayed together. -6/10 Treadshot (From RtS Jazz) This is the second of the three mentioned earlier. His decepticon symbol, depending on the light and angle, almost seems to outright change colors. You look at it from one angle, it's red. You shift it even just slightly, and it's purple. it's a really odd shade, abd much kudos to FP! -Car Mode: First, in all the photography, and even when you see him in the foam for the first time, he looks to be blue. But when you get him out and on his own, you realize he's actually purple! More correctly, he's a shade of lavender or lilac. it's nice. (But it completely ruins my original intent to repurpose him as G2 Skram! ) In this mode, he has very dark and extremely metallis silver paint applied to him, around his front bumbper, spoiler, and a double stripe running along the right sode of the top. His windows are molded in translucent yellow plastic, but have a light tinting at the dark that fades to nothing. Nice. -Robot Mode: Black and bright mustard yellow is introduced in this mode. The yellow provides a really nice contrast for all the various darker shades on him, as well as matching the translucent plastics. He's also one of the figures to use the alternate hasbro head, and I have to say whoever it was originally intended for, it has a lot more personality to it than the Jazz head. It's very nicely sculpted, and painted with that same metallic paint in a way that makes all the details pop. -10/10 Soundwave (From Universe Ironhide) -SUV Mode: Not much to say. Not a fan of the mold. it has some... interesting... paint tampos on it. Including two bumper stickers, and for some reason some GI Joe character. -Robot Mode: Again, not a fan of this mold. All the blue applied to it is paint detail, and it doesn't seem to match to me. The head sculpt is extremely odd, and he almost looks bug-eyed (Quite an feat for a character who isn't supposed to have two eyes). The sculpting on it is likewise sub-par, and underdetailed. And just looks odd. On the flipside, it does seem to resemble Derrick Yanneger's G2 artwork. With that in mind, he fits several of the G2 themes... alt mode and colorscheme that has absolutely nothing to do with Soundwave as he appeared in G1, plus a head that looks like G2 art as a bonus. And silly tampos that fee; like some of the stuff you see in G2, such as "BIG GRIM" on Grimlock's shoulder in the comic. So what would be an instant fail for me, and rank as the only complete zero in all of FP's exclusives, actually might have a home in my collection. -3/10 (It only gains those three points for the G2 feel) Attendee Exclusive: "The Bard of Darkmount" (From Generations Darkmount) This one was a complete left fielder for me. It was Victorysabre from the TCC and TFW2005 board who explained his coloscheme to me as representing an obscure deco from a germain reprint of the UK comic. There also a gobot he vaguely could work as. Straxus is the third of the three I mentioned on the top. Like Treadshot, his symbol changes color depending on angle and light. Looking purple most of the time. I don't know what FP did, but I really love this type of paint they used for these two! -Half-track Mode: Straxus is a very... odd... set of colors. In this mode, he's not very detailed, deco wise. But one thing impossible to see unless you're up close, is the tannish gold uses a very subtle metallic flake. it looks bland and boring in photos, but it's actually really pretty in person. -Robot Mode: A lot more painted and plastic details are now revealed in robot mode. No new colors are introduces, as it remains that "Gold" (for lack of a better word), Charteuse, and black. And counter intuitively, it's actually a very nice colorscheme. The charteuse livens it up, and the black adds a really nice contrast to the other two. There's really not a lot to say about him, because it is a very simple colorscheme. But it works really well. -8/10 Souvenirs Junkions (From RtS Wreckgar) This will be very short. There's not a whole lot to say about them. They pretty much are exactly what we thought when we first heard about them, and there really are no new surprises that don't carry over from photos. -Motorcycle Mode: Purple, black, silverish gray, with a red seat. It doesn't look bad. It has an interesting circuit board pattern on it's gas tank. -Robot Mode: This mode introduces a slightly darkish yellow to the scheme, as well as more light gray, and a circuit pattern on it's chest, as well as more black, in the form of it's arms. It also introduces white, along the collar. It's a nice deco, and the mold takes it really well. However, I personally have absolutely no use for three junkions in insecticon colors. This is where I alwats felt SG was it's absolute weakest, and uninspired, swapping colorschemes instead of trying something new. Any time FP goes this route, it automatically lowers my opinion of the toy, and this is no exception. If you don't follow or care about SG, insecticon colored junkions are about as useless to you as it gets. I will admit I appreciate FP using all three of the mold's heads. That's an increadibly nice touch. Personally, given the way they're played in the fiction, I wish they had gone with a zombie, or borg inspired deco. Because thay's exactly how they work, like the Borg. -5/10 It ranks a five given the use of all three heads, and how nice the deco is. To me personally, it fails everything else and would likely be a 1. If it was useful, it would get higher. Optimus Prime (From RtS Optimus Prime) Wow, is this an odd figure. When it was leaked, it was one of the most disappointing Botcon figures of all time. We already had an SG Prime. One that was a better mold, and an absolutely beautiful weathered deco, to boot! Now we're getting a more boring version, for no real reason? If FP is suddely worried about getting popular characters back out, then give us a new prebeast Megatron from CD Scattorshot, or prebeast Waspinator from HftD Tomahawk! This was the least anticipated botcon toy for me. And it sounds like a lot of people felt simularly. -Truck Mode: Once I got the toy in hand... holy figgin' cow is this toy GORGEOUS. It's molded in a purple with a light metallic flake, black, and a gunmetal grey. All the translucent plastic is yellow, with a metallic flake inside it. Charteuse green lights add a nice contrast. But the deco has just started. Really hard to see, if not impossible in photography, is virtually all over him is a silver drybrush, which takes the weathered effect to an entirely new level. The weathered effects on this blow the original out of the water His windshield has the "traditional" crack tampoed on it. Across the hood is a giant autobot symbol, which is made to appear as though the paint is flaking and wearing off. On the right side of the nose, is printed "I shall stand..." and on the left we find "...The rest shall fall." Behind the doors on the cab are white lightening bolts, both of which also look like they're wearing off. The metallic flake in the translucent yellow is a beautiful detail. -Robot Mode: Introduced in this mode are some more weathered detailing on his thighs, silver on his shins, and gold paint on his knees and forarms. But what's really new here, is a small amount of absolutely brilliant purple paint that has a really nice metallic sheen, on his shoulders and his torso. In my opinion, this new version really trumps the original. And as much as I hate SG, I really loved the original toy. -10/10 Kick-Out (From RtS Jazz) Of all the leaked figures, this was the most anticipated for me (Followed by the now non-existant G2 Swindle) -Car Mode: Since Kickoff never had a vehicle mode originally, a lot of liberties were taken with this toy. Partially out of neccessity to distinguish him from Jazz. The original toy looked like he'd have a white car mode, with orange and black robot parts. For this toy, he's entirely black. Starting with the hood, and going all the way back over the wpoiler is a large white sheet of paint, with a pure dayglo orange stripe running down the center. And on each side along the bottom of the car is a red stripe that wraps almost entirely around the car. It's... different than one would have expected out of Kickoff. That's not a critisism, though. -Robot Mode: He does not follow the original Kickoff very closely. Some of this is due to impossibilities, some by choice. The white on the chest is a lot more understanted than one would exect. And where white felt like it was his primary color, here it feels like its just a minor detail. This mode introduces an orange plastic, which doesn't match the original's orange very well. The original had a deeper shade, and this is borderline neon (Not a term I use often as it rarely ever applies). Also introduced is red on his feet, and his stomach. The red on his head, doors, and red windows really distibutes this minor color and really looks nice. Last but not least, he has a newly sculpted head, modeled after Kick-Off. Over all, It's not a perfect representation of the actionmaster. But I like this toy, a lot. -10/10 Spinister (From HftD Tomahawk) Now let me start off with I never owned Tomahawk, nor the original Spinister. So this is a first, for both. I also do not know if he uses the original or the secondary Hasbro head. -Helicopter Mode: His primary colors are muted dark blue, purple, pink, and light blue. He has some nice tampographed details: arroes on his wings, and a design on his nose. In this mode, he's primarily that muted blue, with a pink stripe painted on top. -Robot Mode: The colors break down nicely. Not much to say. It *doesn't* look like a seacon, dispite what people are saying. Looking at pictuires of Spinister online, I honestly don't understand the direction FP was going with this. The color shades don't seem to match very well to the original, and only the nosecone in chopper mode matches the layoud of colors to the original. Beyond that, in neither mode does any color go "Where it's supossed to be." That is not to say this is a bad deco, it certainly isn't. It has a nice layout in both modes, but it does nopt match Spinister in any way. As a nice toy, it's pretty good. As an homage, it falls fairly short. Because of that, it loses some points. -7/10 Octopunch (From HftD Seaspray) Note, like with Spinister, this is my first time owning this mold. Never liked it as Seaspray. Never found the other version. -Hovorcraft Mode: Primary colors are bluegreen, seagreen, dark grey, and maroon. BTW, contrary to what people say, he certainly does *NOT* have ducks tampoes on him. They're turkeys. Will also say the vehicle mode really suits his original's primary function of Salvage, with a greta platform to carry stuff on. -Robot Mode: Same colors. He pretty much is exactly as he looks. I dunno. I really can't find much to say about him. The color layout works well in both modes, and carries into robot very well. He has all the right colors in all the right places for his pretender shell. It's not a bad update. But, it's not terribly exciting to me, either. Don't really know why. Maybe because this mold never really thrilled me as Seaspray. -6/10
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05-02-2012, 09:39 AM | #2 |
Dark Lord of the 'Ark
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Ohio
Posts: 8,224
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Nice breakdown and review.
A couple of notes on Soundwave: according to what I've read, in the SGU Soundwave is supposed to be the tour bus for Cold Slither. In the original 80's G.I.Joe cartoon, Cold Slither is an 80's hair metal kind of band started by the Dreadnoks/Cobra with backing from Extensive Enterprises (i.e. Xamot and Tomax) in an effort to hypnotize and enslave people through subliminal messages in hidden in their songs. Even some of the Joe were captured this way. In the SGU, Cold Slither is a legitimate rock band and SG Soundwave is a bit of a groupie. The Joe picture on Soundwave's alt mode is the Cold Slither logo. His color scheme and mold are based on his Earth-mode appearance in the SG comic from the 2008 set. His Cybertronian appearance in that comic is based on the white version of his Music Label release. And he's the only one in the entire set that I really wanted.
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Last edited by trebleshot; 05-02-2012 at 09:46 AM.. |
05-02-2012, 01:02 PM | #3 |
WINGNUT & SCREWLOOSE!
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Dallas
Posts: 2,172
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Thanks for the complement, and the info. I know almost nothing about GI Joe, only having watched Renegades.
And if you're referring to my "not having anything to do with the original soundwave" comemnt, I'm aware of the Music Label, and that this deco is a music label homage. But that came about decades after G1 and G2. And since the true G1 Soundwave never ever sported those colors,, in my book it has nothing to do with him and fits into my "G2 Classics" themes.
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05-02-2012, 01:53 PM | #4 |
Dark Lord of the 'Ark
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Ohio
Posts: 8,224
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Quote:
Quote:
And if you're referring to my "not having anything to do with the original soundwave" comemnt, I'm aware of the Music Label, and that this deco is a music label homage. But that came about decades after G1 and G2. And since the true G1 Soundwave never ever sported those colors,, in my book it has nothing to do with him and fits into my "G2 Classics" themes.
I was just pointing out that SG Soundwave was never meant to reference his G1 counterpart, specficially. The Blue version of ML Soundwave has his "proper" color scheme and is used by a lot of fans to represent Classics SW, so FP used the Apple White version as his Shattered Glass counterpart. SG Ravage (from 2010's set) also sports colors that he never had in G1. But SG Ravage's colors do homage the Kiss Players version of the mold known as Glit. There are a lot of non-G1 references in the Shattered Glass Universe.
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Last edited by trebleshot; 05-02-2012 at 01:56 PM.. |
05-02-2012, 02:43 PM | #5 |
WINGNUT & SCREWLOOSE!
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Dallas
Posts: 2,172
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Yeah, like I said, I'm aware of where the decos come from. Glit (Who's an awesome character in his own right), and Music Label Soundwave. Which is why I said the colors have nothing to do with G1.
A lot of G2 ended up in alt modes with colors that had nothing to do with their original counterparts (Such as Soundwave and Jazz originally going to end up as motorcycles, until the line was cancelled). And since G1 Soundwave was never released in white, nor has he ever been an SUV, it works. I never said no soundwave ever appeared in those colors. Just that during the entire G1 run, he never did. (He was purple though! Why does no one ever want that? So sick of Soundblaster all the time. Everyone wants Soundblaster. Ugh.) I keep going back and forth with my SG Ravage. He's one of the few SG concepts I actually like. But on the flip side, I also like Glit, as one of the few Kissplayers that's not totally disgusting.
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05-03-2012, 06:39 AM | #6 |
Dark Lord of the 'Ark
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Ohio
Posts: 8,224
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Soundwave was never released in purple during G1 (and the decoy toy doesn't count as all of the Decepticon decoys were purple). His Actionmaster weapon, Wingthing, was purple.
And I think we might be having a circular conversation about the rest of it. You said that the toy had nothing to do with G1 (which is true), and I said it was never meant to have anything to do with G1. It is the mirror image of Classics Soundwave, not his G1 self. In fact, most (if not all) of the characters in Shattered Glass are like that. Again, I'm not saying you can't use it as G2 Soundwave. I'm just saying that G1 is not connected to the Shattered Glass Universe or its characters in any way (unless you count the influence G1 had over the Classics-verse).
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05-03-2012, 02:28 PM | #7 |
WINGNUT & SCREWLOOSE!
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Dallas
Posts: 2,172
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No, we're not having a circular converstaion. I understand what you're saying perfectly. I have from the start. But you're not following what I'm saying at all.
When I look for a potential G2 classics, there are several factors I look at. The deco having nothing to do with his G1 counterpart is one of them. Example, I use Cybertron Downshift as a stand in for G2 Wheeljack. Deco has nothing to do with Wheeljack. Body has nothing to do with Wheeljack (As opposed to Energon Downshift which was a straight up 'Jack update). And he has two honkin' huge guns. So with the caryovers from E-Downshift, in my mind he works great as G2 Wheeljack. Because, so many characters in G2 were brought in, in colors that had nothing to do with their G1 counterparts. Grimlock being blue. Ramjet being purple. Megatron being a green tank green with purple camo. I know SG has nothing to do with G1. I know SG Soundwave has nothing to do with G1. I don't care. (SG has enough of it's own idiotic tropes as it is). I've been a hardcore follower of TF since 1984, and I've been in the TF club since 2005. Was the most common poster on the TCC board until it died. I've also owned every single official SG toy released, at one point or another. I am fully aware of all these things. Also, G1 Soundwave was purple. Through almost, if not every appearance he made in the Marvel run, he was colored purple.
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2012, botcon, classics, exclusives, invasion, shattered glass, transformers |
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