Happy New Year folks, I finally decided to get off my butt to shoot the long-awaited Computron. By now he is probably old news. I had him in storage since late Aug/early September. Was he worth that wait? Or should he had stayed in the box? Without delay, let's get to each individual Technobots.
Here is Strafe! By far, imo, the coolest looking figure in this line up. Strafe is, believe it or not, a heavy retool of Unite Warriors Blast Off. I was a little disappointed by Blast Off, but Strafe is miles from disappointment. Once again, he is really easy on the eyes, lots of pegs once again to put weapons for your visual pleasure, and he doesn't feel cheap in comparison to Blast Off. Like Blast off, he has hands to grasp weapons, but additionally he has the arm cannons like Blast off, allowing Strafe to receive more weapon goodies and simply strike a Mega err.. Strafe buster pose. Colors look astounding and something about his shoulder wings that make me dig the figure a lot. His alt mode is a really good representation of his G1 cartoon look. You can remove his turrets for other weaponry purposes. Good job Takara!
Afterburner is a remold and slight retool of Groove of protectobots fame. Probably one of the slightly controversial figures because most fans wanted him as an orange motorcycle though in some episodes he was red so Takara went with the latter route in this release. Unlike Groove, Afterburner's wheel stays upright making him a taller figure than Scattershot! What Takara did awesome in this version is give him these two cool looking pistols. You can combine the two together to make it form one decent looking weapon. Afterburner doesn't have too much pegs but you can still find ways to stick it to him. Heh. Afterburner can do a fair amount of posing, stands good, and has a nice resculpt on the head so he stands out from Groove. What more do you want? Me like Afterburner. Next!
Lightspeed was mis-transformed in the original pics. I always wondered why I couldn't get part of his shoulders to stay down. I toyed with him a little more, and voila, the shoulder area stays down now. Definite improve on the looks and mobility.
Packaging and Out of the box
The artwork is amazing! I love how Nosecone is drilling himself out of the ground as if he was a ground version of a humpback whale. It also reminds of me of the old TMNT days where the Shredder and his henchmen would use their transport modules to resurface from the underground. Love how Afterburner is popping a wheelie as well. As for the comic, it is Grimlock's birthday. As a refresher course, Grimlock gave birth (not literally) to the Technobots in the cartoon. Grimlock lost his infinite wisdom by giving it to Computron who utilized the data to incapacitate Abominus, a Decepticon combiner. Dirk Manus (G1 cartoon canon) is the human being alongside with his now canon daughter- Sue. According to sources online, Dirk got with Marissa Faireborn (also G1 canon) and she gave birth to Sue. Like mother, like Daughter, Sue played a prank on her father by giving him chocolate money whereas Marissa gave some rust like material to Dirk in one of the episodes. Poor guy, can't cut a break.
ScatterShot
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| Landing gear. |
First guy up, as you know by now he is the leader of the Technobots and is a remold of Silverbolt of Aerialbot fame. I had no qualms on Silverbolt and I surely don't have any here. The colors are vibrant on both alt and robot mode. You can peg lots of weapons based on your choosing for both modes. Figure doesn't feel loose, maybe a little stiff, but still a well-rounded figure. The head sculpt is done really nice; love the visor. Weapons wise, he can grasp them and peg a weapon on his forearm; something similar to the likes of Megatron. Looking good thus far.
Strafe
Here is Strafe! By far, imo, the coolest looking figure in this line up. Strafe is, believe it or not, a heavy retool of Unite Warriors Blast Off. I was a little disappointed by Blast Off, but Strafe is miles from disappointment. Once again, he is really easy on the eyes, lots of pegs once again to put weapons for your visual pleasure, and he doesn't feel cheap in comparison to Blast Off. Like Blast off, he has hands to grasp weapons, but additionally he has the arm cannons like Blast off, allowing Strafe to receive more weapon goodies and simply strike a Mega err.. Strafe buster pose. Colors look astounding and something about his shoulder wings that make me dig the figure a lot. His alt mode is a really good representation of his G1 cartoon look. You can remove his turrets for other weaponry purposes. Good job Takara!
NoseCone
Takara, Takara! How you go beyond the call of duty to please your fans and audiences. Nosecone is pretty much the deal breaker if you have trouble deciding whether to get the Combiner Wars or Unite Warriors Computron. The CW version is just a repaint of the Brawl mold while the UW version is a heavy retool of the Rook mold, a mold I am unfamiliar with since I never got the CW Defensor. I love Nosecone because I still have the G1 figure of him. The UW version is a force to reckon with. First off on his alt mode, another endless possibilities of throwing as much weapons on him. On his robot mode, he has these removable-like batons where you can use them as weapons or shoulder guards. You can even remove his drill and use it as a weapon. As for his drill, which is enormous btw, the brown tip of the drill can be pushed in due to a spring that holds it. Novelty fun! The only drawback to this figure is that, unlike Strafe, Nosecone does not have actual hands to hold his weapons. He has arm cannons as weapon holders but I guess he doesn't need it because he looks awesome already! Bon Travail Takara!
*update 1/15/17*, Swindle from the combaticons is actually a retool of Rook as well. But NoseCone really feels different in comparison to Swindle.
AfterBurner
Afterburner is a remold and slight retool of Groove of protectobots fame. Probably one of the slightly controversial figures because most fans wanted him as an orange motorcycle though in some episodes he was red so Takara went with the latter route in this release. Unlike Groove, Afterburner's wheel stays upright making him a taller figure than Scattershot! What Takara did awesome in this version is give him these two cool looking pistols. You can combine the two together to make it form one decent looking weapon. Afterburner doesn't have too much pegs but you can still find ways to stick it to him. Heh. Afterburner can do a fair amount of posing, stands good, and has a nice resculpt on the head so he stands out from Groove. What more do you want? Me like Afterburner. Next!
LightSpeed
The final member of the Technobots for this review. Lightspeed is a remold of the CW/UW Wheeljack mold, another mold I have no experience with. Incredibly easy to transform and play with. I just found some slight problems with his head at first. It feels... too small for his body. But after playing with him for some time, he stands out just like the rest of his buddies. Myriads of posing and lots of weapon placement. Not to mention, he has two blasters that can stick to the side of his door panel in alt mode/arm in robot mode exclusively made for him. Honestly, he does look the least stylish among his peers but nevertheless, he rocks as a figure and Technobot.
Update: 1/3/17
Lightspeed was mis-transformed in the original pics. I always wondered why I couldn't get part of his shoulders to stay down. I toyed with him a little more, and voila, the shoulder area stays down now. Definite improve on the looks and mobility.
Overall impression:
First combiner set where I dig all the members. Lots of replay value, posing, and I just love the endless possibilities of the weapon placement. Thumbs up so far for the individual figures. Part II coming soon!
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