Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2014 20:02:46 GMT
As requested elsewhere, here's a comparison between two figures I recently received. Not sure where to start, to be honest, so I'll start with the similarities:
1) They're both transforming toys.
2) Err...
Moving on to the differences...
The first major difference is one of price: Whirl comes in at $29.99 on BBTS, with Revolver Core weighing a hefty $89.99. Youser! Although it's fair to say that the design of both figures may have been influenced by IDW comics, the fact that Whirl is official Hasbro and Revolver Core is a 3rd-party homage to Roadbuster means they share very little engineering. They're a similar size but Revolver is notably heavier.
There's nothing exceptional about the packaging from either of the two figures. I was hoping for a neat little comic in Revolver's box but alas, it was not to be. I was surprised as he makes an appearance in Assaulter's comic. What was interesting was the inclusion of instructions for Recoiler Core and Riftshot Core. These are planned repaints of Revolver's mould, both in green with different heads and accessories. These accessories can all be pilfered and added to Revolver Core to make 'Ultra Revolver Core' - essentially the base figure with extra big hands, extra big boots and an extra, extra big machinegun.
Also, if it's of any interest, Whirl's packaging utilised something similar to the sort of tags you get on clothing labels (looks like and elongated 'H'). I've not seen this before. They replaced the normal paper string or plastic-coated wire and sat very well on the figure, almost invisibly. For people that like to display their figures in the box, they're certainly better than the old pieces.
I'm going to break this down where possible because there's so little to compare.
Both figures enjoy a dynamic and pose-able robot mode. On one hand you have the hunky chunky Roadbuster - bristling with weapons. He's exceedingly angular and reminiscent of eighties/early-nineties mecha. He has great articulation but not as great as you first think. His arms can't really close together very well, making the obviously two-handed weapon selection hard to pose and, although the head is on a ball joint, there is insufficient room between his shoulders to swivel his head more than a few degrees - only up and down. He also has large chunks of kibble under his forearms That ruin the dimensions and are too easy to clip, swinging his wrists out. The legs are much cleaner although the double-jointed knee will always bug me - Sometimes I can't decide which joint is supposed to be the 'true' knee. However, he has a full hip swivel and this, combined with his leg articulation, make for some great poses and playability.
There are several weapon options available with the two pistols being able to snap the other two rifle-sized weapons onto them. There are shoulder mounts and back mounts and side-back mounts giving you lots of variety for storage. HisActionmaster Core is surprisingly nimble for such a tiny little thing. In FP's continuity, the 'Cores' follow a similar story line to the Japanese Headmasters: The Core is the smaller race of robots and the have built larger bodies to occupy and pilot - it's during this explanation in Assaulter's comic that you see Revolver and his two repaints in tanks in the background (this means they've had him planned for a good few years).
We'll now move to Whirl's robot mode, simply because there will never be a good place in this article to cover it. It is as mad as a bag of frogs. Ironically, as I sit here transforming him from his alt mode I'm reminded of my favourite early mecha: Robotech. It's clearly the 'Helo-ped' mode that captures it but the single eye, claw hands and 'runner' style hooves all send me back to a time when I wanted anything that transformed. Trying to pose him proved troublesome because he's just so alien! His swept-back knees push you towards more animalistic poses but his overall spindliness (I'm just making words up now!) just feels awkward. There's no doubting he feels athletic and dynamic but finding something familiar is just not possible. I think I might even be a little creeped out by it
.
He can't hold any weapons directly however, one of the rocket launchers fits over his wrist with the claw retracted. There's also 5mm holes under his forearms that the M134 minigun can fit into but putting any weapons on his robot mode just seems to make him even more awkward.
As I've already alluded to, he has a 'heloped' mode. This isn't just something that you can make mid-transformation as there is a very deliberate sliding alcove on the fuselage to accomplish the mode. Personally, I think it looks pump. I used to think such things looked kinda cool but on a figure that still confuses me by being not quite human-like, this mode further raises the awkwardness. I get the feeling it was included due to fan request. Or maybe the character adopted it in one of the comics? Not sure, but I don't feel it fits in very well with everything else. Interestingly though, Whirl plays this part in the fiction: An oddball character with a schizophrenic personality and blurred morals. At least his toy captures that to an extent...
We'll keep with Whirl to highlight further quirks in his alt mode. He has a new form of 'snap-on' accessory I've not seen elsewhere. You'll see in the shots that the weapons are covered in clips and these attach to different areas on his helicopter mode. It gives loads of options but again, no 'closure' or optimum solution. There's only one of each gun so you can't even balance the weapon distribution properly, making what is actually a quite sane helicopter mode needlessly quirky. The transformation itself isn't the smoothest (standard for helicopters apparently) but does have a few surprises and annoyances.
Going back to Revolver, his transformation is, as I've come to expect from Fansproject, a little bit sanctimonious. There are several steps that seem overly convoluted - the arms are the worst culprits and feel like they need turning one way, then back, then back again just get the elbow in place. Once you're done though, you end up with a really quite solid half-track. Your weapon options are more limited in this mode but the pistols making up the front bumper is a nice touch. The extra parts that make up Ultra Revolver Core can be added to this mode, giving it a hard top and extra ammo boxes at the rear. The hard top will obviously hide the little core robot dude but, to be honest, that's not a bad thing. It's great that he sits in there but he's so low that he can't even see over the dashboard. Sneaky camera angles didn't reveal this to me until I had it in hand. He's fine if he kneels but that's not really the point...
Two very different figures. They share a fictional spot in the Wreckers and have a similar scale... and that's it. If I could only have one, I'd have the Roadbuster wannabe, Revolver Core. His build quality is exceptional and he's just more fun to play with. He is, however, three times more expensive than Whirl. He's not three times better. Whirl is an enigma to me. I really want to enjoy him more but at times it doesn't even feel like I'm playing with a Transformer, such is his quirkiness. This chief characteristic may make him very appealing to some collectors but for me, it doesn't have quite enough impact. Don't get me wrong, he's a very cool toy and somewhat refreshingly unique. He is faithful to the character and that should count for a lot. I think if I had more vested in IDW's products, I'd warm to him a lot more.
The bottom line(s): If you want something familiar but very well made, go for Revolver. If you want something unfamiliar yet faithful to the source material, choose Whirl.
Steve Sifu 師傅
1) They're both transforming toys.
2) Err...
Moving on to the differences...
STATS
The first major difference is one of price: Whirl comes in at $29.99 on BBTS, with Revolver Core weighing a hefty $89.99. Youser! Although it's fair to say that the design of both figures may have been influenced by IDW comics, the fact that Whirl is official Hasbro and Revolver Core is a 3rd-party homage to Roadbuster means they share very little engineering. They're a similar size but Revolver is notably heavier.
PRELIMINARIES
There's nothing exceptional about the packaging from either of the two figures. I was hoping for a neat little comic in Revolver's box but alas, it was not to be. I was surprised as he makes an appearance in Assaulter's comic. What was interesting was the inclusion of instructions for Recoiler Core and Riftshot Core. These are planned repaints of Revolver's mould, both in green with different heads and accessories. These accessories can all be pilfered and added to Revolver Core to make 'Ultra Revolver Core' - essentially the base figure with extra big hands, extra big boots and an extra, extra big machinegun.
Also, if it's of any interest, Whirl's packaging utilised something similar to the sort of tags you get on clothing labels (looks like and elongated 'H'). I've not seen this before. They replaced the normal paper string or plastic-coated wire and sat very well on the figure, almost invisibly. For people that like to display their figures in the box, they're certainly better than the old pieces.
REVIEW
I'm going to break this down where possible because there's so little to compare.
Both figures enjoy a dynamic and pose-able robot mode. On one hand you have the hunky chunky Roadbuster - bristling with weapons. He's exceedingly angular and reminiscent of eighties/early-nineties mecha. He has great articulation but not as great as you first think. His arms can't really close together very well, making the obviously two-handed weapon selection hard to pose and, although the head is on a ball joint, there is insufficient room between his shoulders to swivel his head more than a few degrees - only up and down. He also has large chunks of kibble under his forearms That ruin the dimensions and are too easy to clip, swinging his wrists out. The legs are much cleaner although the double-jointed knee will always bug me - Sometimes I can't decide which joint is supposed to be the 'true' knee. However, he has a full hip swivel and this, combined with his leg articulation, make for some great poses and playability.
There are several weapon options available with the two pistols being able to snap the other two rifle-sized weapons onto them. There are shoulder mounts and back mounts and side-back mounts giving you lots of variety for storage. His
We'll now move to Whirl's robot mode, simply because there will never be a good place in this article to cover it. It is as mad as a bag of frogs. Ironically, as I sit here transforming him from his alt mode I'm reminded of my favourite early mecha: Robotech. It's clearly the 'Helo-ped' mode that captures it but the single eye, claw hands and 'runner' style hooves all send me back to a time when I wanted anything that transformed. Trying to pose him proved troublesome because he's just so alien! His swept-back knees push you towards more animalistic poses but his overall spindliness (I'm just making words up now!) just feels awkward. There's no doubting he feels athletic and dynamic but finding something familiar is just not possible. I think I might even be a little creeped out by it
. 
He can't hold any weapons directly however, one of the rocket launchers fits over his wrist with the claw retracted. There's also 5mm holes under his forearms that the M134 minigun can fit into but putting any weapons on his robot mode just seems to make him even more awkward.
As I've already alluded to, he has a 'heloped' mode. This isn't just something that you can make mid-transformation as there is a very deliberate sliding alcove on the fuselage to accomplish the mode. Personally, I think it looks pump. I used to think such things looked kinda cool but on a figure that still confuses me by being not quite human-like, this mode further raises the awkwardness. I get the feeling it was included due to fan request. Or maybe the character adopted it in one of the comics? Not sure, but I don't feel it fits in very well with everything else. Interestingly though, Whirl plays this part in the fiction: An oddball character with a schizophrenic personality and blurred morals. At least his toy captures that to an extent...
We'll keep with Whirl to highlight further quirks in his alt mode. He has a new form of 'snap-on' accessory I've not seen elsewhere. You'll see in the shots that the weapons are covered in clips and these attach to different areas on his helicopter mode. It gives loads of options but again, no 'closure' or optimum solution. There's only one of each gun so you can't even balance the weapon distribution properly, making what is actually a quite sane helicopter mode needlessly quirky. The transformation itself isn't the smoothest (standard for helicopters apparently) but does have a few surprises and annoyances.
Going back to Revolver, his transformation is, as I've come to expect from Fansproject, a little bit sanctimonious. There are several steps that seem overly convoluted - the arms are the worst culprits and feel like they need turning one way, then back, then back again just get the elbow in place. Once you're done though, you end up with a really quite solid half-track. Your weapon options are more limited in this mode but the pistols making up the front bumper is a nice touch. The extra parts that make up Ultra Revolver Core can be added to this mode, giving it a hard top and extra ammo boxes at the rear. The hard top will obviously hide the little core robot dude but, to be honest, that's not a bad thing. It's great that he sits in there but he's so low that he can't even see over the dashboard. Sneaky camera angles didn't reveal this to me until I had it in hand. He's fine if he kneels but that's not really the point...
SUMMARY
Two very different figures. They share a fictional spot in the Wreckers and have a similar scale... and that's it. If I could only have one, I'd have the Roadbuster wannabe, Revolver Core. His build quality is exceptional and he's just more fun to play with. He is, however, three times more expensive than Whirl. He's not three times better. Whirl is an enigma to me. I really want to enjoy him more but at times it doesn't even feel like I'm playing with a Transformer, such is his quirkiness. This chief characteristic may make him very appealing to some collectors but for me, it doesn't have quite enough impact. Don't get me wrong, he's a very cool toy and somewhat refreshingly unique. He is faithful to the character and that should count for a lot. I think if I had more vested in IDW's products, I'd warm to him a lot more.
The bottom line(s): If you want something familiar but very well made, go for Revolver. If you want something unfamiliar yet faithful to the source material, choose Whirl.
Steve Sifu 師傅
