Post by Philip Ayres on Feb 27, 2019 9:03:51 GMT
Stakeout
Functionally VERY similar to Wave 1's Roadhandler, but a completely different moulding. Black plastic makes up the body of the car, the front of the robot and probably the head, which shares blue paint with the chest. A softer white plastic makes up the upper legs, robot back & 5mm peg, and this plastic is shared with Red Heat. Transformation identical to Roadhandler and articulation all but - turning head, ball joints at shoulder & hip and, the only difference, at the knees too. Like Roadhandler, Stakeout can be held as an individual gun using a 5mm peg found under the bonnet or combined with his partner to form a super weapon. Blast effect pegs are found in the soles of his feet.
Like Roadhandler, and all the w1 Micromasters, the legs popped off the hips as soon as I tried transforming the toy. Unlike w1, when I popped the legs back on, they stayed on - hurrah!
Red Heat
Formerly Red Hot, Red Heat is the first Sieg Micromaster to parts share having many of the same parts as Topshot: Topshot's brown vehicle mode base becomes red. The chest and head of the robot, brown plastic painted, are carried over from Topshot but painted diffferent colours. Topshot's grey plastic is swapped for a new white frame, presumably shared with Stakeout, and provides replacement upper legs, heelspurs and shoulder joints. Wheels ar now black, again presumably shared with Stakeout. Gone is the turret and guh, replaced with a turntable on which is mounted a 2 part ladder hinged at base and further up. The turntable and ladder is unpainted and pops out rather easily, which in turn leg to be discovering Topshot's turret can come off - that stays in better probably thanks to the layer of paint covering it. Blast effect peg on the tip of the ladder, 5mm peg on the top of the turntable, 5mm socket in the rear.
TF - obviously all but identical to Big Shot. Fold the end of the ladder in when going to robot mode though!
Single mode weapon isn't great: hold the extended ladder by the turntable, but you've still got the comparatively huge fire engine body on top.
Combined mode weapon is a lot better:
Red Heat in vehicle mode, fold the end of th ladder in, flatten the ladder and straighten it along the vehicle.
Stakeout in robot mode, legs tabbed together, arms folded into the sides. The car's front needs to be folded up off the back 90° and then manipulated up & forward so that the white hinge points straight up from the robot's body and is at 90° to the car's front. Fold the white handle out and peg into the 5mm hole in the rear of Red Heat's turntable, with the prongs on Red Heat's shoulders in theory meshing with slots on Stakeout's front.
Better than the Road Patrol combined weapon, hard to see how it could be worse. Not quite as good as Battle Patrol's, but close.
The packaging continues the tradition of associating the combined weapon with the wrong deluxe: Whereas Sideswipe should have got the Road Patrol and Hound the Battle Patrol, but the reverse happened, here Ironhide gets the Rescue Patrol instead of the more appropriate and thematically linked Prowl.
A nice bit of fun but both toys very reminiscent of ones from w1.
Functionally VERY similar to Wave 1's Roadhandler, but a completely different moulding. Black plastic makes up the body of the car, the front of the robot and probably the head, which shares blue paint with the chest. A softer white plastic makes up the upper legs, robot back & 5mm peg, and this plastic is shared with Red Heat. Transformation identical to Roadhandler and articulation all but - turning head, ball joints at shoulder & hip and, the only difference, at the knees too. Like Roadhandler, Stakeout can be held as an individual gun using a 5mm peg found under the bonnet or combined with his partner to form a super weapon. Blast effect pegs are found in the soles of his feet.
Like Roadhandler, and all the w1 Micromasters, the legs popped off the hips as soon as I tried transforming the toy. Unlike w1, when I popped the legs back on, they stayed on - hurrah!
Red Heat
Formerly Red Hot, Red Heat is the first Sieg Micromaster to parts share having many of the same parts as Topshot: Topshot's brown vehicle mode base becomes red. The chest and head of the robot, brown plastic painted, are carried over from Topshot but painted diffferent colours. Topshot's grey plastic is swapped for a new white frame, presumably shared with Stakeout, and provides replacement upper legs, heelspurs and shoulder joints. Wheels ar now black, again presumably shared with Stakeout. Gone is the turret and guh, replaced with a turntable on which is mounted a 2 part ladder hinged at base and further up. The turntable and ladder is unpainted and pops out rather easily, which in turn leg to be discovering Topshot's turret can come off - that stays in better probably thanks to the layer of paint covering it. Blast effect peg on the tip of the ladder, 5mm peg on the top of the turntable, 5mm socket in the rear.
TF - obviously all but identical to Big Shot. Fold the end of the ladder in when going to robot mode though!
Single mode weapon isn't great: hold the extended ladder by the turntable, but you've still got the comparatively huge fire engine body on top.
Combined mode weapon is a lot better:
Red Heat in vehicle mode, fold the end of th ladder in, flatten the ladder and straighten it along the vehicle.
Stakeout in robot mode, legs tabbed together, arms folded into the sides. The car's front needs to be folded up off the back 90° and then manipulated up & forward so that the white hinge points straight up from the robot's body and is at 90° to the car's front. Fold the white handle out and peg into the 5mm hole in the rear of Red Heat's turntable, with the prongs on Red Heat's shoulders in theory meshing with slots on Stakeout's front.
Better than the Road Patrol combined weapon, hard to see how it could be worse. Not quite as good as Battle Patrol's, but close.
The packaging continues the tradition of associating the combined weapon with the wrong deluxe: Whereas Sideswipe should have got the Road Patrol and Hound the Battle Patrol, but the reverse happened, here Ironhide gets the Rescue Patrol instead of the more appropriate and thematically linked Prowl.
A nice bit of fun but both toys very reminiscent of ones from w1.
