Post by Philip Ayres on Feb 6, 2008 20:31:22 GMT
Thanks to Nigel I have these 2 at a reasonable price. ta !
Passed on Camshaft. Was so so on Swindle and I don't think the deco is so good this time round.
CLIFFJUMPER
Cliffjumper is the first* repaint of the 2008 Concept Bumblebee mold. As you'd expect from the name he's red, with the black replaced with dark grey and some bright light blue accents added to represent the Allspark power. To be honest this is a bit of a no-brainer repaint being both a nice red robot and a G1 homage. Sometimes these are easier than going to the trouble of working out a whole new paint scheme that may or may not work when the first thing the average TF fan is going to do is moan "why didn't they do XXXX ?" My only gripe is the red doesn't quite match from paint to plastic - a quite common problem on TF toys.
* There's a black stealth repaint coming which features the battle helmet head, which then turns up on the original coloured version
LANDMINE
You'll be talking about Landmine for a few years as one of those landmark releases in terms of releases stepping forward.
Landmine is a sort of dune buggy/jeep thing, complete with machine gun mounted above the roof. The first "step forward" feature on the top can be found in this mode: he's got independent sprung working suspension ! This has been done on Alternators before but IIRC it's the first appearance on a deluxe toy. Nice feature.
TF: Turn the car over, put your thumbs in under the doors and pull out to form the arms. Legs are formed from the back of the vehicle in a standard Windcharger type way - fold the top of the car down at the back to form the lower legs. Fold the drums on the front of the legs down to form the feet. Push down on the rear lightbars at the knees to cover up the top half of the lower leg. Push the real wheels into the legs and then fold down pegging in behind the feet. Back to the arms - you'll note the seats have come away with the arms (along the inside) linked by a bit of green plastic. Fold this out to form the forearm and then TF the seat into the hand by folding the base of the seat out and bringing the back down. Another feature imported from Alts: Making use of the seats. Push the front wheels in towards each other and then fold the front of the vehicle down to form the robot's chest. Fold the head down, and then fold down the flap behind the head. Leave the machine gun mounted on the back as a shoulder cannon or place in the hands as a hand gun.
Articulation: limits ball at the neck, swivel waist, ball jointed hips, bending knees and "ankles" - see bellow - a joint that allows shrugging shoulders at the body plus a ball joint on each shoulder, a low ball jointed elbow, ball jointed wrist and a hand/opposable thumb arrangement where there's a joint at the hand and the knuckle on both sides. The "Ankles" are in inverted commas as the feet are the 2 barrels off the back of the jeep and the rear wheels - this arrangement allows that entire assembly to pivot. However Landmine effectively has roller skates for feet - the barrels have tiny wheels in the bottom of them - so you can just about wheel him along on his feet. The larger wheels at the back do seem to come unpegged quite a bit though ! Both front and back safety/light bars also have a habit of popping off which is annoying.
Gun can be customed - the bit of plastic connecting the gun to car can be detached and put back the other way round. This allows for a better fit in robot and vehicle mode but removes the shoulder cannon option.
The only real gripe is the colour - muted grey/green/blue with black deco. It looks colour and formwise more Decepticon than Autobot, especially with that head - looks like some sort of wire mask !
Overall: Very good. Some real innovation for the size. Get one.
Passed on Camshaft. Was so so on Swindle and I don't think the deco is so good this time round.
CLIFFJUMPER
Cliffjumper is the first* repaint of the 2008 Concept Bumblebee mold. As you'd expect from the name he's red, with the black replaced with dark grey and some bright light blue accents added to represent the Allspark power. To be honest this is a bit of a no-brainer repaint being both a nice red robot and a G1 homage. Sometimes these are easier than going to the trouble of working out a whole new paint scheme that may or may not work when the first thing the average TF fan is going to do is moan "why didn't they do XXXX ?" My only gripe is the red doesn't quite match from paint to plastic - a quite common problem on TF toys.
* There's a black stealth repaint coming which features the battle helmet head, which then turns up on the original coloured version
LANDMINE
You'll be talking about Landmine for a few years as one of those landmark releases in terms of releases stepping forward.
Landmine is a sort of dune buggy/jeep thing, complete with machine gun mounted above the roof. The first "step forward" feature on the top can be found in this mode: he's got independent sprung working suspension ! This has been done on Alternators before but IIRC it's the first appearance on a deluxe toy. Nice feature.
TF: Turn the car over, put your thumbs in under the doors and pull out to form the arms. Legs are formed from the back of the vehicle in a standard Windcharger type way - fold the top of the car down at the back to form the lower legs. Fold the drums on the front of the legs down to form the feet. Push down on the rear lightbars at the knees to cover up the top half of the lower leg. Push the real wheels into the legs and then fold down pegging in behind the feet. Back to the arms - you'll note the seats have come away with the arms (along the inside) linked by a bit of green plastic. Fold this out to form the forearm and then TF the seat into the hand by folding the base of the seat out and bringing the back down. Another feature imported from Alts: Making use of the seats. Push the front wheels in towards each other and then fold the front of the vehicle down to form the robot's chest. Fold the head down, and then fold down the flap behind the head. Leave the machine gun mounted on the back as a shoulder cannon or place in the hands as a hand gun.
Articulation: limits ball at the neck, swivel waist, ball jointed hips, bending knees and "ankles" - see bellow - a joint that allows shrugging shoulders at the body plus a ball joint on each shoulder, a low ball jointed elbow, ball jointed wrist and a hand/opposable thumb arrangement where there's a joint at the hand and the knuckle on both sides. The "Ankles" are in inverted commas as the feet are the 2 barrels off the back of the jeep and the rear wheels - this arrangement allows that entire assembly to pivot. However Landmine effectively has roller skates for feet - the barrels have tiny wheels in the bottom of them - so you can just about wheel him along on his feet. The larger wheels at the back do seem to come unpegged quite a bit though ! Both front and back safety/light bars also have a habit of popping off which is annoying.
Gun can be customed - the bit of plastic connecting the gun to car can be detached and put back the other way round. This allows for a better fit in robot and vehicle mode but removes the shoulder cannon option.
The only real gripe is the colour - muted grey/green/blue with black deco. It looks colour and formwise more Decepticon than Autobot, especially with that head - looks like some sort of wire mask !
Overall: Very good. Some real innovation for the size. Get one.
