Phil's Legends Reviews

[Philip Ayres]

I have sitting beside my bed both the Universe Legends boxsets - a pair of packs called "Special Team Leaders" and "Air Rivals" containing five legends figures (using a total of nine of the original 12 Legends moulds) recoloured round a theme.

So seeing as I need to look at 3/4 of the total original Legends output anyway I might as well do the others too !

[Philip Ayres]

Legends of Cybertron are the latest flowering of Hasbro's "offer the characters in more than one size" policy. You can also argue - some years after their original toys came out - that Micromasters may have been intended to be smaller versions of many of the original G1 characters - there's enough similarities there to make you think that, and Micromasters may have been more popular if this line had been pursued. And there are many other name reuses but on different sized different design toys (G2 Gobots spring to mind) the first on the shelves showing of this was during Generation 2. Megatron's Tank and the Cab for Laser Rod Prime were moulded in a smaller size and issued with air blaster missiles as the Combat Heroes.

It goes quiet again for several years till Beast Machines. We then get Primal as a Dlx, Mega and Supreme, Jetstorm as a Dlx & Ultra, Cheetor as a Mega, Supreme & Dlx, Tankor as an Ultra & Basic, Thrust as a Dlx & Basic and Megatron as a Mega version of a previously issued Ultra toy. (and you can argue that Silverbolt aught to have been a Mega/Ultra instead of a Basic, Rattrap as a Basic/Deluxe instead of Mega and similarly Nightscream instead of an Ultra) Some characters gravitate towards a certain size and doing bigger versions of them just doesn't work Supreme Cheetor I'm looking at you !

The next range - Robots in Disguise - was where Hasbro got it right. Putting out some unused G2 Gobots they noticed that they were similar to dlx sized toys and named them the same, going on to produce several new smaller versions of larger toys including Scourge, X-Brawn, Optimus Prime & Ultra Magnus. These are probably the most direct antecedents of LoC. Armada then features a dlx version of the large Optimus Prime toy, as did Energon which also had Megatron in 2 sizes and an upscaled HighWire minicon that the Kicker action figure could use.

Legends of Cybertron - Galaxy Force EZ (pronouned E-Zee) collection in Japan.

Obviously something has been lost in the downsizing of these toys. None of them have a key gimmick or electronics and there is some loss of articulation.

Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime is a Wave 1 Legends of Cybertron toy - which also appears in the Target exclusive four pack -and was also available in the Galaxy Force EZ Collection in Japan with slightly different paint applications.

Optimus Prime suffers the most of all the Legends as he's lost the entire trailer off the back of him. The "cab mode" is shown on the instructions but I don't recall seeing it outside of theat. He's mainly cast in dark blue plastic with the cab paintred red and some silver on the legs. A small ammount of grey plastic is also used on the foot joint, waist, shoulders and elbows but this is all hidden away in vehicle mode. I've heard it said that Optimus Prime is either a futristic truck or Fire Engine. I've got no idea and I'm afraid the repaints of this toy only confuse the matter.

TF is virtually the same as the larger version: Fold the back three quarters of the truck under the cab then bend the back quarter of the truck back up down the back of the robot legs. Fold the waist plate on the back of the cab down. Fold down the grill under the cab. Fold the grill halves 90 degrees in towards the middle - excessive force may be required. Split the cab in two and fold slightly out to the sides. Pull the head up - to get it to stay up you may need to pull it right the way out by sticking a screw driver into one of the holes on the back of the head

His robot mode - the smaller of the 2 Cybertron Prime robots - has elbows, shoulders that swing back and hips - nothing else.

Nice representation of the smaller Prime, essentially a mini statue. The design would only need minor modification to add on the larger robot feet - make the piece connecting the foot to the leg longer with it sliding on the peg on the leg and more of it recessed in the leg. This would then pull out, the back of the truck fold forward to form the Super Mode feet and the extended strut would be recessed in a slot in the back of the foot.

"Megalo Convoy" Metalic Convoy

A version of EZ Collection Prime with the cab done in red chrome. Very nice. This was available only with the Galaxy Force Megalo Convoy.

Galaxy Force Optimus Prime

Galaxy Force Optimus Prime is a Wave 4 Legends of Cybertron toy.

Wow, new stuff is showing up in the UK tick and fast at the moment ! Liz got 3 of the Wave 4 toys for me from the local Asda Walmart, but they've also been seen at Tescos. 3 of them are repaints of Wave 1 toys but one is a brand new sculpt.

Optimus Prime - this is the one Liz didn't come back with - she said she couldn't find it - but it's the least interesting of the 3 having a simple colour swap taking the blue and making it black. Since I already have 2 Ops - LoC Wave 1 and the Megalo Convoy pack in I may feel safe skipping this. But at £3.00 if it's on the shelf it's mine.

UPDATED: I now have him: This isn't a straight repaint of the Wave 1 toy as I thought, a lot of the detail is changed. The red is replaced with a more strawberry pink red, and the blue with a dark blue/black. His knees become metallic blue, the detail on his waist plate silver, and the area from windows to waist turns white. He looses the Autobot logo (!) to be replaced by the planet symbols - Beast and Speed on his right shoulder, Earth and Giant on his left. At £3.00 it not bad at all though I wouldn't pay for the full size version with so little changes.

Menasor

Menasor is a Classics Legends Wave 2 toy.

I'm told that like Fireflight they wanted another names for Menasor (Powerglide and Motormaster respectively) but couldn't get it due to trademark problems. He's an odd merging of the Ultra Magnus and Nemesis Prime colour schemes produces an odd looking toy, and one of the first "Prime" toys with different colours for their chest and robot fronts. Most of the toy is moulded in grey, with Prime's grey parts becoming purple. As per the original Motormaster the cab is painted black. The pink on the windscreens is odd. Once in hand I find it is much improved over the preview photos the grey is much darker and the purple more vibrant than shown. Very nice effect.

Hot Zone

In 2008 Target had a pair of boxes each containing five legends figures recoloured round a certain theme. These packs were then sold through Argos in the UK in 2009. Hotzone is found in the Universe Special Team leaders boxset. He swaps the blue for light blue and the grey for black. Black paint is applied to the head, waist and the leg tops, with red paint used on the faceplate, chest and knees.

The mould's use as Menasor (Motormaster) would say it was a truck, but using it as Hotspot says fire engine ! What they've done with the paint makes it a decent representation of the Hotspot robot but it's crying out for a ladder in vehicle mode.

UNUSED FULL SIZE REPAINTS

Cybertron Optimus Prime has no repaints that haven't been used on the Legends toy.

POSSIBLE FUTURE REPAINTS

Obvious repaints include Nemesis Prime/Scourge and Ultra Magnus. It's surprising neither has been used for this toy or the full size version

[Philip Ayres]

Megatron

Megatron's vehicle mode is the car seen on the larger toy, mainly moulded in dark grey but with some orange used on the robot limbs and with some purple paint. A passable plane mode can also be formed from this toy, but isn't an official mode.

TF to robot mode: pull the back wheels out to the sides. Fold the waist piece back and straighten the legs behind the car. Fold the feet down so they point downward and the soles face out the back of the car. Pull the front wheels out to the sides - mine has snapped one of the pegs that hold the wheels & housing in place doing this ! - and fold them back onto the top of the back of the car. Separate the front of the car and fold each half out to the sides. Fold the driver's compartment down under the car to form the robot's chest and reveal the head. Turn the arms in so the elbow faces down, then bend the halves of the front of the car down to fold up the hands.

Megatron is a great reduction of the leader toy with ball jointed knees, hips and biceps. If you can shrink the larger toy so successfully, then does that hint that there's not enough to the larger toy ?

Galvatron

Megatron with a new (better) grey paint scheme. Nice, get it.

There's also a very similar version of Galvatron in the EZ Collection which figure which was given away free with an issue of Dengeki Hobby Magazine in Japan. See Remy's Collection 380: EZ Collection Galvatron for pictures

Unreleased Full Size Versions

There are no unreleased full size repaints of Megatron.

Possible Future Repaints

One repaint is probably enough but an all black Batmobile would be nice. Stretching the form a bit I suppose you could just about get a blue Mirage or yellow Dragstrip out of this toy. It's interesting though that this is the only Legends mould not be used since Cybertron.

[Philip Ayres]

Starscream

Starscream is a Wave 1 Legends of Cybertron toy also appearing in the Galaxy Force EZ Collection and the target Exclusive Legends of Cybertron four pack. Starscream is a downsized version of the futuristic "War Within" style jet seen in Galaxy Force & Cybertron. Mainly moulded in silver grey he uses black plastic for the robot hands and the fold out weapons - he's got a sword under his right arm/wing, and a gun on the left though if you buy 2 I imagine it's a simple matter to swap one on each to mimic the Voyager version which had two swords - the gun being introduced on the Supreme Cybertron toy. As per the full size version the wings tilt from straight out the sides to pointing down a little. TF: Separate the front of the plane, pull to the sides & forwards to form the legs. Twist the lower legs round at the knee so the painted side faces up and fold the feet up. Bend the back third of the jet back 90 degrees to reveal the head. Turn the wings so the tips point up. Fold the hands out from under the wings. Turn the tail upside down.

Starscream is a superb miniaturised version of the larger toy - Ball jointed hips knees and shoulders form the articulation - all he's really lost from the mega sized toy articulation wise is the elbows.

If you can shrink the larger toy so successfully, then does that hint that there's not enough to the larger toy ?

Comicon Skywarp

Skywarp was a Starscream repaint exclusive to the San Diego Comicon in 2005. The grey is swapped for black and the black for purple with some new paint Ops in silver and purple. He came with a all black Cybertron planet key with a red Autobot symbol on it.

Botcon Ramjet

Ramjet was a repaint exclusive to Botcon 2005. This uses the Universe ramjet colour scheme - swapping the grey for white and adding some new blue paint ops.

Sunstorm

Sunstrom is a Wave 4 Legends of Cybertron toy and the first repaint in the main legends line to use a colour scheme not found on a larger version of the toy.

As you may have gathered I'm not a subscriber to the cult of Sunstorm - the need to repaint every Starscream in bright yellow after the character that appears in 2 seconds of the cartoon and several issues of the Dreamwave comic. He's been a full size e-hobby exclusive and an Armada Thrust repaint at the point when everyone just wanted a real Armada Thrust. I'm pretty sure he's been a convention exclusive PVC and a statue as well. There was a period a few years back when you couldn't move for Sunstorms (and white Prime repaint Ultra Magnus) But it's been a while since the last Sunstorm repaint and this one only cost me £3.00. And actually it's rather good: The bright yellow is far more effective on the futuristic jet mold with some nice orange detailing. The upper legs and gun/sword are a pearl white, the hands are painted silver and the feet black. I'd rather have had all the original Decepticon jets first but this works on the small toy.

Ramjet

Ramjet is the first of two uses of this mould in the Target/Argos exclusive Air Rivals box.

The grey is swapped for white and some dark burgundy paint ops are added. Looks nice, but I prefer his companion Thrust in this box.

Thrust

Thrust is the second of two uses of this mould in the Target/Argos exclusive Air Rivals box.

Here grey is swapped for burgundy with silver paint ops. Do this as a Voyager sized toy and I'll buy it !

Unreleased Full Size Versions

There are three full size versions of Starscream that haven't been used as Legends repaints: TRU Starscream - an inverse version of the standard Starscream colours mainly in red with minor grey highlights, Shatter Glass Starscream - a white & red versions apeing G1 Jetfire and Universe Dirge - a blue & beige version of the mould using the G1 Dirge colours.

It should be noted that the original colours for this toy have never been released on the Voyager sized mould outside of Japan - in the west we got the absurd giant version of Starscream.

Possible Future Repaints

There hasn't been a dark blue version of this toy similar to G1 Thundercracker yet. Neither has the Universe Acid Storm - another paint scheme used on a G1 jet - been used here. There are also three other versions of the original Starscream - Black, Ghost and G2 - plus the purple G2 version of Ramjet that could lend their colours to a new repaint of this toy.

[Philip Ayres]

Hotshot

Hot Shot is a Wave 1 Legends of Cybertron toy.

When I first reviewed Legends of Cybertron waves 1 & 2 I wrote the following "Legends of Cybertron (LoC) Wave 2 showed up on the Hasbro UK online store recently. Good thinks I, can write a review. Then I found out I'd never looked at Wave 1 ! Then I discovered Hot Shot was missing after sitting on my desk for months !! So 5 new toys & 2 orders to the Hasbro UK website later..... " Blow me if I haven't gone and lost the second one just before starting this review. I suspect my two year old son has hidden it somewhere.

Hot Shot is a great reduction of the dlx toy - less size to loose here than the other three toys in the first wave. The main moulding colour for the car is blue as per the larger one but the upper legs, robot shoulder panels and the backpack fins are all red. The fins can still be extended in car mode - you'll need to fold them out as he's not got a key socket anymore.

TF: Pull back the lower half of the back of the vehicle to form the feet. Swing round the upper half of the back and the windscreen so the windscreen points back. Fold the sides of the car out to the sides then separate the bonnet in two folding out to the sides and moving the arms down to the sides of the body. Stand.

Near perfect reproduction of the original robot mode. His articulation looses the elbows, neck and knees of the original, and the backpack is looser but does include little flip out fins. The elbows are a loss as the arms now seem too long !


Hotshot "Excellion"

Hot Shot is a Wave 4 Legends of Cybertron toy. Hot Shot - Oh the confusion ! The red Hot Shot repaint in the main line is called Excellion. Here he's called Hot Shot. Whatever. The Hot Rod/Rodimus deco is rolled out again giving Hot Shot a red body with orange fins, shoulders and upper legs in robot mode. There's gold fire detail on the bonnet of the car. You may recall I rather liked Excellion so I'm quite keen on this too, well worth getting if you wouldn't spring a tenner for the full size repaint.


Bumblebee

Bumblebee is a Wave 2 Classics toy (7th Legends Wave) Oh this is a clever repaint. Remember the mould started out as Hot Shot in Cybertron ? Well Hot Shot started out as Yellow in Armada and Energon so this brings us full circle. It's also quite nice that Bumblbee - who's almost a younger Hotshot in the G1 Cartoon - finally gets a grown up version ! Elegant I feel, nicely done. 3rd time out in general production for this mould.


Red Alert

Red Alert is a Wave 1 Universe toy (8th Legends Wave) Red Alert is a recolour of Legends of Cybertron Wave 1 Hot Shot. Surprisingly the white and red work really well on this mould making me want to see the colour scheme on the full size toy.
Unreleased Full Size Versions

Hot Shot was repainted in white & blue as Wal*Mart Movie deluxe

Breakaway. He also appears - slightly remoulded - as

Botcon 2008 Shattered Glass Goldbug repainted in Black & Yellow.
Possible Future Repaints

The only real extra versions of this I can think of are going the chrome route or doing clear & black versions similar to the eHobby repaints of G1 Hotrod.

[Philip Ayres]

Leobreaker

Leobreaker is a Wave 2 Legends of Cybertron Toy.

Mainly moulded in goldy brown for the fur Leobreaker has white plastic used for his foreclaws, back and tail. Front legs just look wrong in beast mode especially the paws. The claws bend down at the end in Lion mode and the tail bend down slightly before turning up and then down again slightly before the pointed tip. This will become important later as the manufacturers get a little confused. The claws fold down, the tail moves up & down, the hips move on all four legs and each leg bends somewhere in the middle - the front pair at the knee the back more towards the ankle.

Leobreaker is a boring stand it on it's hind legs TF. The beast head and shoulders are then folded down so the head is looking forward. The front legs fold down to become the arms. The mane then pulls up in the middle to reveal the robot head

His robot mode has got knees, hips, elbows, shoulders and a neck articulated !

He can't form an arm mode to combine with Prime or Megatron

Leo Prime

Leo Prime is a Wave 1 Classics Legend toy.

Leo Prime is an English version of the Japanese toy name Leo Convoy, who was the Maximal leader in BWII. His white for brown, gold for white and red paint scheme translates well to the LoC lion, and the transition from the shoulder to the robot chest of the beast head doesn't make you think it isn't who the toy claims to be. Good repaint.

My one of this release has the tail the wrong way up !

Razorclaw

In 2008 Target had a pair of boxes each containing five legends figures (using a total of nine of the original 12 Legends moulds) recoloured round a theme. These packs were then sold through Argos in the UK in 2009. Razorclaw is found in the Universe Special Team leaders boxset. This time white becomes yellow and gold plastic becomes black with some new orange and black paint added. The tail is the right way up again this time but the claws are now upside down ! Decent repaint again.

Unreleased Full Size Repaints

There are two versions of the Voyager size Leobreaker toy which have not had their colours used on the Legends mould - Nemesis Breaker a black repaint to pair with Megatron/Galvatron and Universe Voyager Leo Prime a hideous red and blue repaint designed to integrate better with Cybertron Prime's colour scheme.

Possible Future Repaints

None that I can think of.

[Philip Ayres]

Scourge

Scourge is a Wave 2 Legends of Cybertron toy. To me the name Scourge will always be Galvatron's henchman. But in recent years it's come to mean "Evil Optimus Prime" alternating in use on Black Optimus repaints with Nemesis Prime. In Japan all the planet leader toys were called Something Convoy - Convoybeing the Japanese name for Optimus just incase someone reading this doesn't know that. The Beast Planet leader was called Flame Convoy and was a Decepticon so Scourge then becomes the obvious choie of name for the western version.

Scourge is effective reduction of the larger (ultra) toy in his dragon mode, but you can't pick any detail out on the dragon heads due to bright orange plastic being used - a dab of paint for the eyes would have helped. All the toy is moulded in orange save for the four beast feet which are grey. Ball joints exist on the central beast head, the shoulders/hips and the rear ankles. There's some on the front knee but the direction of bend is inwards eliminating it's use as an articulated joint.

TF: Fold the front legs out to the side and the front feet so they point back. Fold the tail up and straighten the back legs behind the toy. Fold the central beast head down onto the underside of the beast body - you may need to position the outer heads at different levels and turn the central head as it goes past them. Fold the robot head up and stand.

One of the first things that strikes you about the robot is how fat it looks - the body doesn't extend like the larger toy which emphasises that Scourge looks like he's been on the pies. Then we have the hands - folded up at right angles to the forearms. I'd have moulded the hands straight onto the back of the foot. Further up the arm the elbow only folds back which is useless. Seeing as this was joint was also the wrong way round for a knee in beast mode I can only conclude that a moulding error has been made. Move the open segment of the ball socket round to the front and we'd have a properly bending arm. The robot head, ankles, hips, shoulders and aforementioned elbows are all ball jointed.

Overall: Too many pies and two too many errors on the arms spoil the toy.

Trypticon

Trypticon is a Wave 1 Classics Legend toy.

Instead of doing the Cryo Scourge colour scheme here, the body being moulded in grey, with the feet being done in purple and the shoulders & head spikes painted a pale purple. Given the Leobreaker repaint many assumed this would be BWII Galvatron but the Trypticon name is appropriate given the dragon's 3 heads. As before the robot looks like he's had far too many good dinners ! But a nice attractive colour scheme.

Hun-Grrr

Hun-Grrr is found in the Universe Special Team leaders boxset. The original Hun-Grrr was a two headed dragon so it's not too much of a stretch to make him a three headed dragon for Universe. Ornage becomes an off white/very pale grey here with the feet moulded in a darker grey and purple highlights applied to the head & shoulder spikes. Decent use of the G1 paint scheme.
Unreleased Full Size versions

There are three version of the full size Scourge not released in the Legends line. The first is

Cryo Scourge a purple & light blue repaint released late in the Cybertron line and

Predacon Bruticus a multicoloured red, yellow, purple and gold repaint shortly to be a Toys R Us exclusive in Universe. The third, less well known, version is a Japanese competition prize:

"Sky Lynx" Flame Convoy a version done in silver, blue and red.
Possible Future Repaints

Given that the toy is called Scourge there's two routes you could take - an all blue one like the G1 character or an all black one playing on the Decpticon Optimus Prime = Black Optimus Prime theme.

[Philip Ayres]

Evac

Evac is a Wave 2 Legends of Cybertron toy.

Evac's helicopter vehicle mode has been miniaturised at the cost of several of the details & action features. He's lost the key gimmick, the winch, the landing gear and the crank on the blades but the blades do still spin. His tail may be a little short however, and his guns are permanently deployed. But he still looks like what he's meant to with most of the helicopter being cast in yellow plastic and the rotors, guns, robot upper limbs and waist being blue.

His TF retains much of the complexity of the original - I think it's been modified slightly. Separate the underside of the helicopter and the cockpit. Fold down under the helicopter to form the legs. Turn each leg in 90 degrees to face backwards. Fold the feet out. Pull the winch down a bit then fold it & the side of the helicopter out to one side and the rotors & other side to the other, passing the rotor blades through the guns. Fold each arm down at the shoulder so rotors face front and winch faces out to the side. Fold the shoulders back 90 degrees. Split the tail in two down the middle and fold to the sides. Fold the guns back and down between the tail halves which in turn folds their connecting strut down the robot's back. Fold the guns up onto the back. Rotate 180 degrees at the waist.

While the robot looses any meaningful arm articulation it does have ball jointed knees, hips and (shock) a waist ! Compare to the original the legs have grown and the chest has shrunk.

I originally though Evac the best of the LoCs to that point, now I'm not so sure.

Whirl

Whirl is a Wave 2 Classics Legend toy.

Unlike the other toys used in this wave there's no obvious repaint in Cybertron. Instead they've looked at Autobot helicopters, eliminated Blades for using the same colour scheme as Jetfire, and Highbrow for having 2 rotors and settled for giving Whirl a much more rounded shape. Yellow becomes pale blue and blue becomes grey. Perfectly acceptable repaint.

Blades

Blades does eventually show up as part of the Target/Argos exclusive Air Rivals pack.

For this release yellow becomes red and blue becomes white giving the Legends version a better set of colours closer to the G1 Blades than the Universe Voyager Blades repaint of Evac got !

Unreleased Full Sized Versions

Evac has been repainted as Springer (available with Ratbat and a Target 2006 reprint comic) - he's a green & grey repaint that could easily translate to the Legends figure

Possible Future Repaints

I want a black Airwolf version !

[Philip Ayres]

Jetfire

Jetfire is a Wave 2 Legends of Cybertron toy. Given that Jetfire was originally an Ultra sized toy this reduction in size has been done really well. All the plane mode has lost is the rollers underneath it and the electronics. Most of the plane is moulded in green.

TF: as per the larger toy. Pull the under carriage out to form the legs, fold the hips back and twist the waist round 90 degrees. Fold the wings, then the nose down so the nose locks onto the waist. Fold the head up and fold the arms down from under the wings. Fold the tail onto the back.

When you look at the robot you realise that to merely loose his shoulder & neck articulation is an astonishing bit of work miniaturising a toy ! (see comments in previous Legends reviews about is a toy that good if it can be miniaturised so easily) Grey is introduced here on the robot upper limbs. His elbows bend, his waist turns and he has ball jointed hips & knees.

Great reduction in size.

A slightly altered version of Jetfire was in the target four pack.

Fireflight

Fireflight is a Wave 1 Classics Legend and is the first Aerialbot name to be used on a Legend - in time most of the team will appear.

The main body is a brick red, with the additional robot parts a creamy beige colour. This looks nothing like the white with red chest of G1 Fireflight. In fact I only realised what it was when I say the toy today - it's BW Razorbeast's colours in jet form ! A bit garish I feel, could have done better.

Air Raid

Air Raid appears in the Air Rivals box exclusive to Target in the US and Argos in the UK.

For this repaint green becomes light grey and grey becomes dark grey. Lots of blue paint is added to the Jet form.

There is a case for suggesting that the wrong name has been applied to this toy. Legends Skydive in the same box is painted the same as, and with a similar vehicle mode to the G2 Cyberjet Air Raid.

Unreleased Full Sized Versions

There are two repaints of the full size Jetfire that haven't been released as Legends. The first is Sky Shadow a tan & black with purple paint Decepticon disguise version of Jetfire. The second is the Toys R Us Movie exclusive Jetstorm an authentic looking white & grey plane.

Possible Future Repaints

Apart from going the traditional all black route for the repaint a white & red version as a homage to the original Jetfire would be nice.

[Philip Ayres]

I'm sensing from a lack of comments that these aren't setting people's worlds on fire. Just four to go, but one of them is the greatest of all Legends which is better than the original. Sadly one of the others is Soundwave.

[The Doctor]

Keep going, Phil. I for one am reading.

-Ralph

[legios]

Phil, apologies - I have been otherwise occupied with work-related stuff and haven't had a chance to comment in any detail as yet. Do please continue, as I am finding it quite interesting - you are covering quite a few toys I haven't had much exposure to.

Karl

[Philip Ayres]

Ta guys, always nice to know someone's reading them. There was no chance of me stopping anyway without a cavalcade of complaints !

[Philip Ayres]

Soundwave

Soundwave is a Wave 3 Legends of Cybertron.

I come not to praise Soundwave but to bury him, preferably in a deep dark hole. I don't like this toy.

The toy is supposed to transform into a Stealth Jet style space ship. Supposed. I can't get it into jet mode, too many pegs, won't align properly. When you do get close the back just looks wrong with all the straight lines being on diagonals. This sort of thing does not make me want the larger version. The main part of the plane is blue.

TF to robot mode is more simple - pull the sides of the body of the jet out to the sides and up round the nosecone. Fold everything back locking the waist into the robot body - when I tried the reverse TF for this review the waist popped apart - and turning the legs in 90 degrees at the knee - reversing this will probably pop them off at the hip. Fold the wings back onto the robot's back where one of the sets of holes should peg into the waist.

Soundwave's robot has had Grey added to the colours for the robot limbs. His articulation consists of ball jointed shoulders, hips and knees. Like the larger version, the LoC is somewhat spoilt by the huge chunk of nosecone hanging off of it.

AVOID !

Skydive

Skydive is found in the Universe Air Rivals box.

I'm of the opinion that this toy is misnamed. The black for the body of the jet with the light blue for the robot limbs together with the general form of the jet puts me in mind of the G2 Cyberjet Air Raid, whose name has been used on another toy in this set - see LoC Jetfire. Of course comparison to even the worst Cyberjet mould puts this toy in the shade.

Unreleased Full Sized Versions

Incredibly the full size Sounwave has had two repaints: Soundblaster and now Universe Blaster.

Possible Future Repaints

Hopefully none. One is enough. I never want to see this repainted, it's an awful toy

[blueshift]

The big Cybertron Soundwave is a pretty sweet figure!

[Philip Ayres]

Vector Prime

Vector Prime is a Wave 3 Legends of Cybertron toy.

His Legends version is simplified loosing the movement in the wings and scaled down but still looks not too bad. As a bonus he's more like the original Japanese colours being moulded mainly in grey rather than the white used for both Cybertron US versions. In fact my main criticism of the robot mode is that you can see his face looking up at you !

TF: Fold the legs back from under the spaceship & fold the feet down. Fold the nosecone down. Fold the shoulder pads up.

Robot mode reveals brown on the upper legs and robot arms - also used on the wings supports. He's got ball jointed shoulders & hips with bending knees and ankles.

The robot mode looks superb and the vehicle's a good attempt spoilt by the limits of the size.
Scattorshot

Scattorshot appears in the Special Team Leaders boxset exclusive to Target & Argos.

This is an inventive reuse of the mould - I suspect the process ran something like "We've done Onslaught and Motormaster, Thundercracker can be Silverbolt, Optimus as Hotspot, Leobreaker as Razorclaw and we can stretch Scourge to be Hun-Grrr. Now what sort of Spaceship mould do we have ?" So vector Prime becomes white, with the brown becoming red. There is brown paint used on the toy on the legs & shoulders like the Technobot Leader Scattorshot but this only serves to give the toy a half finished repaint (together with the white which is close match for the US Vector Prime) look and to pull your mind back to Vector Prime. Maybe red paint instead of the brown would be better ?

Unreleased Full Sized Versions

Vector Prime is one of Cybertron's repaint kings ! He's been the white Western Vector Prime, the gold Galaxy Force Vector Prime, the lilac Botcon Exclusive Alpha Trion and is now back as a sort of brown Universe Vector Prime

Possible Future Repaints

A green camo Vorlon ship homage would be nice ! An all red version might look pretty good too.

[The Doctor]

I didn't think Soundwave was that bad.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Nurse ! Mr Burns hasn't had his medication !

[Philip Ayres]

Are you saying that you couldn't transform THAT TOY but could manage LoC (and undeed Voyager) Soundwave OK ?

[Hero]

I quite like LoC Soundwave too.

===KEN

[The Doctor]

Feb 11, 2009 11:05:31 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Are you saying that you couldn't transform THAT TOY but could manage LoC (and undeed Voyager) Soundwave OK ?

Yes. I used to own LoC Soundwave and transformed it many times!

-Ralph

[Bogatan]

I like LOC Soundwave a lot more than Voyager Soundwave. I cant put my finger on what I didnt like but I wouldnt spend £20 on it.

I only just realised that I dont own LOC Vector PRime which does look rather nice.

Andy

[blueshift]

Soundwave is a bit gimpy and his transformation is tricky but once you get him right he is awesome (make sure you do his neck properly, most people don't realise it clips down). Also Laserbeak is so sweet.

[Philip Ayres]

Red Alert

Red Alert is a Wave 3 Legends of Cybertron toy. Actually he is Cybertron Defence Red Alert not the original dlx version. There's a big gap in the top of the vehicle where all the panel folding happens on the larger toy but otherwise accurate vehicle down to the Cybertron Defence/Vanguard team logo on the front of the cast white vehicle with it's grey wheels. Closer examination of the wheels shows them to be moulded and painted with smaller (also grey) wheels housed inside the front & rear wheels. The rocket (moulded grey but painted silver) is fixed onto the smaller toy in an open cannon position and will pivot back.

TF: Fold the back half of the toy back. Fold the very front up to become the feet. Separate the legs.

He's a lovely blocky small version of the bigger toy in robot mode. His articulation is a little limited - just ball jointed hips and turning shoulders but the cannon has some movement too being able to elevate and fold down behind his back - something you couldn't do to the larger toy.

Best of the wave, get it.

Perceptor

Perceptor is a wave 1 Classics Legend.

At the time LoC Red Alert had no obvious Autobot repaint colour scheme. So they've looked for an Autobot with a shoulder cannon and come up with Perceptor. And yes, it does just about work, you could conceive the missile truck is some sort of mobile telescope. The white has become red and the cannon & wheels have ended up in black.

Nice try, I've mellowed on the plasticness of the red as time's gone on. It was a good enough try for the colours to be used on the full size Ultra mould to make TRU Universe Exclusive Countdown

Onslaught

Onslaught is a Wave 1 Universe Legends toy. Nice moulded grey with purple painted SWAT team colouring here with black replacing grey and the cannon once again being painted silver.

The name and colours suit the mould. They are also used on a new Ultra Sized version of Onslaught.

Unreleased Full Sized Versions

Although inspired by the Perceptor above *technically* Countdown is an unreleased full size version of the toy. There's also a grey Botcon exclusive version used as pre Beast Wars Megatron which isn't too dissimilar to the Onslaught Legend above.

[Philip Ayres]

Thundercracker

Thundercracker is sole new toy is Wave 4 Legends of Cybertron. If you look at my LoC Starscream review I hinted that there might be not enough to a larger toy if it could be shrunk so successfully. Thundercracker goes through this and comes out the other side - he's *better* than his larger toy.

Jet mode still has the pop up top to the jet but it doesn't do anything, you'll have to imagine the missiles there. all of the jet mode top is moulded in dark grey plastic.

To TF the undercarriage swings to the side on an arm connected to one of the robots arms. The legs and lower body fold out under the plane Cyberjet style, and the feet fold down. The nose cone folds down to become the chest revealing the head and the arms. Position the gun on it's arm - either over the hand or stored to the side.

For a start the robot mode has 2 hands. Then the gun looks sleeker as well - not being made from the top of the jet helps ! His revealed arms, waist and feet are moulded in dark blue. He's got shoulder and hip ball joint articulation. A lovely simple small jet toy that works - get an army of them.

Jetfire

Jetfire is a Wave 2 Classics Legend toy.

Odd one this. Decepticons are seriously under represented in Classics LoC, and none of them are jets (See my moans about the lack of small Decepticon jets ad nauseum) Instead we get what looks like a near perfectly presentable Jetfire colour scheme with the grey becoming white ........ But What you can't see from the preview photos is that Jetfire's colours are spoilt by the off white colour used instead of the blue for his arms and feet. It doesn't match the colour used on the rest of the toy..... which looks less like Jetfire and more like an Aerialbot.

The only other problems I have with the toy are that when I see the name Jetfire I think swing wing jet, and there's already been a LOC Jetfire using another toy in the Cybertron line !

Starscream

Starscream is a wave 1 Universe Legends toy.

Looks great in the Starscream colours with the grey becoming a more silver grey and the blue becoming a darker blue. Red, blue and orange paint highlights are added to the jet and the robot's head gets painted black.

Silverbolt

Silverbolt appears in the Universe "Special Team Leaders" pack exclusive to Target & Argos.

This version swaps grey for a creamy white and blue for a very dark brown nearly black. Lots of red paint highlights on the jet. It's a good set of Silverbolt colours but it does really remind me of the colours used on the Calibre Minicon team (Air Military recolour) and Wing Sabre.

Unreleased Full Sized Versions

I'd have paid money for the unmade LoC Thundercracker painted as Skywarp, and I don't think that would have looked out of place in either classics or Universe. Instead LOC Skywarp joins the list of must make repaints with above and the yellow NSC, green Hoist as Scavenger and Red Armada Wheeljack as Sideswipe.

Possible Future Repaints

Having started as Thundercracker, done as Starscream and should have been done as deluxe Thundercracker's Skywarp recolour, the obvious choices here are Thrust/Dire/Ramjet and Sunstorm & Acid Storm.

[grahamthomson]

I've never been particularly interested in Legends myself. But it's interesting to read your thoughts on them, Phil!

[Philip Ayres]

Some of them have been stonkingly good for the size: Hot Shot, Red Alert & Thundercracker.

Please tell me you have a G2 Megatron Tank legend G ?

(the Universe Legends were too recent for me to rehash. BUT I do have A movie legend twin pack I must right about)

[grahamthomson]

Feb 12, 2009 10:31:16 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Please tell me you have a G2 Megatron Tank legend G ?

Okay.

"Phil, I have a G2 Megatron Tank legend."

[Philip Ayres]

Do you actually have one ?

[The Doctor]

It's well worth £3 of anyone's pennies.

-Ralph