Phil's Energon Reviews

[legios]

Aug 27, 2009 13:17:07 GMT Philip Ayres said:

They're a Voyage pack, not Ultra. As you say Wing Saber didn't get repainted,

Not within the Energon line, but he has had a repaint since in the 2007 Movie line (And a rather fetching colour scheme I think it is too).

I remember seeing pictures of the Energon Grimlock and Swoop and recoiling in horror. Time has not mellowed my feelings towards those particular molds I'm afraid.

Karl

[blueshift]

That was Cybertron Wingsaber who was recoloured

[legios]

Aug 27, 2009 19:34:03 GMT blueshift said:

That was Cybertron Wingsaber who was recoloured

*thumps self on forehead* Yes, it was indeed. I'd say that I wasn't entirely sure what I was thinking when I said that, but I'm not actually sure that I even _ was _ thinking.....

Karl

[Philip Ayres]

Scorponok

Scorponok's the 4th Transformer Scorpion toy after the original Scorponok (later recoloured as Mega Zarak), Action master Double Punch (who we know really is Scorponok) and BW Scorponok. Oh and for completeness sake Action Master Devastator had a scorpion companion Scorpulator that turned into a gun.

You somehow expect Scorponok to be bigger - the name automatically implies something the size of the old Headmaster base toy. But here he feels a bit small in all his modes - I wonder if Leader sizing him would have given a better toy. Scorps looks like some construction vehicles mangled together and made to look like a scorpion - I recall a rumour to the effect that he was going to be two combining construction vehicles, but can't find anything to back that up. He's got shovels for claws, a cab for a body, treads instead of legs and a crane for a tail. The claw arms move up and to the sides at the shoulders and bend at the elbow as well as sliding forward and to the sides at the claw. However it may be that just this last movement is the only one you should be using in this mode because beyond the shoulders there's a couple of flaps that look like they might be mandibles for the mouth. It's also a shame the claw arms don't rotate so that the shovels can be angled to either dig like an excavator or shovel forward like a digger. There are missile launchers embedded in the arms - extend the claws and slide the missile launcher forward the fire using the trigger in the side. Bend the tail - at the base or in the middle - and the noises go off. In fact do anything and noises go off - have a screwdriver ready for a batteryacectomy the moment you get him out the box. Clear yellow Energon cannons can be deployed from the sides of the end of the tail by sliding the cockpit mounted on the tip backwards - the cockpit has a Minicon peg on to of it as do the launchers sticking through the sides of the claws. Continuing the machinery look is a tow hook mounted under the tail tip. The clear yellow is also used for some exhaust pipes next to the cab, the bulk of the missile launchers, a pair of claws on the back of the treads (I'll come back to these later) a pair of blades projecting from the side of the claws, which are themselves a dark green used for the treads and the cab front/scorpion head. light green forms most of the cab and continues back through the tail. Claws, hips, shoulders and shovels are orange with other pieces picked out in pale blue, black and a small amount of purple on the wheels and internal joints.

To TF to Jet mode pull the head halves apart down the middle and fold back 90 degrees so they stick out to the sides. These then fold forward again about 1/4 of the way along so they are now either side of the body. Fold the tail underneath him so it's pointing out the front of the toy between the head halves. Fold the treads out at the back of the toy, then fold out the blue cylinders at their end to form thrusters with the shovels becoming tiny wings. Rotate the claws back at the shoulders and flatten against the sides of the jet.

I'm tempted to say that this mode is an afterthought as it looks more than a bit like one of Sixshot's modes. And because it looks remarkably like the robot mode that follows !

To TF to Robot mode fold the thrusters back and bend the shovels up to become the feet, the n fold the heel spurs down. The jet's nose once again becomes a tail which is folded onto his back and then down behind him. Pull the top of the cab forward and flip the head up, then replace the cab - nice G1 Scorponok homage there as Zarak - Scorponok's Headmaster - operated the Scorpion mode from within what became the robot's chest. The instructions then show the scorpion head halves bent out to the sides but this restricts the arm movement somewhat so I'd be tempted to leave them pointing skyward (or forward as they were in jet mode) which then gives you full range of motion at the shoulders.

Most of the robot is formed from existing pieces with the only newly revealed part being the blue head with a painted yellow face and fold back yellow visor. As shown in the instructions the robot would have arms swinging round and bending up under the shoulders but iif you go fo0r the alternate mode you get rotating shoulder movement wih arms that fold up to the sides there (I was going to moan about the shoulder articulation but was quite chuffed at finding that alternate mode :-) ) Either way the arms bend in at the elbow - as per scorpion mode a rotational joint at the bicep would have added to the toy as would a wrist joint here. The neck turn, as do the hips, the knees bend and there is some ankle movement where the bucket scoops are attached. He can hold a running pose OK - superb ! I have no idea what the yellow Energon claws on his knees are for - they serve no purpose in any of his three modes. A pair of shovels pointing to the rear in scorpion mode would make better kneecaps now and would look better in jet mode ! There's a pair of guns on each hip looking like sawn off G1 Scorponok cannons - these rotate. The 2 Energon exhaust pipes on the cab can be removed and held using the 5mm hole on his claws as guns. The tail can either droop behind him or be poised over his head to sting.

So.... A little too small, missing a couple of joints that would have really added something and with very odd knee caps. But the construction vehicle parts shaped to look like a scorpion look is good. It's a decent toy - decent enough to serve as a Classics Scorponok in the absence of the real thing. But looking closely at it there are flaws as outlined above.

Mega Zarak

Scorponok was sold in the Superlink line in Japan as SD-05 Mega Zarak - a nod to Scorponok's original Japanese name, not the name of the western Nebulon who was his Headmaster - a toy which is coloured differently to it's western counterpart:

Orange becomes yellowy gold while both the dark green & light green become paler shades (similar to the existing light green), the purple becomes black and the blue is slightly lighter The olivey bronze, black and clear yellow stay the same, but HLJ.com shows a Prototype with clear green Energon.

In some ways the colours of the Japanese version are more unified but in other ways he looks a little washed out.

Dark Scorponok

Scorponok returned in the second wave of Cybertron toys

Dark green becomes a greyer dark green, light green becomes dark green bordering on black, blue becomes a lighter blue, orange becomes black, brassy olive becomes bronze, black becomes brassy olive and clear yellow becomes clear red. The toy receives a remould too to make the fold out cannons on the end of the tail/sides of the nose powered by a Jungle Planet key #u812.

Dark Scorponok was not sold in Japan and shelf warmed in the UK due to being the only toy in his Ultra size case - some areas still had unsold Energon Scorponoks for sale !

Future Repaints

I've already said that Scorponok would make a satisfactory Classics Scorponok. A little work would help things - maybe swapping the orange for purple and making the Energon green or purple ? Dark Scorponok isn't too far away from Mega Zarak's colour scheme but an all black & gold version would be nice as would black & red to homage Beast Wars Scorponok.

[blueshift]

Scorponok always seemed like a half-finished toy. His arms are so odd, and there is the baffling choice of excavator claws and the little cockpit in the tail. I'll wager he was going to be a scorpion-digger at some point, there is no other reasonable explanation for those hands.

As a note, the original Scorponok was repainted as Black Zarak, not Mega Zarak. Mega Zarak was the name of the original Scorponok in Japan.

[Philip Ayres]

You'll know most of these reviews are updates of earlier ones. Didn't need to do much to this one - just merge them together !

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Bulkhead

I was going to hang on for the magnificent Quickstrike ....... but was persuaded into buying Bulkhead.

Basically Bulhead is a new Helicopter Springer with a big light blue weapons unit.

Fold down landing gear at the front of the Chopper, and another permanently down at the back. The back bit controls a rotating blades gimmick which is very good and easy to operate. Minicon port on the tail blade other side to the wheel. 2 missile launchers below each wing - slightly volatile - and what looks like it might be a gun or engine with a strong resemblance to a minicon port (it isn't) on top of the wing. The Main body is dark green, with a bright olive green on the guns, and a whitey beige beneath the nose.

Pull the tail gear back to disengage the rotor gear and remove the blade mechanism - bit of a fiddle. Fold the legs down under the chopper and rotate at the waist. Bend each leg round at the knee and set the feet. Pull the gun/engines out from the side of chopper. Bend the chopper back at the waist, fold the cannons to on top of the wings and lower to his sides. Fold the nose down under the cockpit, and then the cockpit down to form the chest. Origami the shoulders into place, open the forearms and flip out the hands, into one of which you place the blade mechanism.

Tons of articulation - forward and back and side to side at ankles, high knee with a "bicep" joint above it. Universal hips, waist but completely restricted (and only used) by TF, shoulders fore and aft and to the sides, bicep, elbow fore and aft and neck. Light blue visor on face. Pale green on head and most of arms, dark green chest with transparent blue cockpit cover, beigey legs and black upper limbs, hands and feet. Spark Crystal left forearm.

The copter gimmick works in this mode to, but have to press on the now hand weapon. The blades are removable, it might have been nice if they'd have incorporated the minicon gear gimmick into this box.

The detached Thruster/Weapon section has 2 further usages - like Landmine's vehicle mode rear it becomes a battle platform described as Weapon Drone mode - EDD209 from Robocopesque. There's a revealed button here that activates some noise and lightup the weapons. It can slip onto Bullhead's back and the light up cannons folded down - activate the gimmick by pressing back on the head. The instructions show the bulkier bits of the pack - legs in weapon drone mode - in the air as cannons. They can also be used as thrusters along his back - virtually the thruster/weapons from beneath the copter - or be folded down to become supporting legs. On the back of the weapons pack are now revealed 2 buttons - flush with the surface of the pack - which make the G1 TFing and un-TFing sound.

So overall: Well the copter is great by itself, and an obvious G1 Springer homage. The weapons drone looks a little like it's from another toy but is a lot of fun.

But I think the Quickstrike Red looks better ;-)

Bulkhead was released in Japan as SC-18 Sprung

Quickstrike

And so to the end.... unless of course E Starscream, Alpha Q or Overcast ever show up in the UK.

Quickstrike is a red repaint of Bulkhead. The red used is a more normal red than the sort of cherry shade seen in the preview pictures. What they didn't show was the large ammount of white used on the toy - the tail, tail fin and robot shoulders are all covered in it. All bits that were black still are black, as is the booster pack, and there's silver highlights on both the pack and the robot's legs and chest.

The colour scheme is very similar to Energon Storm Jet's. But the overall look of the robot mode puts me in mind of the G1 Pretender Cloudburst - maybe that name or his counterpart Sky High might have been apropriate ?

Tf and features as per Bulkhead.

Face looks much better in red, with white horns and silver face plate. Blue clear plastic is maintained for the eyes and the visor. Generally the whole effect is much, MUCH better than the original messy green and 3 different blues of Bulkhead.


Future Repaints

How about purple and black as Spinister ?

[Philip Ayres]

Landmine

Every so often you get a TF along that's a bit of an oddity. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Landmine.

"call Mr Plough,
cos that's his name
his name again
is Mr Plough"

The best way to describe Landmine would be as a bright orange snowplough. With stuff. The front is a long nosed truck with a snowplough, the back is a crane and missile launcher on a tracked section with claws on the back resembling the grinders in a dustcart. In the box they're combined together (and bubblesealed to the backing !) but they can separate into the snowploughed cab and back section - in fact the only thing holding them together is 2 pegs. Sadly this doesn't look like it can pull anything else like say Overload. The crane extends and will retract at the touch of a button making a noise. 1 Minicon port on the crane. Spark on the cabin roof with an Autobot symbol.

The back can stand up on it's treads, grinder and a pair of blue wings as a battle platform - there's a platform that will go round 22.5 degrees in this mode to bring the missile launcher and cannon level. Be careful to slide the wings out of the way first, the platform won't rotate with the up without one popping off. Rotating the platform makes the G1 TF noise :-)

The front transforms oddly. Separate the snowplough into 3 bits and pull the sides of the cab away. Fold the centre bit up onto the cab. Origami the section under the cab down to form the legs with the outer edges of the plough as the feet. Fold the back wheels down onto his back and concertina them up. This exposes the arms. Bend the shoulders to the sides, and then tip the entire shoulder section back. Straighten the arms and extend the fists - you may need a lever as the bits to do this don't project at all from their slots. Pop the panel behind the cab up to flip up the head and replace.

Bundles of articulation here :-) Can't get the hips too far fwd. Shoulder cannons - we like shoulder cannons. Light pipe eyes :-) Nice. Can be posed with battle platform. But perhaps a little skinny. Time for the Brute mode !

Separate the tracks from the side of the battle platform. Straighten the claws out so they're on the end of the tracks and pull out the claw fingers. Retract Landmine's fists and peg one on each arm. The rest of the platform plugs into the concertinaed wheel section on his back - accompanied by the G1 TF sound 0 with the crane over one shoulder and the missile launcher over the other. Both should still work. Still very stable in this mode.

Overall: Somehow different aesthetically and in transformation in a way I can't put my finger on. But - like Omega Supreme recently - another fun toy.

Landmine - minus the electronics - was Superlink toy SC-15

Landquake

[written pre UK Landmine release]

Landmine was a good toy, Landquake is a good toy with a fantastic colour scheme. The original scheme - mimicking the G1 Pretender Landmine - has been replaced with a mountain rescue colour scheme. Orange Plastic becomes a slightly off white, Dark Blue becomes Brown, the Treads becomes Black while all the other Grey becomes a Pale Blue.. The Paint Ops are completely altered in location using lots of red, black and silver and his clear plastic - formerly yellow - becomes a gorgeous Dark Blue. All electronics still intact including the action noise ! As far as I can see he's one of 3 repaints in the show (the other 2 being Cliffjumper's Beachcomber version and Sixshot) that isn't getting a Japanese release.

Don't bother with Landmine when he comes out just get one of these.

[and after...]

Landquake was not released in the UK. He didn't come out in Japan either which is a little odd as he appears in the Superlink cartoon as the upgraded form of Landmine (similarly Beachcomber was Cliffjumper's upgrade and not sold in Japan, while Sixshot was a separate character to Shockblast but wasn't either !)


Landshark

Landshark is a Botcon 2009 exclusive. The name is sourced from an old Masters of the Universe toy but the deco (purple and blue for the MOTU toy) is more of a military type, similar to Animated Bulkhead. Orange is swapped for green, light blue for olivey bronze and the grey of the upper limbs for a cream colour. The clear parts are again clear dark blue.

Decent repaint, but the only one I can find on eBay is going for £60 plus nearly £30 shipping. Ouch !

[blueshift]

No Landshark Phil?

I never really took Landmine as being a callback to G1 Landmine. G1 Landmine wasn't bright orange for one.

[The Doctor]

Scorponock is a really nice toy that harkens back to the original. Never got round to picking one up though.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Aug 28, 2009 15:50:09 GMT blueshift said:

No Landshark Phil?

I never really took Landmine as being a callback to G1 Landmine. G1 Landmine wasn't bright orange for one.

Ooops.

[blueshift]

I think Landshark was named after some Chevy Chase character. Although since He-man is a Mattel property, I guess even if it was from that they couldn't say. Still the figure we got was ultra boring, I'd have preferred a MOTU homage with hot pink and blue.

Nick put Landshark at £30 at AA because 'no-one cares about him' and even at that rock bottom price he still took ages to sell! I dunno, it is just such an uninspired, unexciting paintjob. To me, an exclusive should be something you won't ever find in a shop (hello Botcon Elita-1!)

[Philip Ayres]

Optimus Prime

Now you'll recall from previous reviews that I was buying another toy for it's combination ability - well recent WingSaber pics convinced me I wanted one.

Optimus Prime's cab is mainly black with a chromed radiator, some red paint round the top of the cab which slopes down at the rear - obviously the robot arms - to take up nearly all the flatbed. It's not the best Prime cab design. Mounted across the back of the cab's flatbed is a white missile launching gun. Why do Prime's gun in white ? It should be black or, as per other toys this year, a clear Energon colour (Jetfire, Rodimus, Hotshot). A Minicon port is found on either side of the cab. The cab makes one of several noises each of which refers to one of his drones - see bellow. An additional button on the side of the toy makes a transforming sound.

Optimus Prime tows a trailer that contains four numbered drones which each form a limb for his combined mode:

Drone 1 is a fire engine in orange with a grey extending ladder and a pair of water sprayers that move to the sides mounted above above the cab. Should have been red - Fire Engines are red ! In limb mode he has a hand.

Drone 2 is a white helicopter with spinning rotor blades. There's lots of white on Prime and it matches too well making him look slightly lopsided colour wise when used as an arm. He too has a hand.

Drone 3 is a yellow drill tank. This screams RESCUE FORCE to me !!!!! Drill revolves in tank mode and forms the limb end in arm mode.

Drone 4 is a blue submarine. In arm mode it has a claw.

The trailer looks a bit like a car transporter - surely that's more an Ultra Magnus thing ? A Minicon port is found on either side of the trailer. The only problem with it being a car transporter is the hatches for the drones don't point out the back in trailer mode - they point up. To deploy the drones the trailer must be disconnected and folded forward onto it's front - surely it would have been better to take the traditional approach of allowing them to be deployed down a ramp at the back of the trailer while it was connected. As it is Drone 2's deployment is done via a platform that folds out the side of the container.

Cab transforms to robot mode by swinging the arms round to the sides, folding the legs down from under the flatbed, folding the head up from the cab roof and folding the flatbed against the back of the toy. Feet fold out the end of the legs and hands slide out the arms.

The Prime robot mode looks fat due to the bulky body. The use of a standard Prime head - albeit with a mouth on the US version - red on the arms and blue on the legs does help to make you think Prime when looking at it even if the main chest has no red at all ! The knees bend, the hips move, the shoulders - one with a spark crystal, the other with an embossed Autobot symbol - turn and allow the arms to raise at the sides, the elbows bend and the hands are 5mm peg holes so will enable him to use all standard size weapons. The single robot is a nice solid toy if a little unspectacular.

As mentioned above Optimus can combine with his limbs - fold the feet in, slide the hands into the wrists, fold the chest panels out to the sides revealing what must be his matrix - complete with diode that lights up when the noises are sounded - and fold the helmet up onto his back. All 4 limbs can be used as arms or legs with the back of each limb fitting on to the end of Optimus' existing ones. Leg limbs need the front of the vehicle bent up to form a foot, while arm limbs need the back of the vehicle bent back to form a shoulder and possibly some panels on the front folded back to reveal a hand/claw.

The result is a nice big, solid toy with lots of posability answering a major criticism made of Armada Op's combined mode. It's more a fun toy than a collectors one somehow with both the cab and robot looking a little odd in places which maybe could have been impooved by making the cab red instead of black. The less said about the trailer the better. The drones are fun, but suffer when used as multicoloured limbs in combined mode. Also they are just drones - having small vehicles/limbs that transformed into robots, like the Scramble City or later Energon combiners, especially if they were familiar Autobots like Prowl, Ratchet, Jazz and Wheeljack (Personally I think this was the original intention with the Protectorbots/Defensor). Prime has never been used as a combiner core with other robots forming the limbs, this is the closest we get.

Optimus Prime was available in Japan as Superlink toy SC-01 Grand Convoy. This version has no electronics and a faceplate instead of the molded mouth.

There's a mold variation - some have a mouth, others have a faceplate - see Dave van Domelen's Energon Page for details.

Optimus Prime uses his combining system to link with two other toys. The first is Wing Saber. Wing Saber breaks into four pieces - upper body and arms split down the centre while each leg comes off. Then with a little transforming you end up with limbs that can be combined with Optimus' smaller robot just like his drones can. There are two Prime/Wing Saber combinations. The first - using the upper body parts as arms and the Wing Saber's legs as Prime's Legs - results in a robot that's got the traditional "red arms & body with blue legs" Prime look while giving Prime a pair of wings. The second gives a slightly less traditional blue arms and red legs but does add huge cannons onto Prime's shoulders. If you want Optimus Prime then you really need Wing Saber to unleash the toy's full potential. Unfortunately due to circumstances retold at length elsewhere (In the Ironhide Review for a start) the Voyager assortment was cancelled in the UK before this toy came out. The US version commands a considerable premium nowdays. But it is possibly one of the few high priced Energon toys that is worth owning.

Optimus Prime also combines with Omega Supreme (and it's repaint Omega Sentinal). Remove Supreme's Headmaster Minicon, pull the toy in two down the middle of the body and fold the panel the neck joint is on up and to the side to form a molded missile launcher. Transform Prime's robot into cab mode but raise both the head and the helmet. Place Optimus into the chest cavity on one side of Omega Supreme's body then lock other side of the toy round Prime. A number of panels then fold out from Omega Supreme's body allowing Prime's drones to be attached but I don't think they add much to the combined form - ecept, maybe, mounting the drill on his wrist like an oversized Drillbit Minicon. All Optimus really does in this mode is give Omega Supreme a new head so if you've got Omega Supreme you're not missing out on much and if you've got Optimus you're not going to get anything out of this combined mode without liking Omega Supreme itself as a toy.

Unreleased Version

There's an unreleased version of Optimus Prime - possibly intended as a store exclusive - rendering each limb in black and the cab & black trailer panels in red/orange. I can't find any pictures of this on the internet so the ones I'm linking to are ones that I saved off the Internet some years ago and now I can't remember where from to give credit.

Future Repaints

The real place Energon Optimus suffers is the colours used. A complete repaint to bring it into line with the standard Prime colours would to wonders. The cab would become bright red with the flatbed becoming blue - both would easily translate to improved robot mode colours. The drones need changing too - One & Two would both become red (with blue fists - see Powermaster Prime vs God Ginrai) and Three & Four would both become blue which would give the combined Prime the proper Optimus Prime colours - red arms and blue legs.

There's also a Grand Scourge colour scheme used as a repaint of a smaller kit model version of this toy which could be used for the larger toy.

[blueshift]

Great review there. To me, Prime seemed like a huge wasted opportunity (for the record, I really liked Armada Prime). As a Transformer he is severely lacking - the giant arms at the back is such a strange choice, and the trailer doesn't transform, which is fairly unforgivable. The drone limbs are also really lazy, especially for such a huge pricepoint. Their transformations are simplistic, and they don't really do anything - the drill spins which is nice, but the rest dont' have any features at all. Spring loaded missiles, or some gimmicks would make it much more of a fun figure. I can imagine little me getting bored with it quickly as a kid. Even some sort of spring-loaded launcher in the trailer would have made it a better figure!

The arms and trailer makes it feel unfinished to me. Maybe it was going to be vastly different? Who knows.

I'll see if I can have a bash out of those colours you suggest later.

[Philip Ayres]

For a long while I've had in mind to do a completely new review of Powermaster Optimus Prime/Ginrai. For all it's faults PM Prime gets the combied mode right first time. Essentially what we want our combined Optimus Prime to be is a bigger version of the original Optimus Prime.

[Philip Ayres]

Are Energon and Superlink Megatron the same toy, just resized, or two differen toys ?

[The Doctor]

I think they're just differently sized.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

So I can get away with writing one review for both ? Result !

[blueshift]

TF wiki says it is downsized, I'd be inclined to believe them.

I've never had the smaller one, but I imagine the smaller size makes it feel a much better figure. The big one always felt too 'big' to me

[Philip Ayres]

I've had both and the smaller is better.

[Philip Ayres]

Megatron

Megatron's vehicle mode is a big white & black jet accompanied by a replica of the Armada Megatron tank that mounts between the wings. The tank has the sound effects for the toy and also handles the missile firing capability. Other than that it's just a bit of plastic for now. The jet has several green cannons - there's two mounted on each wing, one at the end and one projecting forward from the base Four Minicon ports allow the jet to hold the tank on it's back, and an extra 2 are provided on top the wings (YES ! - not on the bottom of the wings) for whichever Minicon you'd like to use. There are 3 deliberate holes for Energon weapons I've found, 2 of them (like Jetfire) either side of the nose. The jet features fold down landing gear.

The Hyper mode is a splitting the wings in a Star Wars X-Wing style effect. Hmmmm.

TF: Rotate the wings upside down, bend the engines down behind the jet to form the legs and slide the landing gear to reveal the feet. Arms drop down from sides of the body and the head folds back atop the chest

Robot: well if you can't see G1 Galvatron here's you're blind. The two big green cannons fold over the shoulders - for more of a Galvatron effect these should have been orange. The tank can now be locked onto wrist as the robot's missile launcher. It also serves as a hilt for Megatron's sword which is housed inside the neck of the jet down his back. Sadly the Sword doesn't have it's own 5mm peg handle - something that would greatly improve the toy. He's got an articulated neck, shoulders - fore and back as well as to the sides, elbows, hips - as shoulders and knees.

Verdict: looks nice, especially as robot. But after Shockblast last week this isn't really doing too much for me.

Energon Galvatron

As very much expected Megatron returned repainted as Galvatron. White becomes purple or silver - the silver may be painted - while the black becomes grey (on the tank & legs) or stays the same and the green becomes a more Galvatron orange.

Released in the US this leader class toy never got anywhere near the UK.

Superlink Galvatron

Now here's where it gets *slightly* complicated.....

When Megatron was released in Japan as Galvatron (Superlink toy number SD-07) he wasn't the version released as leader class in the US! The toy had been shrunk down to Ultra class - at Y2980 he was the same price as Scorponok, Shock Wave (Tidal Wave), Sprung (Bulkhead) and Landmine. Everything on the larger toy was there, just smaller (with the exception of the Minicon hardpoints which remained the same size of course !)

Superlink Galvatron was *then* later released in as Megatron a 2 pack exclusive to Toys R Us with Optimus Prime (deluxe).

For my money this is the better version of the Megatron molds. It's soooo much better. Hasbro Energon Megatron made you think he was too big and bulky and somehow lacking in features for his size - the more compact Takara mold is a lot better, feels a nicer toy, feels better value for money. If a toy can be smaller without loosing anything then it should have been that size all along.

Galvatron General

Galvatron General is toy SD-20

I have a confession: I bought this toy because I wanted the fab lilac Cruellock tail/sword thing which is packed with it as an extra. But as I had an Energon Megs I thought this was also an ideal opportunity to try the smaller mode.

Purple chested (different lighter purple to that used on Energon Galvatron) with black and silver elsewhere he looks very G1 Galvatrony. The yellow energon looks nice - orange would have been perfect though.

Very happy with him. If you get one of the Energon/Superlink Galvatrons go for this one

Botcon Megatron

The smaller Megatron returns as the heroic Decepticon leader in the 2008 Shattered Glass set. He's got a grey/black body with orange highlights and dark blue Energon.

This toy doesn't feel a huge deviation from the original so I'd not recommend hunting it down.

[panderson]

The split wing action and the slightly sweapt down nose of Megs here always made me want to play him as an evil version of X-Bomber....

[Philip Ayres]

(these didn't need much doing to them)

Omega Supreme

Good job I found the wire cutters tonight, you'll need them.

First toy I've got with book 2 in it. No customs either :-)

First up the Head Master: This is a Minicon sized robot vaguely styled after the original Omega Supreme. He can either form the head or the bridge of the battleship mode.

The fabulous battleship mode is a foot and a bit long. There are 3 gun turrets - 2 at the front and one at the rear - and a front facing pair of missile launchers. The front 2 pairs of guns and the missile launchers rotate together powered by a wheel on the side of the boat. At the far end of the rotation we get gunfire, and a trigger at the side sets off a laser blast noise and some lights under the prow. There's a gun on each side which folds out. The command turret for the ship can accommodate the headmaster sitting as on a throne or folded up to form part of the structure. There are three engine jets embedded in the end of the ship which makes you think that it's intended more for space than water.

The ship forms the front of a combined battle train that will be familiar to many followers of the Japanese toy line Brave.

The ship also forms a gunner station by folding the rear half down to act as a base, with the mid guns forming handles projecting out for a figure to hold.

The front half of the battleship folds down to form a robot arm, the conning tower section reverses, and the rear of the battleship folds out to form a leg.

The other mode is less well defined. I believe it's meant to be a train, and indeed the front half does resemble a futuristic train. The back half is meant to be a crane of some description - and indeed there is a nice gantry and clear glass structure at the rear which may well be a cab. Again guns half way down the toy. However the arm is much more a grabbing mechanism than a crane. There's a slider half way up the crane arm which extends it telescopically.

This mode also forms a gunner station with the front folding down to form a base. The guns again form handles. Can you tell I'm going somewhere with these ?

Both vehicle modes then combine - the front of the battleship fits into the back of the "train" to form a super train mode. I suspect a member of the Brave design team worked on this toy as it's a trick commonly employed during the Brave toyline.

Fold the front of the train up to form a foot, and a panel folds out from within the back of the train. Lock both halves together. Now on top of the platform is a black round stud. Pull on it and it extends to form a face. Into the top of this locks the folded up headmaster.

The combined robot is impressive: one of the gun stations and the missile pair rotate freely on the right shoulder. There's another on the left wrist which is still controlled by the wheel and still has the noise, as has the laser blast now coming from the fingers. Another gun is on the left leg, and the crane's claw action operates on the right arm. The guns that form the handles for the cannon modes.... alas ! They still can project out as weapons. Unfortunately they point out the crotch and his posterior.

Articulation: head turns, rotation at both shoulders, and the ability to raise the arms to the sides, elbows, rotation below the elbows, sideways and forwards at the hips, rotational above the knees, knees. The claw arm gimmick works still and the claw opens and closes. So yeah, he's got articulation in buckets.

If you separate both halves of the robot, you can remove the headmaster, fold up the neck platform, and open the back out. Into this space insert the cab of the super Optimus Prime with the head and helmet folded up. There are panels on both legs, the crane arm and the crane shoulder that fold up and allow you to mount Prime's drones on. The final form doesn't look to different from the original Omega Supreme robot but with the drones bolted on but it's still nice and fun. Some purists might complain about the back of the cab sticking out the back of the big robot but I don't mind to much.

So overall: Well I don't think it's a Transformer for the purest and avid fan - lots of things about it may well annoy some people. But it's a good fun toy and I loved it loads when I got it.

Omega Supreme was released in Japan as Superlink toy SC-22.

Omega Sentinal

Omega Sentinal takes the Omega Supreme toy and swaps both body colours for a lighter blue adorned with silver paint while the weapon yellow becomes red. This produces a much more uniform toy - you're not imeadiately drawn to the difference down the middle.

Omega Sentinal was not available in the UK or Japan.

[blueshift]

Huh. Phill your reviews inspired me to fiddle with my Energon Deluxe Prime, and his foot broke

I guess if anyone wants one for kitbashing purposes, now's your chance.