Post by Philip Ayres on May 7, 2009 9:22:28 GMT
Ramjet
Ramjet is remould of the Classics Starscream toy unlike his case brother Cliffjumper who's merely a recolour of Bumblebee. Remoulds are rare - the Beasts and Skywarp in Armada, Roadblock in Energon, the Armada toys, Dark Skorponok and Dark Crumplezone in Energon. Remoulding makes me feel I get more for my money when I buy a toy a second time!
See Starscream's review for details of the original toy. Gone are Starscream's wings, tail fins, missiles, nose and head. In its place we have G1 Ramjet style wings attached to the holes at the back previously used for the tail fins. The very front of each wing is a separate piece attached to where Starscream's wings are. The nose cone is considerably shorter in jet mode on Ramjet. The missiles are larger than SS's and look more like missiles.
The TF is the almost the same as on SS - I'd advise flipping the little wing stubs round like the larger SS wings so the arms have more space to move, but the main wing pieces are left sticking out to the sides even though they can be folded down. There's no fold down nose to the plane here.
Ramjet is a coneheaded jet with a new face that looks great. The robot mode paint scheme is really very nice with the dark grey and the white a nice contrast against each other. Once again the side of the folding panel on his chest box is unpainted, yet the fan/wheel within has been painted. The gold highlights work well too. Starscream was good, but Ramjet is a big improvement on him, well worth getting
Botcon Dirge
Dirge and Ramjet are quite similar in their G1 forms - Dirge's wings turn up at the end where Ramjet's go down, Dirge has extra small wings at the front of his larger ones and lacks the engines that Ramjet has. So it's not too huge a leap to recolour Ramjet as Dirge which is what happened in the Botcon 2007 set. Dirge's body becomes a lovely bright blue and the wings become black painted over with pale orange.
It's a nice toy and it's a shame it didn't go to general release.
Botcon Thrust
Thrust takes the existing Ramjet base mould and modifies the wings - the larger wings with the fans mounted on them are fitted to where Starscream's front wings are while the smaller wings are attached to his back becoming ankle mounted. The red and black are a dead on match for the G1 toy. Of note here are the missile launchers which include the larger missiles found with Ramjet where the G1 version had missiles identical to the original Diaclone derived jets.
Again, a huge shame it didn't get a general release. I'm sure the money made from putting these out for Botcon would have been less than a general store release.
Henkei Ramjet
Henkei Ramjet takes the existing mould and plays with the colouring - the white becomes whiter, the wings turn from black painted with red to bright red, and the arms become all white. Somehow this manages to miss the mark slightly - the red is too red, and the original fists & wrists were grey like the Classics version.
You take your choice between the two versions.
Henkei Dirge
Like Thundercracker & Skywarp, Dirge & Thrust made their way onto the Japanese market as store exclusives. Dirge gains new G1 accurate shaped wings with weapon mounts underneath. A Decepticon symbol on each wing manages to be the right way up in robot mode - oh that does annoy me! His launchers acquire a chromed ring round the end like the other G1 jets as does the interior of the cockpit making it much more visible - good touch. My only criticisms would be the blue & white stripes added diagonally across each wing make it look more like a Classics toy than a more accurately decorated Henkei one and that he comes with the missiles found with Starscream et al rather than the larger Ramjet missiles.
But a mighty fine toy. Expensive, but cheaper than netting the Botcon version.
Henkei Thrust
The Botcon Thrust involved moulding new parts for the wings - how could a Henkei Thrust be released without using the same parts which would presumably infringe on whatever agreement Hasbro & Botcon had ? New parts were needed. Thrust gains new wing pieces with large tail fins. 5mm weapon holes are added to the underside of the rear wings and through the front wings. To further distance the wings from the Botcon version a white Urban Camo pattern is added to the front wings. The front wings in jet mode can be folded forward to present a straight edge in vehicle mode and he's the only one of the jets where the weapons can be mounted above the wings in vehicle mode. The Fans for the front wings become removable units rather than being moulded in the wing and can be pegged onto either hole - a nice little touch here is that the fans do spin. The same chrome on the missile launchers and cockpit is present here, and in addition Thrust's face is painted white to resemble his G1 animation model. Like Dirge he has the smaller Starscream missiles - appropriately so here - but unlike Dirge his Decepticon symbols end up upside down when in Robot mode.
The new parts for Thrust have added a little extra play value for the toy. The deco is great. Very recommended.
Future Repaints
It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if come Classics V2 we don't see the Ramjet version of the mould again as G2 Ramjet - throwing this one out with a Sunstorm Starscream, and a gold Bumblebee as Goldbug would give a good basis for an easy wave of repaints to start with.
Ramjet is remould of the Classics Starscream toy unlike his case brother Cliffjumper who's merely a recolour of Bumblebee. Remoulds are rare - the Beasts and Skywarp in Armada, Roadblock in Energon, the Armada toys, Dark Skorponok and Dark Crumplezone in Energon. Remoulding makes me feel I get more for my money when I buy a toy a second time!
See Starscream's review for details of the original toy. Gone are Starscream's wings, tail fins, missiles, nose and head. In its place we have G1 Ramjet style wings attached to the holes at the back previously used for the tail fins. The very front of each wing is a separate piece attached to where Starscream's wings are. The nose cone is considerably shorter in jet mode on Ramjet. The missiles are larger than SS's and look more like missiles.
The TF is the almost the same as on SS - I'd advise flipping the little wing stubs round like the larger SS wings so the arms have more space to move, but the main wing pieces are left sticking out to the sides even though they can be folded down. There's no fold down nose to the plane here.
Ramjet is a coneheaded jet with a new face that looks great. The robot mode paint scheme is really very nice with the dark grey and the white a nice contrast against each other. Once again the side of the folding panel on his chest box is unpainted, yet the fan/wheel within has been painted. The gold highlights work well too. Starscream was good, but Ramjet is a big improvement on him, well worth getting
Botcon Dirge
Dirge and Ramjet are quite similar in their G1 forms - Dirge's wings turn up at the end where Ramjet's go down, Dirge has extra small wings at the front of his larger ones and lacks the engines that Ramjet has. So it's not too huge a leap to recolour Ramjet as Dirge which is what happened in the Botcon 2007 set. Dirge's body becomes a lovely bright blue and the wings become black painted over with pale orange.
It's a nice toy and it's a shame it didn't go to general release.
Botcon Thrust
Thrust takes the existing Ramjet base mould and modifies the wings - the larger wings with the fans mounted on them are fitted to where Starscream's front wings are while the smaller wings are attached to his back becoming ankle mounted. The red and black are a dead on match for the G1 toy. Of note here are the missile launchers which include the larger missiles found with Ramjet where the G1 version had missiles identical to the original Diaclone derived jets.
Again, a huge shame it didn't get a general release. I'm sure the money made from putting these out for Botcon would have been less than a general store release.
Henkei Ramjet
Henkei Ramjet takes the existing mould and plays with the colouring - the white becomes whiter, the wings turn from black painted with red to bright red, and the arms become all white. Somehow this manages to miss the mark slightly - the red is too red, and the original fists & wrists were grey like the Classics version.
You take your choice between the two versions.
Henkei Dirge
Like Thundercracker & Skywarp, Dirge & Thrust made their way onto the Japanese market as store exclusives. Dirge gains new G1 accurate shaped wings with weapon mounts underneath. A Decepticon symbol on each wing manages to be the right way up in robot mode - oh that does annoy me! His launchers acquire a chromed ring round the end like the other G1 jets as does the interior of the cockpit making it much more visible - good touch. My only criticisms would be the blue & white stripes added diagonally across each wing make it look more like a Classics toy than a more accurately decorated Henkei one and that he comes with the missiles found with Starscream et al rather than the larger Ramjet missiles.
But a mighty fine toy. Expensive, but cheaper than netting the Botcon version.
Henkei Thrust
The Botcon Thrust involved moulding new parts for the wings - how could a Henkei Thrust be released without using the same parts which would presumably infringe on whatever agreement Hasbro & Botcon had ? New parts were needed. Thrust gains new wing pieces with large tail fins. 5mm weapon holes are added to the underside of the rear wings and through the front wings. To further distance the wings from the Botcon version a white Urban Camo pattern is added to the front wings. The front wings in jet mode can be folded forward to present a straight edge in vehicle mode and he's the only one of the jets where the weapons can be mounted above the wings in vehicle mode. The Fans for the front wings become removable units rather than being moulded in the wing and can be pegged onto either hole - a nice little touch here is that the fans do spin. The same chrome on the missile launchers and cockpit is present here, and in addition Thrust's face is painted white to resemble his G1 animation model. Like Dirge he has the smaller Starscream missiles - appropriately so here - but unlike Dirge his Decepticon symbols end up upside down when in Robot mode.
The new parts for Thrust have added a little extra play value for the toy. The deco is great. Very recommended.
Future Repaints
It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if come Classics V2 we don't see the Ramjet version of the mould again as G2 Ramjet - throwing this one out with a Sunstorm Starscream, and a gold Bumblebee as Goldbug would give a good basis for an easy wave of repaints to start with.
