Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 29, 2011 11:19:55 GMT
Hunt For The Decepticons Insecticon
Hunt For The Decepticons Insecticon has been sitting in my review pile for a little while now. Released in the UK in Autumn 2010 he shelf warmed compared to the other new toys in his wave. It became common to see shelves with very little apart from Insecticon on it. I'd originally intended to pick him up in a case containing Windcharger from the BigBadToystore in the USA, so when he was available in the UK cheaply around Christmas 2010 I passed on him. The Windcharger case got delayed, delayed and delayed again and THEN suddenly found itself on the shelves of ASDA. At which point I bought Windcharger, realised I hadn't got an Insecticon, couldn't find one cheap and ended up paying full price.
The name Insecticon was first used as the name of a Decepticon sub group in 1985 consisting of three Diaclone toys repainted (Bombshell, Kickback & Shrapnel) and four repurposed toys, licensed from Takatoku Toys from their Armoured Insect Battalion Beetras that were grouped as the deluxe Insecticons (Barrage, Chop Shop, Ransack & Venom). In 1996 the Insecticon group name is used as the name for a Beast Wars Predacon (The Dinobot group name likewise is reused the same year as a Maximal). The Insecticon character name is reused in Energon and finally in Robot Heroes as rename for Shrapnel.
Insecticon comes packaged in robot mode. He's mainly olive green with grey shoulders and hips. He's got long, thin pointed limbs with two arms attached to each shoulder: each arm bends at the elbow, has a bicep swivel and a ball joint. The shoulder both arms are attached to then can rotate at the body allowing you to move the arms separately or together. The head turns on a ball joint which can lean forward. The hips are ball jointed, there's a thigh swivel and bending knees & ankles. There's dome lovely detail on the toy with the clawed hands, head and gun barrels in the shoulders. The wings are attached by ball joints, but are a little limited by the backpack. The wings look like they should turn in their mounts but they don't.
Transformation: Insecticon stood untransformed on my shelves for ages, mainly because I couldn't find the instructions and couldn't work out certain stages. However when I found them online the instructions proved next to useless on some of the detail here! So using instruction, online pictures and in one case a best guess when it didn't look right here's what I think you should do. Pull the head & chest forward & down. Rotate the head through 90 degrees. Pull upwards on the base of the back raising the shell like backpack into the space previously occupied by the robot's head. Fold the robot head back. Turn the toy over so you can see the underside. Fold the robot's shoulders forward so that the rear "gun barrel" locks onto a tab on the body. Turn the insect the right way up, fold the heel spurs into the front claw and pose the legs and head.
The insect mode is again mainly green with long thin skeletal limbs all of which are ball jointed at their base and bend in the middle. The forelimbs bend at the claw at the tip too. The head raises up and down at the base of the neck. It looks like it should bend at the top too but I can't get mine to move.
I'm liking this toy, especially the insect mode, but sadly it doesn't seem to have sold that well.
Future Repaints
How about Black and purple like the original Insecticons?
Hunt For The Decepticons Insecticon has been sitting in my review pile for a little while now. Released in the UK in Autumn 2010 he shelf warmed compared to the other new toys in his wave. It became common to see shelves with very little apart from Insecticon on it. I'd originally intended to pick him up in a case containing Windcharger from the BigBadToystore in the USA, so when he was available in the UK cheaply around Christmas 2010 I passed on him. The Windcharger case got delayed, delayed and delayed again and THEN suddenly found itself on the shelves of ASDA. At which point I bought Windcharger, realised I hadn't got an Insecticon, couldn't find one cheap and ended up paying full price.
The name Insecticon was first used as the name of a Decepticon sub group in 1985 consisting of three Diaclone toys repainted (Bombshell, Kickback & Shrapnel) and four repurposed toys, licensed from Takatoku Toys from their Armoured Insect Battalion Beetras that were grouped as the deluxe Insecticons (Barrage, Chop Shop, Ransack & Venom). In 1996 the Insecticon group name is used as the name for a Beast Wars Predacon (The Dinobot group name likewise is reused the same year as a Maximal). The Insecticon character name is reused in Energon and finally in Robot Heroes as rename for Shrapnel.
Insecticon comes packaged in robot mode. He's mainly olive green with grey shoulders and hips. He's got long, thin pointed limbs with two arms attached to each shoulder: each arm bends at the elbow, has a bicep swivel and a ball joint. The shoulder both arms are attached to then can rotate at the body allowing you to move the arms separately or together. The head turns on a ball joint which can lean forward. The hips are ball jointed, there's a thigh swivel and bending knees & ankles. There's dome lovely detail on the toy with the clawed hands, head and gun barrels in the shoulders. The wings are attached by ball joints, but are a little limited by the backpack. The wings look like they should turn in their mounts but they don't.
Transformation: Insecticon stood untransformed on my shelves for ages, mainly because I couldn't find the instructions and couldn't work out certain stages. However when I found them online the instructions proved next to useless on some of the detail here! So using instruction, online pictures and in one case a best guess when it didn't look right here's what I think you should do. Pull the head & chest forward & down. Rotate the head through 90 degrees. Pull upwards on the base of the back raising the shell like backpack into the space previously occupied by the robot's head. Fold the robot head back. Turn the toy over so you can see the underside. Fold the robot's shoulders forward so that the rear "gun barrel" locks onto a tab on the body. Turn the insect the right way up, fold the heel spurs into the front claw and pose the legs and head.
The insect mode is again mainly green with long thin skeletal limbs all of which are ball jointed at their base and bend in the middle. The forelimbs bend at the claw at the tip too. The head raises up and down at the base of the neck. It looks like it should bend at the top too but I can't get mine to move.
I'm liking this toy, especially the insect mode, but sadly it doesn't seem to have sold that well.
Future Repaints
How about Black and purple like the original Insecticons?