Post by Philip Ayres on Sept 24, 2011 14:20:30 GMT
Dark of the Moon Pinpointer
Pinpointer is the smaller of the two robots in the Tailpipe & Pinpointer 2 pack. Well it's a three pack really cos there's also the Sergeant Noble human alliance figure included. I'd call Pinpointer a Minicon but he's missing the 5mm socket with central peg, and that disqualifies him in my book. He's mainly made of glossy black plastic with grey plastic used for his upper limbs and the connector on his back. For a smaller robot, about Legends size, he's superbly articulated with ball jointed knees, hips, shoulders & elbows. The rear of the lower arms has some 3mm bar work protruding from it which prevents the arms from being properly posed but will allow you to add extra c-clip weapons onto him. His shoulders also bend back and his waist turns round which, while useful in the transformation, can cause some trouble..... because rotating the waist reveals a 5mm peg with a hollow centre. Because the knees are ball jointed the lower legs can be rotated so the too face forward giving him a robot mode with a protrudence from his groin.... onto which proper Minicons can be mounted. On his back is a dual cannon that can be raised to point over his head. Apparently Pinpointer can ride Tailpipe's motorcycle mode but I have difficulty making Tailpipe balance to try this out.
Pinpointer's primary alternate mode is a hand weapon for Tailpipe: Rotate the waist 180 degrees and then turn the lower legs round too. Fold the guns on the back upwards. Straighten the arms and fold back over his back bringing them together. Fold the lower legs back pegging into the rear of the gun. The weapon can be held by any figure with a 5mm peg hole hand.
His secondary mode is a weapon that mounts on the back of Tailpipe's vehicle mode. Transformation is identical apart from the initial step: leave the waist & knees as they are. Two flat pegs projecting from the bottom of the weapon slot into the back of the saddle either way round so the gun barrels face forward or back. I'm told the connection is a little dodgy on early versions of the figure but it seems ok on mine.
I've a few issues with my Pinpointer: the hips have a tendency to pop off when you turn the knees round and it's difficult to close the arms over the robot's back properly, but folding them in by holding the bars rather than squeezing the segments together seems to work. I also think a Minicon socket in the chest wouldn't have gone amiss and would have been a nice nod.
Pinpointer was sold with Tailpipe as part of the second wave of Human Alliance basic toys which, at the time of writing, has not been seen in Argos who are the exclusive retailer for the Human Alliance toyline in the UK. They were released in Japan as Dark of the Moon toy pack DA-25.
Dark of the Moon Human Alliance Tailpipe
Tailpipe's robot mode is a mass of black & grey plastic: Hands, lower legs and chest are moulded black with everything else moulded grey although the shoulders & upper legs are painted black. This colour scheme automatically suggests Decepticon but he is in fact an Autobot. His head is dominated by four blue tipped tubes that look like camera lense eyes but close examination reveals that there's actual eyes and a face moulded beneath this. I think they may be meant to be laser guns, a similar detail pops up in vehicle mode. Articulation isn't bad: ball jointed shoulders & lower elbows, hips & lower knees while the upper knees & elbows bend, the wrists & head turn and the heel spurs & feet move at the ankle. In robot Mode Tailpipe has 3mm bars on the side of each ankle and can hold his partner, Pinpointer, in gun mode. He's also got a built in weapon with a cannon projecting over his left hip.
Transformation: Straighten the legs out and peg together. Fold the chest & waist down. Fold the head down into the body cavity and raise the bike front & handlebars up into the space where the head was. Fold the wheeled jetpack out fully behind the toy with the chained wheel behind the legs and the other wheel behind the body. Fold the wheel under the body in, positioning the fork & mudguard round it. Fold the back of the lower legs onto the front of the upper legs. Fold heel spurs and feet behind the toy. Fold the exhaust pipe out alongside the back wheel. Fold the chest plate under the tip of the body and straighten the bike out. Swing the lower arms up at the lower elbow, turn out to the sides and fold up alongside the shoulders which are then swung down to the sides of the bike.
The bike mode is a pretty standard racing bike, very similar to Road Rocket. Um.... there's not a lot more to say about it. Pinpointer also attached to the back of the saddle in this mode to give Tailpipe either forward or backwards facing guns.
Weapon Mode: Fold both sets of wheel down under the bike and swing them round to the sides. Fold forward so the wheels are flat and pointing forward out the front of the bike. Raise the wheel fork as a gun. Fold the blades out the wheels turning the bike into a cutting weapon that any robot with a 5mm fist can hold.
Overall: he's not a bad bike Transformers, and it always amazes me how we squeeze a robot into the thin bike form. However he's very similar in both bike & robot mode to Road Rocket and he's 16 years old now. The additional Pinpointer robot in the package is nice though, but Sergeant Noble is just another Human Alliance figure and nothing special.
Tailpipe is a Wave 2 Human Alliance basic toy released with Whirl. At time of writing he has not been released at Argos, the who exclusively sell Human Alliance in the UK. He was released in Japan in early September 2011 and number DA-25.
Pinpointer is the smaller of the two robots in the Tailpipe & Pinpointer 2 pack. Well it's a three pack really cos there's also the Sergeant Noble human alliance figure included. I'd call Pinpointer a Minicon but he's missing the 5mm socket with central peg, and that disqualifies him in my book. He's mainly made of glossy black plastic with grey plastic used for his upper limbs and the connector on his back. For a smaller robot, about Legends size, he's superbly articulated with ball jointed knees, hips, shoulders & elbows. The rear of the lower arms has some 3mm bar work protruding from it which prevents the arms from being properly posed but will allow you to add extra c-clip weapons onto him. His shoulders also bend back and his waist turns round which, while useful in the transformation, can cause some trouble..... because rotating the waist reveals a 5mm peg with a hollow centre. Because the knees are ball jointed the lower legs can be rotated so the too face forward giving him a robot mode with a protrudence from his groin.... onto which proper Minicons can be mounted. On his back is a dual cannon that can be raised to point over his head. Apparently Pinpointer can ride Tailpipe's motorcycle mode but I have difficulty making Tailpipe balance to try this out.
Pinpointer's primary alternate mode is a hand weapon for Tailpipe: Rotate the waist 180 degrees and then turn the lower legs round too. Fold the guns on the back upwards. Straighten the arms and fold back over his back bringing them together. Fold the lower legs back pegging into the rear of the gun. The weapon can be held by any figure with a 5mm peg hole hand.
His secondary mode is a weapon that mounts on the back of Tailpipe's vehicle mode. Transformation is identical apart from the initial step: leave the waist & knees as they are. Two flat pegs projecting from the bottom of the weapon slot into the back of the saddle either way round so the gun barrels face forward or back. I'm told the connection is a little dodgy on early versions of the figure but it seems ok on mine.
I've a few issues with my Pinpointer: the hips have a tendency to pop off when you turn the knees round and it's difficult to close the arms over the robot's back properly, but folding them in by holding the bars rather than squeezing the segments together seems to work. I also think a Minicon socket in the chest wouldn't have gone amiss and would have been a nice nod.
Pinpointer was sold with Tailpipe as part of the second wave of Human Alliance basic toys which, at the time of writing, has not been seen in Argos who are the exclusive retailer for the Human Alliance toyline in the UK. They were released in Japan as Dark of the Moon toy pack DA-25.
Dark of the Moon Human Alliance Tailpipe
Tailpipe's robot mode is a mass of black & grey plastic: Hands, lower legs and chest are moulded black with everything else moulded grey although the shoulders & upper legs are painted black. This colour scheme automatically suggests Decepticon but he is in fact an Autobot. His head is dominated by four blue tipped tubes that look like camera lense eyes but close examination reveals that there's actual eyes and a face moulded beneath this. I think they may be meant to be laser guns, a similar detail pops up in vehicle mode. Articulation isn't bad: ball jointed shoulders & lower elbows, hips & lower knees while the upper knees & elbows bend, the wrists & head turn and the heel spurs & feet move at the ankle. In robot Mode Tailpipe has 3mm bars on the side of each ankle and can hold his partner, Pinpointer, in gun mode. He's also got a built in weapon with a cannon projecting over his left hip.
Transformation: Straighten the legs out and peg together. Fold the chest & waist down. Fold the head down into the body cavity and raise the bike front & handlebars up into the space where the head was. Fold the wheeled jetpack out fully behind the toy with the chained wheel behind the legs and the other wheel behind the body. Fold the wheel under the body in, positioning the fork & mudguard round it. Fold the back of the lower legs onto the front of the upper legs. Fold heel spurs and feet behind the toy. Fold the exhaust pipe out alongside the back wheel. Fold the chest plate under the tip of the body and straighten the bike out. Swing the lower arms up at the lower elbow, turn out to the sides and fold up alongside the shoulders which are then swung down to the sides of the bike.
The bike mode is a pretty standard racing bike, very similar to Road Rocket. Um.... there's not a lot more to say about it. Pinpointer also attached to the back of the saddle in this mode to give Tailpipe either forward or backwards facing guns.
Weapon Mode: Fold both sets of wheel down under the bike and swing them round to the sides. Fold forward so the wheels are flat and pointing forward out the front of the bike. Raise the wheel fork as a gun. Fold the blades out the wheels turning the bike into a cutting weapon that any robot with a 5mm fist can hold.
Overall: he's not a bad bike Transformers, and it always amazes me how we squeeze a robot into the thin bike form. However he's very similar in both bike & robot mode to Road Rocket and he's 16 years old now. The additional Pinpointer robot in the package is nice though, but Sergeant Noble is just another Human Alliance figure and nothing special.
Tailpipe is a Wave 2 Human Alliance basic toy released with Whirl. At time of writing he has not been released at Argos, the who exclusively sell Human Alliance in the UK. He was released in Japan in early September 2011 and number DA-25.