Phil's Revised Legends Reviews

[Philip Ayres]

I seem to have recieved quite a few new Legends toys over the last few weeks and months.

So it's time to dig out the Universe and RTS reviews and substantially revise them to cover the new versions.

[Philip Ayres]

Reveal The Shield Legends Optimus Prime

While not the first Legends Optimus Prime - Cybertron, Movie and Animated versions have been done so far in this size - The new Legends Optimus Prime is the first modelled after the 1984 Version. In fact it's a bit of a surprise that it's taken this long to do one with the original Optimus Prime being ignored through four waves of original mould Universe Legends.

The toy comes moulded in red plastic, with black wheels. He has a painted blue head & lower legs and painted silver fuel cylinders, exhaust pipes, upper legs, visor, grill, lower chest and bumper. The windows are a pale blue. On the robot's left lower arm is an Autobot rub sign, making a return to the RTS toys and a debut on the Legends size with this initial wave. Proportionately to it's height this Legends version is wider than the original. His articulation is good: ball jointed hips, elbows and shoulders which also bend back at the body. However bending the arm exposes that under each one is a wheel which looks odd. It'd be nice if we had knees like on some other Legends but... He stands with his legs apart meaning that the feet are slightly sloped from one side to the other.

Transformation: Fold the head down and rotate the upper chest 10 degrees. Peg the legs together and fold the waist forward 90 degrees. Bend each arm 90 degrees, fold the shoulders back and swing the arms in to form the sides of the cab. Push the shoulders together and make sure the arms have locked into place.

Well I've seen worse Prime cabs on larger toys - Robot Masters Convoy and Classics Deluxe Optimus Prime spring to mind. Not a bad go but you feel some knees could have been easily done.

Optimus Prime shipped in Reveal The Shield (RTS from here in) Legends Wave 1 with Megatron, Starscream and Gold Bumblebee where all were two per case. They reshipped in Wave 2, the box that actually reached the UK, at one per case alongside Trailcutter and Prowl which were two per case. Needless to say Asda had a lot of Trailcutters and Prowls leftover for a while!

EZ-Collection Optimus Prime

The first Japanese release of the Optimus Prime legend came in the EZ-Collection volume 1. Essentially the same toy as the RTS version it looses the rubsign replacing it with a small Autobot symbol on his left shoulder/side of the cab.

This toy was released blindboxed in EZ-Collection volume 1 in a case with a repainted gun Megatron (from the same RTS Wave as Optimus Prime), Jazz (from Universe Legends Wave 2), Bumblebee (from Universe Legends Wave 4), Trailbreaker (Trailcutter from RTS Legends Wave 2), Thundercracker (a repaint of Starscream from RTS Legends Wave 2) and Movie Optimus Prime & Megatron (both from Revenge of the fallen) .

EZ-Collection Generation 2 Optimus Prime

I was a bit surprised to see another Optimus Prime Show up in EZ-Collection volume 2, expecting a white Ultra Magnus or black Scourge/Nemesis Prime instead. But back he comes, this time as a G2 version. We loose the blue paint off the front of the legs, replacing it with black legs, get a nearly black painted head, a slightly brighter shade of red plastic and a small G2 Autobot symbol on his left shoulder.

Not hugely different then. Didn't set my world on fire. An odd choice considering that Generation 2 Optimus Prime wasn't released in Japan. One of the alternate colours/characters mentioned above would have been much better for my liking.

This toy was released blindboxed in EZ-Collection volume 2 in a case with Starscream (RTS Legends Wave 1), Prowl (RTS Legends Wave 2), Hound, (Universe Legends Wave 2), Rodimus (Universe Legends Wave 5) Generation 2 Megatron/Archforce (a purple repaint of Tank Megatron from Universe Legends Wave 2), Skywarp (a repaint of RTS Legends Wave 1 Starscream) and Streak (Bluestreak/Silverstreak, a repaint of Prowl from RTS Legends Wave 2).

Generations Legend Optimus Prime

Sold through the Dollar General chain in the USA on a Generations Cardback this legend is effectively a western re-release of the EZ Collection Generation 1 Optimus Prime listed above.

It was released alongside Starscream (using the EZ Collection Volume 2 repaint), Tank Megatron (from Universe Legends Wave 2) and Bumblebee (a new repaint of the toy from Universe Legends Wave 4). Very few people took any notice of this assortment on release.... and then a while later something *VERY* interesting happened......

Generations Legion Motorbreath

Motorbreath? Was Hasbro unable to use the names Motormouth or Motormaster when looking to name this toy?

Although a black repaint of Optimus Prime is usually Scourge/Nemesis Prime there is a history of Optimus Primes becoming the Stunticon leader Motormaster..... and not always with the correct name! In 2007, Legends of Cybertron Optimus Prime was repainted in the Motormaster colours as Legends Menasor, using the name of the Stunticons combined form Menasor. Then in 2011 the Botcon exclusive set of Animated toys made Motormaster from Animated Voyager Optimus Prime.

The toy is moulded in black plastic now with off white used for the lower robot legs/flat bed. The windows and petrol tanks are now purple. Silver is used for the exhaust pipes and robot mode visor but there's an odd discrepancy between the robot and vehicle modes: the vehicle mode grill and bumper is painted silver but the robot mode grill and waist aren't with the silver now moving to the torso at the sides of the grill.

But changing the colours isn't the only thing that's been done to this toy: he's had a remould to enable him to use 3mm handled weapons. Starting with the introduction of Cyberverse for Dark of the Moon, just after the RTS Legends were released, and continuing into the Transformers Prime Cyberverse line Legends toys were given the ability to use a standardised weapons size. With the "Asia Exclusive"/ GDO (stands for Global Developmental Organisation) Legends wave Hasbro took the opportunity to retool the four moulds repainted in this wave (the others were Trailbreaker as Hoist - the only other colour scheme 100% new to this size in this wave - Starscream as Thundercracker and Prowl as Bluestreak - both of which has previously been done in TakaraTomy's EZ-Collection) In vehicle mode the toy gain a 3mm hole on the top of the cab, on the back of the panel that folds back to reveal the head, while in robot mode the hands are retooled into 3mm peg hole fists. Now the hands on this toy had always looked like they were open a little too much anyway so this retool is actually an improvement for the robot mode. They've also given the toy a sword to hold, very similar in shape to the one held by the original Motormaster/Menasor. Moulded in black plastic it seems to be or a slightly more flexible rubbery material that the rest of the toy so I don't think it comes on the same sprue as the rest of the toys parts. It has a 3mm peg hilt for him to hold in robot mode and a 3mm peg hole/peg combination in opposition to each other through the base of the sword, allowing the sword to be mounted lengthways on the vehicle's roof or stored on the back of the robot mode. But of course you've already got a stack of 3mm peg Cyberverse weapons so you can go raiding your parts box for extra goodies for Motorbreath to use.

Top top upgrade for the toy.

For a toy that's only been out a short time Motorbreath has already racked up an interesting release history: Originally released on an English language Generation card to Hasbro's Asian markets it has now been released through Toys R Us as an exclusive with the card now sporting additional Chinese text (possibly as a sticker). Motorbreath then was released in the Ultimate Giftset alongside Legends Thundercracker, Street Rally Jazz (repaint of RTS Deluxe Jazz) and Combat Hero Optimus Prime (repaint of RTS Deluxe Optimus Prime.

Motorbreath appeared at 3 per case in the Generations Legends case alongside 2 each of Thundercracker (repaint & remould of RTS Legends Wave 1 Starscream) & Hoist (repaint & remould of RTS Legends Wave 2 Trailcutter) and only 1 of Bluestreak (repaint & remould of RTS Legends Wave 2 Prowl)

EZ-Collection Gum Optimus Prime

I nearly skipped the EZ-Collection Gum wave: When the promotional images of the toys first appeared only the Megatron tank in metallic purple appealed to me. The what look liked chromed Starscream actively put me off and I really didn't need another Prowl, Optimus & Rodimus. Then in hand images of the toys emerged which completely changed everything. For a start the Megatron was fab. And, contrary to the publicity images which showed the original versions of the moulds, Optimus, Starscream & Prowl used the modified Asia Exclusive/GDO Legends moulds with 3mm clip hands. A pass transformed into a must have in seconds!

Unfortunately Optimus' deco turns out to be quite disappointing in the plastic. The red used isn't as mettalic as I was expecting and what's worse is there are two distinct shades of it used culminating in an odd effect between the sets of parts which is slightly off putting. But what I hadn't twigged from any of the photos I'd seen was that this Optimus was the G2 version of the toy again: his arm once more sports the G2 logo and his legs are black but this time the head is blue.

Slightly disappointing. Buy only if you need an Op with the G2 logo and the 3mm hands.

Optimus Prime was packed in the apparently blindboxed EZ Collection Gum wave in cases of six. However each toy is numbered: Optimus is 1, Rodimus is 2, Prowl is 3, Megatron is 4 and Starscream is 5. In both the case pictured at the link above and in the one I received there were two of the Optimus Prime figure and one each of the others.

Generations Legend Optimus Prime Variant

So back to the Dollar General Generations Legends... The toys had been in circulation, and largely ignored bar a small interest in the Bumblebee variation, when this post appeared on the 2005 boards on 23rd August 2012. Now Transformers has had it's fair share of variants over the years but this is the first time I can remember a toy being changed mid run. Both Optimus and Starscream, while keeping the same deco, now use the tooling used for Generations GDO Legion Motorbreath and Thundercracker. So the best deco of Optimus' Generation 1 form now gains 3mm C-Clip hands and a red version of the Menasor Sword. Generation 1 Optimus isn't known as a sword wielder so I've got him a black gun from my Cyberverse parts box. Meanwhile the sword has gone to Motormouth who's using it to do a Scourge impersonation while Optimus also holds Motormouth's black version.

Best version of the Legends Optimus toy out there so far. It'll only be topped if Hasbro redo it with a 3mm version of the Optimus Blaster.

Future Repaints

There's two obvious repaints of this toy which I'm surprised haven't been done yet: all in black as RID Scourge and in white as Ultra Magnus spring to mind. In fact add some joints at the knees and a trailer and you could be on as the centre of a Powermaster Optimus Prime or combined mode Ultra Magnus. For a more insane version how about the colours used for Combat Hero Optimus using the colours for the abandoned G2 repaint? 2 packed with a Universe Legends Wave 2 Tank Megatron repainted as the unreleased G2 Combat Hero repaint would make a great set!

Wouldn't surprise me to see the sword again serving as the sword that came with The Japanese version of the original Megatron when RTS Legends Megatron gets retooled. Or indeed in red/pink/purple (preferably clear) with an all black version of this toy as RID Scourge.

[Philip Ayres]

Universe Legends Megatron

At some point soon I'm going to write a review extolling the virtues of the Generation 2 Combat Hero Megatron toy. Well here it is shrunk down a bit. And it's *still* good. The gun barrel is in place on his right shoulder and they've gone one better than all the versions of the Combat Hero Mould by painting him green (Hasbro: I want a green camo Combat Hero Megatron. Please make it happen) albeit a more realistic dark green than the original G2 Megatron tank and with a dark purple camouflage scheme. The faction symbol on the front of the toy is a normal Decepticon one, not the Generation 2 version. The arms are fixed from the shoulder down - no elbow but are ball jointed and shrug up a bit at the shoulders, ball jointed hips and bending knees. The head can turn but the gun barrel moves with it. He stands OK with his legs together, but if you examine the bottom of them the default stance is with the legs slightly apart.

Transformation: Fold the arms back so the hands point backwards. (Nice bit this coming up) Turn the head to his right taking the gun barrel with it. Swing the gun barrel so it's pointing straight up. Fold the lower legs back to cover the upper legs. Fold the chest up, then fold the arms onto the top of the tank to form the sides of the turret. Very Combat Hero Megatron in the transformation apart from the cleverness with the head & gun.

In vehicle mode it's a fixed turret tank. Looks good, near exact downsized copy of the original. The only extra thing you could ask would be a revolving turret and neither of the two earlier, and larger, versions had that!

So overall great in both modes and the ideal size to be used with Universe Spychanger Prime - just slightly bigger. Get this toy.

Megatron was sold as part of Universe Legends Wave 2, the first universe Legends Wave that was new toys and not just repaints of older Legends of Cybertron toys. He was sold with

EZ-Collection Megatron

It safe to say that the biggest shock when the colour picture of Transformers Chronicle EZ Collection Series 2 was unveiled was the colours used for the Japanese version of I love the Archforce toy & colours (though would love to see a green version) and Legends Megatron was probably my toy of 2008. This is just superb and the star of the set for me.

This toy was released blindboxed in EZ-Collection volume 2 in a case with Generation 2 Optimus Prime & Starscream (RTS Legends Wave 1), Prowl (RTS Legends Wave 2), Hound (Universe Legends Wave 2), Rodimus (Universe Legends Wave 5), Skywarp (a repaint of RTS Legends Wave 1 Starscream) and Skywarp (Bluestreak/Silverstreak, a repaint of Prowl from RTS Legends Wave 2).

Generations Legend Megatron

In spring 2012 an assortment of Legends started showing up in Dollar General stores in the states: Optimus Prime (from EZ Collection 1), Starscream (from EZ Collection 2), a new deco of Bumblebee (similar to the Cyberverse Evoloutions Bumblebee) and Tank Megatron who appears to be identical to the Universe Legends version from the pictures I've seen.

Megatron & Bumblebee remained the same when Optimus Prime & Starscream were revised into versions using the GDO Generations Legions versions with 3mm C-Clip hands and new weapons.

EZ-Collection Gum Megatron

I nearly skipped the EZ-Collection Gum wave: When the promotional images of the toys first appeared only the Megatron tank in metallic purple appealed to me. The what look liked chromed Starscream actively put me off and I really didn't need another Prowl, Optimus & Rodimus. Then in hand images of the toys emerged which completely changed everything. For a start the Megatron was fab. And, contrary to the publicity images which showed the original versions of the moulds, Optimus, Starscream & Prowl used the modified Asia Exclusive/GDO Legends moulds with 3mm clip hands. A pass transformed into a must have in seconds!

And in my hands Megatron is once again the star of the show: a gorgeous metallic purple with a metallic grey for the legs. Well worth having even if you do already have the previous version in purple.

This toy was packed in the apparently blindboxed EZ Collection Gum wave in cases of six. However each toy is numbered on the top of their boxes: Optimus is 1, Rodimus is 2, Prowl is 3, Megatron is 4 and Starscream is 5. In both the case pictured at the link above and in the one I received there were two of the Optimus Prime figure and one each of the others.

Future repaints

The most obvious repaint for this toy is one using the bright green, blue camouflage and G2 symbol of the original G2 Megatron tank. Change the camouflage to brown and you get Beast Wars II Megastorm. There's a further version of the Combat Hero toy in blue as Reverse Convoy/Rebirth Megatron.

For a more insane version how about the unreleased G2 Combat Hero repaint? 2 packed with a revised Optimus Prime Legend in the colours for the abandoned G2 repaint that recently showed up on Combat Hero Optimus in the Ultimate Giftset would make for a nice set!

[Philip Ayres]

Universe Legends Bumblebee

This is a quite blocky version of G1 Bumblebee - very square head - with the sides of the arms being covered by the sides of the car in robot mode. The figure has ball jointed hip, bending ankles as part of the TF and shoulders that move up & down as well as bend inwards. Most of the toy is yellow plastic with the waist, spine & wheels being cast in black plastic. The legs *look* like they're cast in black too but a close examination and later versions of this toy confirm that they're the same colour plastic as the body. Also painted black are the arms, with the exception of the forearms/wrists which are left the yellow of the moulded plastic. Black paint also covers the car grill on the front of the feet. The chest has a small Autobot symbol on it. Painted detail includes a silver face, pale blue eyes & headlights (on his feet) and grey/blue car windows round the chest.

TF: Fold Bumblebee's back up so it covers the head. Fold the waist back. Bring the feet together and fold them down. Fold the legs up so the feet becomes the car's bonnet. Fold the arms round to the sides of the car and press in so they lock over clips projecting back from the front of the car.

Car could be a VW Beetle - one that had been stretched out and had the bottom level of the windows raised.

Initially I was feeling poorly disposed towards BB because he was done so well, almost definitively in the first run of Universe Deluxe toys and thought it too flawed even for a Legends version for my tastes.

Later note: I've discovered that Bumblebee's head is a separate piece. Given age the glue holding it in place weakens and it can be popped off & swapped with the various repaints of this toy.

Bumblebee is a Universe Legends Wave 4 toy sold with Brawn, Beachcomber and, inexplicably, Animated Starscream. You really feel that Starscream aught to have been part of Universe Legends Wave 3 consisting of Animated Versions of Bumblebee, Prowl and Optimus Prime.

Henkei Cliffjumper

Henkei Cliffjumper is the Legends Bumblebee toy with the yellow swapped for red and black - both plastic and paint - swapped for grey with the exception of the still black front grill. My Cliffjumper has some paintwear around the ball joint housing on the hips which allow me to confirm the legs are moulded in red plastic.

Oddly I'm happier with this as Cliffjumper than I initially was with the toy as Bumblebee.

He appears as Cliff in Henkei set C-18 the Minibot Attack team with Gong(Brawn) and Beachcomber. As yet there hasn't been a western version of Legends Cliffjumper and Japan is yet to receive the deluxe Cliffjumper repaint of Classic Bumblebee.

Reveal The Shield Legends Gold Bumblebee

The only repaint amongst the RTS Legends, Gold Bumblebee uses the Universe Legends Bumblebee mould repainting the yellow with a bronzey gold and painting a dark blue, instead of the black, on the arms & legs and additionally over the head & wrists. The grill is unpainted on this toy. Inspired by Throttlebot Goldug this repaint doesn't quite work: the gold paint used on United Bumblebee is much better than the nearly brown plastic used here.

Gold Bumblebee shipped in early 2011 in Reveal The Shield (RTS from here in) Legends Wave 1 with Optimus Prime, Megatron and Stars cream where all were two per case. They reshipped in Wave 2, the box that actually reached the UK, at one per case alongside Trailcutter and Prowl which were two per case. Needless to say Asda had a lot of Trailcutters and Prowls leftover for a while!

Dark of the Moon Cyberverse Evolutions Bumblebee

Towards the end of the original Transformers Movie range a three pack of deluxe Transformers toys was released: The Legacy of Bumblebee contained Classics Bumblebee, Animated Bumblebee & Premium Movie Bumblebee. The Classics Bumblebee in that set, my favourite version of that mould, puts the Movie design's markings onto the Classic mould. This year's Reveal The Shield Bumblebee tries the same thing again but mucks it up by painting him orange. Then this four pack came out, pairing scanning versions of the Revenge of the Fallen Legends Bumblebee and Starscream with repaints of Universe Legends Bumblebee and Legends of Cybertron Starscream (why not RTS Legends Starscream, which is closer to the original 1984 Starscream?)

In fact now I think of it Animated Legends Bumblebee and Starscream exist so it might have been nice to see two different Cyberverse Evolutions packs..... and an Optimus 3-pack would have been nice too.

This Bumblebee is now a more orangey yellow than most Bumblebees, but it's not as badly orange as the RTS version. We get black stripes on the bonnet, framed with thin red lines which also go round the grill which is painted black. The roof features a large Autobot symbol which ends up on the robot's chest. The legs here are two tone: the lower half is upainted orange/yellow which the upper half is a metallic grey also used on the arms, including the wrists. I like the look of this Bumblebee, and essentially it was the reason I bought the set for another Legends Bumblebee plastic crack fix.

My one complaint is that Bumblebee, like the Legends of Cybertron Starscream, hasn't had his hands retooled to hold the extra weapons that come with the set. Both are sourced from Robotmasters toy: We have the 2-part gun, previously seen with Wingstun, and before that Machine Wars Thundercracker & Skywarp, Beast Wars II Dirge & Robots in Disguise Skyfire. The other weapon is the original gun, formerly cast in clear green and then chromed silver that came with R-Blade, the Jetfire coloured repaint of Cyberjet Hooligan. Interestingly the Bumblebee vs Megatron Target exclusive Cyberverse set also comes with a recoloured Robotmasters gun, that held by Ligier, previously Machine Wars Mirage & Prowl and Robots in Disguise Skid-Z.

EZ Collection Bumblebee

Bumblebee has a third repaint in 2011 as part of Takara's EZ Collection. It's very similar to the original Universe Legends Bumblebee, but there are differences: EZ Collection Bumblebee gains black paint on the forearms/wrists and looses some on the lower part of the leg. The Autobot symbol on the chest becomes a little smaller and much more well defined.

Nice but by no means essential if you've got the earlier universe version.

Generations Legends Bumblebee

In spring 2012 an assortment of Legends started showing up in Dollar General stores in the states: Optimus Prime (from EZ Collection 1), Starscream (from EZ Collection 2), TankMegatron who appears to be identical to the Universe Legends version from the pictures I've seen and a new deco of Bumblebee (similar to the Cyberverse Evoloutions Bumblebee). Bumlebee looses the Autobot symbol from his chest but gains one on the side of his car/his right arm.

Megatron & Bumblebee remained the same when Optimus Prime & Starscream were revised into versions using the GDO Generations Legions versions with 3mm C-Clip hands and new weapons.

Future Repaints

The most obvious repaint for Bumblebee would be in red again as a western release of Legends Cliffjumper. It might be sensible to modify the hands at this point to use 3mm pages and at the same time include an alternate head sculpt closer to Cliffjumper's and some weaponary.

Bumblebee and Cliffjumper then have a wealth of repaints in different and odd colours: Generation 2 Bumblebee (metallic gold), Hubcap (yellow with red face) and Generation 2 Hubcap (metallic red with orange face) are the general release ones but Volks (orange) and Sedan (white) come from Argentina/Mexico, Glyph (blue with grey limbs & yellow face) & Tap-out (teal with grey limbs) from convention repaints of the keyring versions , Black Bumblebee (a Japanese black keyring repaint) and Bugbite (an e-Hobby repaint in white) all give good mileage for the toy.

Bumblebee has a history of getting clear repaints of his EZ-Collection/Legends versions in Japan so a clear yellow version of this would be nice!

[Philip Ayres]

Reveal The Shield Legends Starscream

Starscream's had legends toys of his Cybertron, Movie and Animated versions. There's even been a previous Legends 1984 Starscream using the Legends of Cybertron Thundercracker mould. This version adapts his 1984 Generation 1 form to the Legends size.

The resemblance between the new RTS Legends figure and the original one is pretty good and the new on beats the original's articulation with a head that turns slightly, hips that swing to the sides and ball jointed knees & shoulders. Unfortunately one of the knee joints on mine is a little faulty so I can't bend the knee into the precise position needed for the toy to stand properly. I will keep my eyes peeled for a replacement that does.

Transformation: inventive. Fold the nosecone up from behind the head, then fold the head back and down so it's between the robot's legs. Fold each arm up so it points straight up and turn so the inner side of the arm faces forward. Fold the guns on the arms forward to become the back of the jet. Fold the wings on the back of the legs down. Fold the legs up alongside the body so the wings on the legs become the tailfins. Plug the tab on each leg into the slot on each wing.

Starscream's vehicle mode is a surprisingly accurate representation of the F-16 jet, albeit one with a thick undercarriage. Landing gear is provided by the knees & feet raising the bulk of the plane up.

Apart from the knees on mine this is a great little Legend. Nice reworking of the Transformation sequence.

Cyberverse Evolutions Starscream

The RTS Legend Starscream doesn't appear in the Cyberverse Evolutions set but I feel it should have done. The set includes retooled transparent versions of Movie Legends Starscream and Revenge of the Fallen Legends Bumblebee along with another Legends version of the same characters. Bumblebee is represented by the G1 inspired Universe Legends Bumblebee but Starscream uses Legends of Cybertron Starscream. I just feel that the G1 RTS version would have been a better choice and thematically matched the Bumblebee a bit better.

EZ Collection Thundercracker

Takara's EZ Collection has long been a home for Legends figures in Japan. However since the Dark of the Moon Legends are now rebranded as Cyberverse basics and sold in conjunction with the Cyberverse Commanders & Action Sets, Takara needed to do something different.

The first EZ Collection wave released alongside Dark of the Moon uses the western Reveal The Shield Legends as it's base and adds in new repaints of the Revenge of the Fallen Legends Optimus Prime & Megatron. Of the RTS toys Optimus Prime & Trailbreaker (Trailcutter) are essentially the same as their RTS versions albeit swapping the rub signs for faction symbols. Megatron too is broadly similar to his RTS version but there's one major difference: the EZ Collections lacks the orange safety tip on the cannon/gun barrel that RTS Megatron has, making the Japanese version more desirable. Prowl is missing, replaced by the similar looking Universe Legends Jazz, which hadn't been previously released in Japan. The Bumblebee in the set is different from the Goldbugesque RTS version and is very similar to the original Universe Legends Bumblebee, which also hadn't been released in Japan before, although the mould was repainted as Henkei Cliffjumper which in a three pack with minor repaints of Universe Legends Beachcomber and Brawn.

But what of RTS Starscream?

Starscream finds himself repaint as Thundercracker, swapping grey plastic for blue with a painted silver chest & faction symbol tampographs. It's an obvious repaint of course but it seems a little odd to be getting a hench jet before the main bot is done. Massive bonus points for painting the faction symbols so the points on the chin are facing front and thus are the right way up in robot mode. It so annoys me the number versions of the G1 Decepticon Jets that don't have their faction symbols the right way up in robot mode.

It is of course the first repaint of the Starscream toy and has appeared in Japan without any hint of a Western release. When the first ones appeared on eBay they were £9.50 compared with the £7 the seller was asking for the rest. I bought one then, and Megatron was the same price. They were then relisted at £10.50. Then £12.57. Then £18.55..... The last two that sold went for £21.44 & £24.50 with them now being listed for a massive £27.56 as at August 5th 2011! Madness, utter utter Madness. I wish I'd bought a few more when they were sub tenner. I'm looking at Wave 1 Case that BBTS have for $160 (These toys are sold blindboxed in cases of 24 with each toy appearing three times) and wondering if it's worth buying one....

Thundercracker? Looks fab and stands better than Starscream. But this is a £3-£4 toy, it's not a tenner toy even at import prices and it's certainly not worth paying the best part of £30 for! On release I predicted a western version in early 2012 and the howl of fanboys who overspent on the Japanese toy. And guess what ? ;-)

EZ Collection Starscream

A second EZ Collection wave has been announced and is available to pre-order at BBTS for $75, half the price of the Wave 1 case. All we have to go on at the moment is a grey scale photo showing the eight toys involved. The missing RTS Prowl shows up twice in the set of eight so I'm guessing one is Prowl while the other is a repaint, almost certainly either Bluestreak or Smokescreen. The Legends versions of Generation 2 Megatron, Hound and Rodimus weren't released in Japan when Henkei was running and including them here completes the release of the Universe Legends toy molds in Japan. Another version of RTS Optimus Prime is present in this case and I'm guessing this is probably a repaint as Ultra Magnus or possibly Scourge/Nemesis Prime.

The case photo also shows TWO of the Starscream mould. I'm guessing that one of them would be a Japanese version Starscream and the other probably Skywarp or Sunstorm. I can't really see Thundercracker being carried over to a second case as some people are hoping but his initial appearance instead of Starscream was a big surprise anyway so I won't be so shocked if Takara bowls us a googly and does something odd here too!

EZ Starscream is very similar to the RTS version: loose the rub sign and replace it with two purple Decepticon symbols which, like Thundercracker, have the point on the chin facing towards the nose so they're the right way up in robot mode. However there is a minor change to the paint scheme: the head is now black right the way round which means there's a black section on the nose of the jet which doesn't look so good.

Buy depending on if you like faction symbols over rubsigns. But there's a cheaper western version (see bellow) and a better version that have rendered this obsolete now unless you're buying the full case.

EZ Collection Skywarp

Completing the set of original 1984 Decepticon jets in the EZ Collection is Skywarp. You know the drill: black repaint, avoiding the problem with the head that Starscream had. Purple hands, feet and leg trim. Silver chest and faction symbols (again the right way up in robot mode) Job done on first attempt.

This did big money on release. Big big money. And it still commands a premium due to being the only EZ-Collection/Legends version of Skywarp who has yet to have a western release. It's also the only version of the 1984 jets not to have had a modified release.

Generations Legends Starscream

Sold through the Dollar General chain in the USA on a Generations Cardback this legend is effectively a western re-release of the EZ Collection Generation 2 Starscream listed above.

It was released alongside Optimus Prime (using the EZ Collection Volume 1 repaint), Tank Megatron (from Universe Legends Wave 2) and Bumblebee (a new repaint of the toy from Universe Legends Wave 4). Very few people took any notice of this assortment on release.... and then a while later something *VERY* interesting happened......

Generations Legions Thundercracker

From the EZ Collection Thundercracker review above I give you this quote:

I predict a western version in early 2012 and the howl of fanboys who overspent on the Japanese toy.

It didn't quite happen like that but ...

On the 11th March 2012 at Cybertron Con Transformers Generations Asia Exclusive Legends wave was announced. This wave recoloured four older legends figures, two in original colour schemes and the other two the same as previously available Japanese EZ Collection figures. To spice things up a bit all four figures were remoulded with 3mm clip hands, 3mm peg holes on their vehicle modes and new 3mm peg handled weapons resembling what their original Generation One forms had.

Thundercracker is almost exactly the same colours as used on the EZ-Collection version of the toy above. His jet mode has a 3mm hole through each wing which allows you to plus the newly moulded Null Rays into. These weapons which look like the longer version of the missiles & launchers found with the original 1984 jets have a 3mm peg handle and a 3mm peg on the rear. They are the only GDO Legion weapons NOT to have a 3mm socket in them. The robot mode already has Null rays, formed from the top of the jet, so in they either have to held like hand weapons or pegged into the wings, stored on the rear or projecting forward as shoulder cannons

Fab remould, but you almost feel like they needed a remould to loose the plane back on the arms so the Null rays could be plugged in there.

For a toy that's only been out a short time Thundercracker has already racked up an interesting release history: It was originally released on an English language Generation card to Hasbro's Asian markets as part of the GDO Legends wave where it was 2 per case alongside 3 of Motorbreath (repaint & remould of RTS Legends Wave 1 Optimus Prime), 2 of Hoist (repaint & remould of RTS Legends Wave 2 Trailcutter) and only 1 of Bluestreak (repaint & remould of RTS Legends Wave 2 Prowl). It was then re-released through Toys R Us as an exclusive with the card now sporting additional Chinese text (possibly as a sticker). Thundercracker then was released in the Ultimate Giftset alongside Legends Motorbreath, Street Rally Jazz (repaint of RTS Deluxe Jazz) and Combat Hero Optimus Prime (repaint of RTS Deluxe Optimus Prime.

EZ Collection Gum Starscream

I nearly skipped the EZ-Collection Gum wave: When the promotional images of the toys first appeared only the Megatron tank in metallic purple appealed to me. The what look liked chromed Starscream actively put me off and I really didn't need another Prowl, Optimus & Rodimus. Then in hand images of the toys emerged which completely changed everything. For a start the Megatron was fab. And, contrary to the publicity images which showed the original versions of the moulds, Optimus, Starscream & Prowl used the modified Asia Exclusive/GDO Legends moulds with 3mm clip hands. A pass transformed into a must have in seconds!

When I opened the case up Starscream wasn't chromed as I thought, Instead he's moulded in a silvery plastic. I'm pretty sure it's not paint as there don't appear to be any of the tell tale signs of silver missing in recesses. The exceptions are the upper legs, shoulders and vehicle back which are a grey plastic. Blue & red paint operations become metallic. It's a nice attractive looking toy and as a bonus can hold & and use 3mm bar weapons. The only downside is that it doesn't come with the new weapons produced for the Generations Legends.

Generations Legend Starscream Variant

So back to the Dollar General Generations Legends... The toys had been in circulation, and largely ignored bar a small interest in the Bumblebee variation, when this post appeared on the 2005 boards on 23rd August 2012. Now Transformers has had it's fair share of variants over the years but this is the first time I can remember a toy being this extensively changed mid run. Both Optimus and Starscream, while keeping the same deco, now use the tooling used for Generations GDO Legion Motorbreath and Thundercracker. So Starscream gains holes in his wings, 3mm hands and grey null rays.

Instant must have purchase!

Future Repaints

Starscream's got a rich repaint history so I expect we'll be seeing this toy again repainted as Sunstorm & Acid Storm or remoulded as Thrust, Dirge, Ramjet & G2 Ramjet. Plus there's two Japanese Starscream colour schemes that could be done: Black & Clear. I have friends that even as we speak are praying for an Action Masters Thundercracker version!

I wouldn't be surprised either to see another version of Skywarp with the modified hands and the extra guns either!

I would love to see a remould to enable the the new weapons to be mounted on the arms.

[Philip Ayres]

Here we go again....

Transformers GO EZ-Collection Megatron

When the Transformers Go EZ_Collection was first solicited many of the toys, Megatron included, were similar to the previously released Japanese versions. In Megatron's case the purple EZ-Collection Megatron. However what we got was somewhat different.....

It's surprising we haven't had a grey Megatron tank before. Yes we nearly got one in G2 but this is the first time one's made it to the shelves. The use of grey for the tank body is similar enough to the silver of the original Megatron albeit overlaid with the now very familiar camouflage pattern for the tank. If anything the now grey tank mode reminds me of the Wal*Mart exclusive Armorhide repaint of Brawl that came out in 2003. (see also Flak and Wreckage for more grey tanks).

Transforming to robot mode reveals Megatron's waist and upper legs are now cast in a lighter grey than used before, a much better colour than the white used on the unreleased G2 version. The only slight oddity here are the hands on the toy: purple where perhaps a dark grey to match the body would have been better. It's the only purple on the toy, save for the tampo Decepticon symbol on the tank front/robot chest, so it can't be a case of needing to use the same colour paint as somewhere else.

Apart from that one minor niggle he's a top top version of the toy.

Future repaints

The most obvious repaint for this toy is one using the bright green, blue camouflage and G2 symbol of the original G2 Megatron tank. Change the camouflage to brown and you get Beast Wars II Megastorm. There's a further version of the Combat Hero toy in blue as Reverse Convoy/Rebirth Megatron.

We've sort of had the the unreleased G2 Combat Hero repaint as the Transformers GO EZ Collection version but how about one with more "G2 accurate" white body parts which could be 2 packed with a revised Optimus Prime Legend in the colours for the abandoned G2 repaint that were recently showed used on Combat Hero Optimus in the Ultimate Giftset?

Currently my legends are sitting on my Monitor stand next to my Arms Micron Capsule Special edition toys and Legends Megatron stands next to his Arms Micron counterpart cast in wonderful clear purple. TakaraTomy I have money here for you for a clear purple Legends Megatron! Oh OK then and a clear green one too!

[Philip Ayres]

Transformers GO EZ-Collection Starscream

Just like Transformers Collection 09 was to original Starscream the Transformers GO Starscream is an Anime version of the Starscream Legend. Use a much brighter paler blue for the hands, geet and lower leg details and a slightly brighter red for the chest. The mould is the modified verasion with the 3mm clip hands and 3mm peg holes through the wings but sadly he doesn't come with the null ray weapons.

[Philip Ayres]

Oooh, didn't get to this one last time. Ian..........


Reveal The Shield Legends Prowl

Prowl's only previous Legend was of his Animated Version. Looking at the Reveal The Shield legend, it's obvious that it's meant to be the 1984 Generation 1 Prowl. You might think it's a retool of Universe Legends Jazz: At first glance they look *VERY* similar, with the straight back door wings and the Transformation even down to the shape of the chest and the positioning of the screws. But looking closely almost every part is different. The only pieces that MIGHT be unaltered are the wheels and the inner shoulder joints linking the body and the arms which end in the shoulder's ball joint. The rear wheels move location on this design ending up on the arms and we get more articulated heels but that's it as regards functional changes.

TF: fold up the chest piece to become the bonnet. Fold the feet in, bring the legs together and fold the lower legs up over the upper legs to become the back of the car. Fold the arms into place as the doors and the rear wheels.

Prowl was absent from Reveal The Shield (RTS from here in) Legends Wave 1 which contained Megatron, Starscream and Gold Bumblebee where all were two per case. Thanks to Hasbro UK we never saw that case in Great Britain! However those 4 toys reshipped in Wave 2, the box that actually did reach the UK, at one per case alongside Prowl and Trailcutter which were two per case. Needless to say Asda had a lot of Trailcutters and Prowls leftover for a while!

EZ-Collection Prowl

RTS Legends Prowl was the one "new" RTS Mould not used in Transformers Chronicle EZ Collection Series 1, I presume because Jazz was included and, as I intimate in the review they share, both toys are very similar. Jazz, being a more popular character in Japan, won it and Prowl turns up here.

Save for swapping the rubsign for a painted Autobot logo RTS Prowl & EZ-Collection Prowl are identical.

This toy was released blindboxed in EZ-Collection volume 2 in a case with Generation 2 Optimus Prime & Starscream (RTS Legends Wave 1), Prowl (RTS Legends Wave 2), Hound (Universe Legends Wave 2), Rodimus (Universe Legends Wave 5), Generation 2 Combat Hero Tank Megatron/Archforce (a purple repaint of Tank Megatron from Universe Legends Wave 2), Skywarp (a repaint of RTS Legends Wave 1 Starscream) and Skywarp (Bluestreak/Silverstreak, a repaint of Prowl from RTS Legends Wave 2).

EZ-Collection Streak

The Prowl mould has two repaints: Bluestreak and Smokescreen and it was kind of inevitable one of them would get used as a repaint for the RTS Legends Prowl mould. Bluestreak won. Because he's Japanese he uses the Streak name and thus avoids all the Bluestreak/Silverstreak naming problems.

From the Prowl colours black - be it plastic or painted - remains the same. White becomes a silvery grey *except* on the upper legs where it's now painted cherry red as are the horns on the head. Gone is the lightbar, but there's a square of grey plastic now occupying where it once sat.

He's slightly darker than what you might expect for Bluestreak but still a very good representation of the character.

Generations Bluestreak

So Bluestreak, whose EZ-Collection version had been in high demand by western collectors, made an appearance in the GDO Legends wave in later 2012. Initially solicited as a Chinese exclusive these toys were later imported into the US by Hasbro for exclusive distribution to the Toys R Us chain.

Bluestreak isn's a straight import of the EZ-Collection version: The grey bodywork gets a darker grey stripe over the centre of the bonnet and the roof. In robot mode the entire body is painted dark grey, not just the lower chest, but the hands have been left silver grey the same as the bodywork.

Like all the other Generations Legends Bluestreak features some mould modifications to allow the toy to use 3mm Cyberverse weapons. He gains a 3mm hole in each door and a 3mm hole in the hand. He comes with a superb miniaturised version of the rifle the original toy had. Unfortunately the gun has pieces projecting from the top and the bottom which prevent it from being mounted on the car doors in vehicle mode. If the holes were repositioned upwards so they're in the windows this would allow the toy to attach the gun in vehicle mode and provide mounting points for it to use Cyberverse 3mm peg weapons as shoulder cannons in robot mode.

That one caveat aside Bluestreak is a very nice upgrade to the EZ-Collection version. The ability to hold weapons is always welcome in toys so I appreciate the C-Clip hands and additional gun.

Bluestreak shipped at 1 per case alongside 3 of Motorbreath (repaint & remould of RTS Legends Wave 1 Optimus Prime), 2 each of Thundercracker (repaint & remould of RTS Legends Wave 1 Starscream) & Hoist (repaint & remould of RTS Legends Wave 2 Trailcutter)

EZ Collection Gum Prowl

OK....

Take the RTS Prowl.

Colour with a slight metallic sheen to the plastic and paint. Nice, but not as striking as the other toys in the Gum collection.

Add on the modifications for the GDO Legend Bluestreak - 3mm holes in the doors, 3mm c-clip hands. Woo, a gun holding enabled Legends Prowl - result.

One slight problem is that the holes on the doors lie within the area covered by the door graphics so there's a hole in the tail of the P on his left door and covering most of the E on his right. I can live with that if it lets me attach weapons to him. But the other problem is he doesn't come with the gun that Generations Legends Bluestreak has! Will someone please KO the Generations weapons?

Very decent, worth having.

Transformers GO EZ-Collection Prowl

I now have FOUR Legends Prowls.

The Transformers Go version that arrived today is a bit odd. In car mode it looks like the original EZ-Collection version, but with silver grey windows rather than pale metallic blue. However when you transform is it you find Prowl has the 3mm C-Clip hands of the Generations Bluestreak modification.

What's happened here is the holes in the doors have been filled in. You can see marks where the holes would be but otherwise it's a flat surface once again with the wording on the doors over the holes.

I'm not keen on having lost the peg holes here: if he had a gun (and he doesn't - will someone *PLEASE* KO the Generations Legend Bluestreak gun?) you'd have nowhere to attach it in vehicle mode. And somehow the silver/grey windows don't work nearly as well as the blue ones did.

I await a future Generations version with door holes, original paint scheme and a gun for the perfect Legends Prowl.

Future Repaints

Smokescreen is the obvious choice here.

[Philip Ayres]

Transformers Go EZ-Collection Optimus Prime

Like the TF GO EZ Collection Prowl & Starscream the Optimus Prime in the same line also features the modified sculpt introduced for the Transformers Generations Legends but lacks any weapon. The red plastic used here is slightly duller than usual, a more cherry red, while the blue is much brighter with a metallic sheen giving the toy a striking appearance visibly different from the other Optimus Primes.

[Philip Ayres]

Reveal The Shield Legends Trailcutter

Poor Trailbreaker. He's not had much love over the years. His one reappearance thus far was as a Universe Spychanger recolour with the legs and head of the robot in totally the wrong colour and the wrong name attached. However he's back now with a modified copyright conflict avoiding name as a Reveal The Shield legend.

Trailcutter is very like the 1984 version but with proportionately larger legs and modified arms made from the roof of the vehicle. He has ball jointed hips and shoulders.

Transformation: fold the head down and the upper body up. Fold the arms up and fold them back behind the body. Peg the feet together and fold them back then fold the legs back into the arms.

What we get is a slightly elongated version of the original Trailbreaker vehicle, unfortunately missing the trademarked stripes.

Yeah, not bad at all. It strikes me that a Legends toy with a similar design would make a good Ratchet/Ironhide. Better than the Universe versions in fact! I'm not sure if you could rework the design for Trailbreaker's remould Hoist that well - you'd need new arms for a start....

Trailcutter was absent from Reveal The Shield (RTS from here in) Legends Wave 1 which contained Megatron, Starscream and Gold Bumblebee where all were two per case. Thanks to Hasbro UK we never saw that case in Great Britain! However those 4 toys reshipped in Wave 2, the box that actually did reach the UK, at one per case alongside Prowl and Trailcutter which were two per case. Needless to say Asda had a lot of Trailcutters and Prowls leftover for a while!

EZ Collection Trailbreaker

The same toy showed up as Trailbreaker in Takara Tomy's EZ-collection Volume 1 in 2011. The only real difference to the original is that he's swapped a heat sensitive rubsign on his roof for an Autobot symbol on his bonnet.

Generations Legion Hoist

The Trailbreaker mould received it's inevitable green Hoist recolour as part of the Transformer Generations Legion wave. As well as the vehicle body black becoming green (the wheels, spine & shoulder joints stay black) the red paint becomes red. The silver paint ops on the thighs & overhead array are missing but we get some new yellow & black stripes, a silver face and a yellow visor.

After the recolour, the most notable feature about the toy is it's remould: his hands, previously open in a random manner are now remoulded with a 3mm gauge peg hole in the middle and the vehicle mode now includes a 3mm peg hole on the roof, on the back of the panel that rises up to reveal the head. He comes with a black plastic hand gun, modelled after the heat seeking missiles supplied with the original Hoist. The handle & butt of the weapon are 3mm posts, and there's another 3mm post sticking out the right side of the gun (looking at the barrel) with a 3mm port opposite. Legions Thundercracker & Bluestreak have the same arrangement with their guns so it's possible to combine them into one huge weapon.

Years ago I looked at Hoist and never realised it was a repaint & remould of Trailbreaker because they were so different. Legends Hoist is far to similar to Legends Trailcutter and really needed some sort of extensive remoulding to the vehicle parts that become the robot arms to simulate Hoist's towing gear. A possible alternative would be to add 3mm ports to the back/top of the car allowing an additional orange plastic towing piece to be added that could also peg onto the robot's back. The more I think about it that sounds a good idea.... holes at the back of the vehicle would then be at the end of the robot's arms and let you plug his weapon into the end of the arm projecting straight out the end.

Hoist appeared in the GDO Legends wave alongside 3 of Motorbreath (repaint & remould of RTS Legends Wave 1 Optimus Prime), 2 each of Thundercracker (repaint & remould of RTS Legends Wave 1 Starscream) and only 1 of Bluestreak (repaint & remould of RTS Legends Wave 2 Prowl)

[Philip Ayres]

Hound

The G1 Hound look is nicely captured by the robot mode, but the head looks a little odd being set back a bit from the central axis up the body. The tyres (green !) on the robot chest get in the way of swinging the arms forward, but they're ball jointed at the shoulder so can be swung to the sides a bit - the arms are likewise set a little far back. Ball jointed shoulders & hips, plus knees bend as do ankles.

TF: V similar to Jazz. Fold the windscreen up so it sticks out of the robot's back then fold up the chest piece to become the bonnet. Fold the arms into place as the underside of where the doors would be. Fold the feet up to form the seats, bring the legs together and fold the lower legs up over the upper legs to become the back of the jeep covering the hands in the process - this was a bit of a struggle with mine.

Jeep is again like the G1 version and similarly to Jazz feels a little stretched out.

Not bad toy and nice to have a new version of a character that's had little new version love over the years. Deluxe version expected imminently.

Hound is Wave 2 Universe Legends Toy, the first wave to feature new sculpts as opposed to repainted Legends of Cybertron versions. He shipped with G2 Tank Megatron & Jazz.

Tracker Hound

The most obvious ways to go with a Hound repaint is something desert themed as either Detritus or Strongarm. Unfortunately he's packed with Sandstorm who already uses a similar colour scheme. So what do Hasbro do? Fortunately they didn't go down the Energon Strongarm route! Instead we get an all black plastic toy with some silver and gold highlights.

For me this toy doesn't really work. The all black doesn't suit it at all. Sorry!

EZ Collection Hound

Universe Legends Hound was one of the first new mould Legends created for the Universe series, in series 2 alongside G2 Tank Megatron & Jazz but these toys were never released in Japan at the time. The only Universe Legends released in Japan were a pair of 3 packs in the Henkei series consisting of Universe Legends Wave 4 & 5 toys: Bumblebee (repainted as Cliffjumper), Beachcomber & Brawn and Warpath, Wheelie & Cosmos.

Jazz was finally released in Japan in Transformers Chronicle EZ Collection Series 1 and Hound finally turns up in EZ-Collection 2 alongside a repaint of Megatron for both toys' Japanese debut. Looking at a picture you'd dismiss Hound out of hand but put him side by side with his predecessor and actually both colours have plastic have changed. Previously he used a mid green for the robot head, body & lower legs, all of which form the Jeep mode's body, and a darker green for the robot arms, upper legs, feet & wheel. EZ Collection Hound's vehicle body parts become a much darker green while the previously dark green part become a dark grey, almost black.

Big improvement, and makes the original western version look plasticy by comparison.

Transformers Go EZ-Collection Hound

This version of Legends Hound uses the same dark grey plastic for the arms, upper legs & tyres as the previous EZ Collection Hound but the green becomes a bright metallic olive green.

I'm looking at it and it's nice but I think the previous EZ Collection version is better. Compared to some of the other Legends in the same wave he suffers by not having upgraded 3mm C-Clip hands.

[Philip Ayres]

Transformers Go EZ Collection Bumblebee

Take the slightly revised GDO Legends mould in the bright orangey yellow plastic but remove all the deco details of the GDO version instead using the small Autobot symbol on the roof from the previous EZ Collection version.

[Philip Ayres]

Universe Legends Rodimus

Not Hot Rod nor Rodimus Prime, just Rodimus.

He’s the odd bot out in this wave – he’s not a Minibot (The other classic characters in Wave 4 & 5 of Universe Legends had all been minibots: Bumblebee, Beachcomber & Brawn and Cosmos, Warpath and Wheelie) and there’s already a larger version of him in Classics Rodimus. Back in 2009 when he was first released I couldn’t really see the point in doing him. Some moulding money may have been saved by doing a repaint of the previous wave's Bumblebee to make Cliffjumper, Hubcap & Goldbug or even Brawn as Outback.

I suppose there may be some sort of in joke going on – for years Western fans coveted the Japanese Micromaster Hot Rodimus, now we take revenge with a Legends figure that won’t be released there – all of the Generation 1 moulds in the last two waves of Universe Legends were reused in the two Henkei Minibot sets released in 2009. Bumblebee was repainted as Cliffjumper (Cliff) in the C-18 Minibot Attack Team with Beachcomber & Brawn (Gong) while Warpath, Wheelie & Cosmos (Adams) were released as the C-19 Minibot Spy Team.

Rodimus’ robot mode looks like the G1 (and Classics) versions of the character – mainly red with a yellowy orange firebird on the chest. His wheels, inner shoulders, upper legs and feet are a combination of moulded and painted black. Gone are the dual points of his yellow spoiler pointing up his shoulders.

TF: Very similar to Wheelie in the same case: fold the chest up so it meets the windscreen on the back. Pull legs & feet together and then forward so they meet the rear of the windscreen. Bring the arms forward & in so they meet to form the sides of the car. Fold the spoiler back.

Rodimus’ vehicle mode is a little different to what we’ve come to expect – it’s a more current car design, almost Porsche/Jazz like but painted in the Rodimus colours complete with firebird on the bonnet and fire trails up the doors. There’s a mild gold wash to the top of the spoiler – I’ve only just noticed it and I’ve had the toy a day – but it could do with being much more opaque and covering all the spoiler. The windows are painted using a purpley black colour very similar to the shade used on Classics Rodimus.

Interesting update, similar to Wheelie's, giving Rodimus a more current rather than futuristic vehicle mode.

Revenge of the Fallen Legends Smokescreen

Revenge of the Fallen Legends Smokescreen is a repaint of Universe Legends Rodimus

Smokescreen is perhaps not the most obvious choice of character to use as a Hot Rod/Rodimus repaint. But then again the base mould isn't a usual Hot Rod, more of a modern, as opposed to futuristic, interpretation on the character. The most obvious connection between the Rodimus & Smokescreen is that they both have a spoiler. The original Smokescreen is a repainted and adapted version of the mould that Bluestreak and Prowl use.

I associate Smokescreen with being blue with a red stripe, but the Legends version swaps Rodimus' orange/red for a bright red, keeps the black plastic and then paints the sides of the car blue, the windows black, the headlights yellow and adds Autobot & number 38 details. The end result looks a lot like the original Smokescreen car, which is what we're after here. My only real complaint is the lack of a 38 on the bonnet.

Robot mode is less like Smokescreen. We lack any white or painted black for a start, and while both toys have the bonnet for a chest, original Smokescreen has his bonnet pointing out while the Rodimus mould has it flat against the chest. The front of the legs are painted blue - the original was red so I'd have saved my paint here. The forearms are blue while the shoulders & hands are red - I'd have reversed that too. Since none of these details is visible in vehicle mode there's no reason why they couldn't have been changed to produce a better looking toy in robot mode.

I've seen much worse Smokescreen homages. The vehicle is very good and although much is forgiveable at legends size a lot of the things that trouble me with the robot mode could easily have been fixed. So he makes an adequate Universe Legends Smokescreen, rather than a top notch one.

Smokescreen was sold in the USA in a Target Exclusive 2-pack with NEST Legends Starscream, a repaint of the original 2007 Movie Legend Starscream.

Dark of the Moon Rodimus

Rodimus returned in 2011 as a bonus item in a VS pack during Dark of the Moon. Released at Wal*Mart as an early promotional item for the film it contains the Revenge of the Fallen Legends Bumblebee, repainted in gold, and Soundwave, repainted in his G1 blue. Rodimus, meanwhile, swaps his red for bright orange and black for brown with the spoiler being painted silver, yellow windows and a flame outline on the sides & the bonnet.

Um yes. It's great to see the Rodimus mould back in circulation but the colours are a little bright and gaudy. But while looking at the toy it pushed a button in the back of my mind and I realised I'd seen a similar colour mix before: he's using Wheelie's colours! Are we in fact holding Wheelimus Prime in our hands? It would also have been nice if Rodimus could have been retooled to hold Cyberverse weapons. However none of the toys in this set can, despite there being a retooled version of the Movie Bumblebee Legends mould out there.

This set has belatedly been released in ASDA in the UK. A steal at £11.

EZ Collection Rodimus

Finally in May 2012 The Rodimus Legend figure reached Japan!

Pre-release I wrote: A Japanese version of Legends Rodimus has been shown in promotional images for Transformers Chronicles EZ Collection Volume 02. The images are monochrome but I'd hope to see something similar to the Universe Legend with a yellow painted spoiler.

The colouring on this version is vastly different to the original Legend with the red plastic becoming a more cherry red, the orangey yellow flames becoming a brighter yellow, the gold tail becoming orange, as does the black paint on the upper legs & feet, and the purpley black windows becoming pale blue.

Much, much better than the original, well worth your money.

EZ Collection Gum Rodimus

The EZ-Collection Gum wave re-releases 5 Legends previously available in EZ-Collection Wave 2: Optimus, Megatron, Starscream, Prowl & Rodimus. Where the moulds have been modified for a Transformers Generations release these modifications are present on a Japanese release for the first time so Optimus, Starscream & Prowl all get 3mm hands and peg holes but are missing the weapons released with their recoloured American versions. All 5 toys have their deco tweaked slightly to give them a metallic finish.

Gum Rodimus is very similar to the EZ-Collection Rodimus above with the cherry red becoming metallic and the orange becoming bronzey.

Top repaint, different enough to make it worth getting even if you have the previous EZ-Collection version and far superior to the western Rodimus Legend.

Future Repaints

For a start Rodimus really needs a Generations Legends style remould with 3mm c-clip hands and a hole on the bonnet for mounting the gun. I'd like to see a Western release in the EZ-Collection colours except I'd have the the spoiler painted bright yellow.

But for other repaints.... well this mould could be really milked by Hasbro if they chose to. The 2001 reissue of original Hot Rod has Clear and Black repaints so there's a good start. Classics Rodimus has been repainted in black as Shattered Glass Rodimus, in clear blue as E-Hobby Matrix of Leadership Hot Rod and in dark blue as Sideburn, based on a Hot Rod like repaint of RID Sideburn...... which got me thinking: what other toys have been repainted as Hot Rod which you could then repaint this Hot Rod as? In yellow as Armada Hotshot or metallic Blue as Cybertron Hotshot immediately sprang to mind. Meanwhile Animated Rodimus Minor has been repainted in white as Breakdown and black & red as Sideswipe (and that takes us off down a whole other stream of repaints) while Energon Rodimus gets a Police Repaint as Checkpoint and an "interesting" repaint as Thunderclash while Alternators Rodimus gets a blue with white racing stripes as Mirage. There you go: 11 potential versions right there!