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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 27, 2015 10:44:30 GMT
BreakdownStunticon Breakdown is the Lamboghini Countach of the Stunticon team so comparisons with Sideswipe and his brother Sunstreaker are inevitable. He comes in robot mode but we want to look at the car mode first. Fold the forearms up over the front of his arms and fold the shoulders down to his side forming the doors on the side of the vehicle. Fold the chest, neck and head back into his backpack. Fold the back pack up to form the front of the vehicle, there's a slot in the back of it which connects to a tab on the top of the rotating barrel of the combiner connector. Bring the lower legs up, via a bar connecting the inside of the lower leg to the knee, so the lower legs are inside the upper legs. Peg the legs together. Fold the windscreen into place. The transformation is somewhat hindered by some interesting robot hips. More later.... The car mode is a pretty good representation of a Lamoghini without incurring thew wrath of lawyers. It's an off white/cream colour with a red bonnet and black windows. It looks exactly as you'd expect it to! His hand weapon, a sword, has a tab on it which pegs into a slot in the side of his door. Like all the Combiner Wars vehicles he comes with a way of mounting his limb mode hand/foot as a weapon and the obvious thing to do here isd to plug the peg on it straight into the hole on it's roof. However there's a second vehicle use for the weapon. Turn it the other way up and bend the thumb down behind it. The thumb can then tab into a hole on the back of Breakdown's spoiler with two grooves on the underside of the weapon fitting around two tabs at the rear of his roof. This mounts the weapon further back and lower, making it look like Sunstreaker's Supercharger. If I've one criticism of this mode it's thatthe rear of the car doesn't want to peg together seamlessly and there feels like there's a gap down the middle. Reverse the transformation to return to robot mode. I like how folding the shoulders up locks the chest plate into postion. There's some interesting detail on Breakdown's robot mode. I like the chest plate because it folds down and mostly hides the combiner connector. However moulded onto it is what looks like a Police Car's Lightbar. I can see that in the Animation model but it's more pronounced here and is making me wonder if a VERY interesting repaint might be in the works. Other than thatit's nearly exactly what I'd expect from a Stunticon, Articulation: the ankles bend forward as part of the transformation. The knees bend and there's a thigh swivel. The hips are ball jointed and the waist turns. The head is mounted on a ball joint and there are ball joints at the shoulders. The upper elbow joint bends and the lower elbow joint is a ball joint. As I said above the hips are "interesting" each hip ball joint pivots independantly round a point in the middle of the waist. In vehicle mode they're as close together as they can be towards the bottom middle of his waist. Their maximum spread is the usual hip position opposite each other. However they can move up further than this on each side at a cost of lowering the position on the oppsoite side resulting in a very lopsided looking robot. It's a very odd joint. As ever 5mm peg holes in the hand which allow him to hold his L handled weapon as a sword or a bladed gun. He's a decent enough robot who I'm sure we'lk be seeing more of. Breakdown also forms a limb for a Combiner Wars robot. Leg mode: start from car mode, fold the windsceen back, fold the bonnet and it's contents back into the space where the windscreen was. Fold the combiner connector out flat as a foot and insert into the peg hole on the rear of the car. Solid standard leg providing the thigh swivel, bending knee and turning ankle. Where the bonnet is bent forwards provides a nice level platform for Micromasters or Legion sized figures to stand. Arm mode: start from leg mode. Remove the weapon and transform the rear of the car into the robots legs but keep the feet folded up. Tab the legs together. Insert the vehicle weapon into the hole in the rear of the car/bottom of the feet folded out as a hand. All the Combiner wars limbs so far have provided us with a standard level of combined mode arm articulation: the arm turns at the shoulder and can be raised out to the side. The robot waist becomes a bicep swivel while the legs give it a double elbow and the peg for the hand wrist rotation. Here however the weird moving hips allow some elow movement sideways which lets you use Brekdown as an arm side on, presenting a thinner more plesasing view from the front. The other thing that becomes obvious in hand mode is that the hand/foot/weapon is made from two different grads of purple plastic who's colouring doesn't quite match. So decent enough in all modes. I'd gladly loose the odd hips though!
SunstreakerThe first mention of a Combiner Wars Sunstreaker was in December 2015 when his name popped up on a set of store computer listing. At the start of March 2015 The Entertainer used a promotional banner on their website, a larger version of UK toyfair promo art seen in January, which showed the Autobot combiner with what appears to be the Dragstrip from Mirage limb as the left arm. Interestingly the repaints of Dragstrip and Breakdown appear to have effectively swapped their colour schemes to become Mirage & Sunstreaker! Future RepaintsHaving got a Breakdown it's an inevitability that the Transformers Collectors Club will repaint it as G2 Breakdown like they did with the universe version. Most of the time a remould on a toy is to change it's appearance. However a remould to how this toy transforms would make the world of difference. I'd have the bonnet hinged at it's base, connected to the neck plate which is then connected to a hinge at the top, slightly covered by the windscreen. Result: a bonnet that will still fold back, for combined mode, but one that will also fold forward onto the chest to make Sideswipe. If you're doing Sunstreaker, you HAVE to do Sideswipe. That would then give us Red Alert as an EASY repaint and also things like G2 Sideswipe, Deep Cover and Clamp Down. Part of me thinks that Tigertrack wouldn't be worth doing but the thought of having TWO almost identical yellow Lambo that turn into different robots is quite tempting! See also red Diaclone Countach LP500S Super Tuning and Police Car Diaclone Countach LP500S Super Tuning
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 29, 2015 11:40:58 GMT
SunstreakerThe first mention of a Combiner Wars Sunstreaker was in December 2015 when his name popped up on a set of store computer listing. At the start of March 2015 The Entertainer used a promotional banner on their website, a larger version of UK toyfair promo art seen in January, which showed the Autobot combiner with what appears to be the Dragstrip from Mirage limb as the left arm. Interestingly the repaints of Dragstrip and Breakdown appear to have effectively swapped their colour schemes to become Mirage & Sunstreaker! It's been a while since I last had Breakdown in robot mode: inevitably combineritus has struck and he's been Menasor's left leg ever since Menasor was assembled. I'd forgotten quite how much I disliked the robot hips until I opened Sunstreaker up! He comes in robot mode and as you'd expect his colours are mainly yellow and black with the traditional dab of red paint on each shoulder. The only new piece here is the head, which isn't a bad Sunstreaker. I feel he could have done with a new chest as the one he's inherited from Breakdown isn't screaming Sunstreaker roof at me. If anything the chest details look more like lightbars suggesting Sunstreaker's Police Car repaint. On the reverse of the bonnet, now Sunstreaker's back, is a 5mm peg hole which allows you to mount the combined mode hand//foot there to act as Sunstreaker's jet pack. He comes with a silver version of Breakdown's sword: an odd choice to start with and still an odd choice here. Sunstreaker benefits from not having a defined G1 handgun here so you could use it with him without feeling it's substituting for something else but equally he's never felt like a Swordsman. My only other real complaint is that he doesn't feel quite tall enough and could benefit from longer legs. Sunstreaker's car mode is the expected yellow not quite a Lamborghini. However they've gone a bit mad with the red paint here going right round the rear wheel arches with it. I'm convinced the red stickers on the original Sunstreaker are a mistake, and should have been yellow so this annoys me hugely here. The spoiler is also grey, a moulding necessity as it appears to have been cast on the same frame as his upper legs. A pity it wasn't on the body frame and thus could have been yellow. The combined mode weapon mounts on the back of the car, via a tab in the thumb meshing into a slot on the rear of the spoiler to form his Supercharger which is a nice effort but looks somewhat oversized here. Sunstreakers are always welcome as there's been plenty of occasions when he's missed out when his brother Sideswipe has got a toy. This isn't the worst try I've seen either.
Generation 2 BreakdownHaving got a Breakdown, I thought it an inevitability that the Transformers Collectors Club will repaint it as G2 Breakdown like they did with the universe version. However it appears an entire G2 Menasor set will be released in 2016 as a shared internet exclusive!
JumpstreamThe Breakdown mould also returns as Victorion member Jumpstream where it receives a new head, chest plate and weapon.
Future RepaintsMost of the time a remould on a toy is to change it's appearance. However a remould to how this toy transforms would make the world of difference. I'd have the bonnet hinged at it's base, connected to the neck plate which is then connected to a hinge at the top, slightly covered by the windscreen. Result: a bonnet that will still fold back, for combined mode, but one that will also fold forward onto the chest to make Sideswipe. If you're doing Sunstreaker, you HAVE to do Sideswipe. That would then give us Red Alert as an EASY repaint and also things like G2 Sideswipe, Deep Cover and Clamp Down. Part of me thinks that Tigertrack wouldn't be worth doing but the thought of having TWO almost identical yellow Lambo that turn into different robots is quite tempting! See also red Diaclone Countach LP500S Super Tuning and Police Car Diaclone Countach LP500S Super Tuning.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Feb 27, 2016 9:01:22 GMT
WheeljackNow I can see why you might want to do Wheeljack as a remould of Sunstreaker. The original toys both have the car nose for feet, car roof as a chest with the windscreen pointing down and a vaguely similar transformation. However Combiner Wars Sunstreaker lacks both of those features in robot mode so a vague similarity in vehicle mode seems to main reason for remoulding between them. Wheeljack is cast in a creamy off white plastic. Now you may remember that the original of this toy mould Breakdown is also cast in a very similar colour. I've had these two side by side and Wheeljack is definitely the whiter of the two. The car mode really is a very good effort looking very similar to the original with slightly straighter lines than the Generations version. The rounded windscreen is captured better here too. The only parts that are obviously shared with his predecessors are the wheels and the turbo charger which looks very odd mounted on a non Lamborghini. Sadly the sword gun is also still included here, I'm getting slightly fed up of the Stunticons melee weapons and wish they'd been replaced with guns especially when the toys got to the remould stage. Transformation remains the same as before with the neck plate still being locked in place by the shoulders. There's a new head which is a pretty good representation of Wheeljack's cartoon appearance, and a new chest plate shaped to resemble the top of the passenger compartment but shrunk down. The red and green stripes are present in the right places and can also be seen on the front of the legs to simulate the bonnet. However the rounded bottom of the chest, what would be the car windscreen, could use some black paint to differentiate from the rest of the chest and bring it in-line with the car mode. A little more black paint on his forearms and hands would bring the robot more in line with it's traditional appearance and break up what is effectively solid white arms. It wasn't always like that however: the first official images show Wheeljack with black elbows and shoulders. Between then and now the parts frame which contains these, the waist and the lower portion of the knee joint has changed colour from black to white and I don't think it helps the toy at all. One small build quality problem on mine: the windscreen piece has a habit of falling out something I didn't encounter on earlier versions of the toy. The car mode here is a very, very good effort. The robot needs a plastic swap to bring it closer to the original images and just a touch of black paint in a couple of crucial spots. I will be interested to see the Japanese version of this. |
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 4, 2016 14:59:15 GMT
Generation 2 BreakdownBreakdown is probably the most recognisable of the the Generation 2 Stunticons due to him being the only one that actually came out, albeit as a 1994 Botcon exclusive. Having got a Breakdown in Combiner Wars, I thought it an inevitability that the Transformers Collectors Club will repaint it as G2 Breakdown like they did with the universe version. However the entire G2 Menasor set/Stunticon team was released in 2016 as a shared internet exclusive! Simple colour swap here: white becomes a bright light blue/green, dark blue becomes purple with the red paint op on the bonnet turning black. Like the other G2 Combiner Wars Stunticons the Hand Foot Gun is also cast in a pale blue. You need to see the G2 Combiner Wars Stunticons in the plastic. People can describe them and show pictures but it doesn't remotely cover it. They're mad and I love them!
Botcon 2016 RavageExpanding the three member Tripredicus was always going to require adding two new members and since both Tarantulas and Ravage are shown to be agents of the Tripredicus council in the Beast Wars cartoon series they are the obvious choices. Ravage fits quite easily into the vehicle theme too, having been a car in Alternators with a Ravage beast head on a humanoid robot like the Beast Wars version had. There's a very indirect link to the choice of which Combiner Wars car here too: Alternators Ravage was a remould of Alternators Tracks. The Reveal The Shield Tracks was remoulded in Generations Wheeljack, who's Combiner Wars version is a remould of Breakdown. I did say it was indirect! I've no real complaints about the black Lamborghini vehicle mode apart from being worried that doing one here might weigh against us getting a Combiner Wars Generation 2 Sideswipe down the line. At first glance the robot appears to be OK, within the limitations of the Breakdown mould, though the new beast head looks a little squashed from the front. Unfortunately it gets much worse from the side, showing that there's not much depth to the head at all with the back being virtually flat. What little detail there is on the back of the head looks like a simplified robot head. There's a nice touch with a Decepticon symbol on one shoulder and a Predacon symbol on the other but these then end up sideways on in car mode. I'm also finding the hips, a little dodgy in previous incarnations anyway, to be even worse here getting stuck in the wrong places and being very difficult to position in robot mode. They've tried bless em, it just hasn't quite worked. To compound things the club then failed to pack Ravage's Hand Foot Gun with the toy requiring it to be collected separately!
Botcon 2016 TigatronVirtually the moment Ravage was revealed I was pretty sure what one of the souvenir toys for Botcon 2016 was going to be: In 2000 the Japanese Beast Wars Ravage, with a beast head as used by the Botcon 2016 version, was repainted as Transmetal Tigatron so it was a given that the new head would get a further reuse and so it proved. As well as appearing in 2001 there was a second Tigatron, this time a car, 2006 making this a further homage to a past Botcon toy. How well they've pulled the toy off is debatable: the toy is an off white, almost very pale grey, unlike the pure bright white generally used for Tigatron since the Japanese version of the original Tigatron. A large Maximal symbol adorns his bonnet with a smaller one on each shoulder. There's a blue highlights in car mode and mint green blue highlights in robot mode. The head possesses the same problems as it does with Ravage and I'm finding the quality control on mine to be slightly dodgy with wheels and spoilers popping off all over the place plus, like Ravage, the problematic hip arrangement is stiff in all the wrong places.
Sum the bits up and probably the worst toy in the whole Botcon 2016 set. Needs better colours, better QC and a better head!
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 4, 2016 15:12:36 GMT
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Post by Bogatan on May 4, 2016 17:49:09 GMT
Gah! I know the original Breakdo0wn was not the best looking Transformer ever, but 18 months onI still dont understand why Hasbro felt they not only had to replicate the ugly, but increase it.
And now that I look at those two if they had to use the mould, why not Wheeljacks version at least the chest piece looks a bit better, even if its missing the obvious chest panel bits that ravage makes use of.
Or as I said elsewhere just use Dragstrip.
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Post by The Doctor on May 4, 2016 20:40:54 GMT
Once seen, the face on the back of Ravage's head cannot be unseen.
-Ralph
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Post by Toph on May 4, 2016 21:47:43 GMT
A little side note, there actually wasn't anything inevitable about the second botcon G2 Breakdown. As there was no mold guaranteed to make it from.
It was kind of a clever surprise to everyone they chose to use Universe Sideswipe to homage the unofficial Actionmaster Botcon G2 Breakdown.
It was also a surprise that they chose to use that for G1 breakdown several years later in the TFSS, as that was the first time they ever reused their tooling. After they'd always been adamant that the molds are made of soft materials that self destruct after the first use (now proven to be another FP lie)
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 16, 2016 11:17:17 GMT
Torchbearer JumpstreamThe Breakdown mould returns as Victorion member Jumpstream where it receives a new head, chest plate, remoulded hands with an open inner face and hand held shield. I'm struggling to think of terribly many other Transformers with a shield that's an accessory, rather than part of another mode, and Robotmasters Psycho Orb is the only one that springs to mind. Essentially Breakdown is just another Breakdown/Sunstreaker, my fifth one this year and sixth overall. The annoying hips get more annoying every time and, like Deadend, it's been used too much. The problem is there are uses of this I'd like to see: 1984 Sideswipe, G2 Sideswipe and Red Alert none of which appear to be coming soon.
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Post by Toph on May 16, 2016 15:42:57 GMT
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Post by blueshift on May 16, 2016 17:54:33 GMT
Animated Sentinel Prime is the only one I can think of with a dedicated shield
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Post by Toph on May 16, 2016 18:01:55 GMT
Universe onslaught
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Post by Philip Ayres on Sept 3, 2016 11:42:56 GMT
Unite Warriors LightspeedThe rounded passenger compartment, pointed front and passenger compartment chest of Combiner Wars Wheeljack make him an obvious candidate for a red repaint as Technobot Lightspeed. However Leaked images suggested that a version of the Streetwise mould may be used instead for the Combiner Wars version while the artwork was non committal showing the Lightspeed leg bent back and out of sight! The boxback graphic was leaked on 9th March confirming the use of Streetwise. Takara however revealed their Lightspeed as the mould we thought should be used, Wheeljack, who at this point hadn't appeared as Wheeljack in Japan. Lightspeed is shown on the publicity material as using the Unite Warriors Blast Off/ Unite Warriors Strafe mould HandFootGun. However this means it can't do the "over the spoiler" supercharger trick that previous versions of this mould can. So Strafe gets his HFG back and in turn Lightspeed's co-moulded HFG is taken back from Afterburner. Takara have got this one dead right, a lovely mix of red & burgundy in both modes. A new head in robot mode helps complete the appearance. There's a lovely little touch in vehicle mode where the positioning of the small Autobot symbol on his chest means you can see it through the bumper grill on the front of the car. Hallelujah! The sword is gone! Lightspeed comes with an identical pair of guns, cast in caramel coloured plastic. Thin tabs on each side of the gun lets them be tabbed into the sides of the car while 5mm holes on the rear allow them to form part of Computron's combined weapon. They've nailed it here, got Lightspeed right. Not just as good as you can get using Combiner Wars components, they've got it looking like an updated version of the original. Top Marks, and a clear win for Takara in the Hasbro vs Takara Technobot stakes. There's one small problem though.... I looked at Lightspeed and thought "this is a red version of the CW Lambo toy" and mediately mourned for the Combiner Wars Sideswipe which doesn't exist :-(
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Post by Bogatan on Sept 3, 2016 12:26:13 GMT
Lightspeed (Hasbro), Sunstreaker and G2 Mirage would make a pretty good set of Brainmasters. Chuck in a jet and Siverbolt and you have an inappropriately named Road Caesar.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Oct 31, 2016 14:09:45 GMT
Unite Warriors WheeljackWhen the UW-EX Lynxmaster boxset was unveiled there was much rejoicing that many of Wheeljack's robot mode problems were fixed. His chest windows were now painted pale blue, matching a change made to the vehicle mode which is consistent across all three cars in this set, and his forearms & hands were painted black. What wasn't picked up on until very close to release was how plain the car mode was, as this tweet comparing the Unite & Combiner Wars versions shows. The spoiler is now white, which is better, but the paint applications have been significantly simplified & reduced. Torn between the two. Robot mode is significantly better, car is significantly worse! As it is he'll be spending most of his time in arm mode which hides the majority of the deco changes so, in the end, I don't suppose it really matters. But a version combining the Hasbro vehicle mode and TakaraTomy robot mode would have been perfect!
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Post by Bogatan on Dec 24, 2016 22:15:20 GMT
Something odd has happened. I opened Victorion and I kind of like Jumpstream. I don't know how or why, but between the colours and the new parts the toy works much better. The hips are still crap.
On the other hand Dust Up doesnt work as well with the new parts. I think the head doesnt match the body.
But yeah Jumpstream making me like that bloody mould finally after 18 months.
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Post by Toph on Dec 24, 2016 23:23:32 GMT
Lightspeed had that effect for me.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Feb 1, 2017 21:29:55 GMT
Unite Warriors TrickdiamondFour Guards Lunaclub & Moonheart were direct repaints of Torchbearers Stormclash & Skyburst. Trickdiamond is broadly the same with black replacing green and yellow replacing red. However the frame for the top of the body, shoulder joints, elbow joints, waist & knees is now black instead of yellow with the yellow paint apps down the side of the body and on the robot reduced in size somewhat. Like the helicopters her shield weapon is still moulded in clear blue plastic but has it's paint applications changed to gold. You can see the difference between the two toys in this tweet. Since the Breakdown mould, adapted for Torchbearer Jumpstream & this toy, has already been used to make Combiner Wars Sunstreaker seeing the car mode in mainly black, with yellow highlights, puts me in mind of the Generation 2 version on Sunstreaker's brother Sideswipe who, at the time of writing in February 2017, still hasn't received a Combiner Wars version presumably due to his presence in Robots in Disguise. You can't really go wrong with a black Lamborghini. Well unless you stick the Botcon 2016 Ravage head on it. Looks great!
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Post by Philip Ayres on Sept 12, 2017 10:41:21 GMT
Transformers Subscription Service 5.0 CounterpunchCounterpunch is yet another late FunPub exclusive released homaging a previous one: Punch/Counterpunch was redone as a Collectors Club exclusive in 2010 using the Universe Lamborghini toy: the Sunstreaker transformation of the toy served as the Autobot Punch while the Sideswipe transformation turned it into Counterpunch. Since the Combiner Wars Lamborghini also served as Sunstreaker, and should have been Sideswipe, you could see why they might use it for another Punch/Counterpunch. However they've instead gone for it's slightly modified Wheeljack version which in turn opens up a second homage: A blue Wheeljack is Slicer who was made as a Botcon 2010 using Energon Downshift (Wheeljack!). Effectively you know what to expect here, as you'll have probably bought the Countach a few times by now, the existing Combiner Wars to in blue, and it looks really rather nice.  The HandFootGun is coloured orange here, a reference to Punch's Twin Mortar Launcher I think, making it another FunPub HFG with a unique colour.   Transforming to robot mode reveals a brand new head which looks a lot like a more detailed version of the original Counterpunch head. Given that some of the 2016 FunPub head sculpts were so bad, especially Ravage/Tigatron on the CW Countach, I'm surprised that this head is this good and wonder if it was meant for a repaint that never happened....   Didn't expect to like this but he's better than I thought he would be!
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