Toy Review: Legends Class Classic Transformers

06/12/09

Generation 1 Legends Class

It’s estimated that the human brain stores info on an internal hard disk drive that has about 1000 terrabytes of storage space. For those of you that don’t know the difference between RAM and ROM, that’s a lot. I, on the other hand, seem to be an older model, running with some thing like a few hundred gigs. There’s only so much that will stick, and it’s hard to find what I need when I need it. I may need to start a new filing system or something.

Of course the stuff that does stick is usually obscure geek culture references to the odd 80’s cartoon, movie, music icon, etc. I couldn’t tell you what I had for lunch yesterday, or where I was last Friday morning, but I can tell you that Visionaries, Sky Commanders, and Inhumanoids only had 13 episodes apiece but were loads better than the crap they feed kids today. I even forget about the toys I’m supposed to be on the look out for.

The Transformers Universe Classic Wave which had a great lineup of Generation 1 characters was one I was looking forward to. Unfortunately, it was released locally when I was on one of my self-imposed exiles from the toy stores after a particularly heavy round of shop hopping. Fortunately, I spend an obscene amount of time on the local toy boards while at work and was able to get a heads up before they dissappeared completely. Unfortunately, alot of other people were after these toys as well and the bigger sites were cleaned out as soon as that yellow tag appeared. Fortunately, I was able to get most of them at my own personal little-toystore-that-time-forgot, Toy Kingdom at The Podium.

I love how the universe works itself out in the end.

Let’s start with Brawn.

He’s a good figure for his size, and has the requisite shoulder, hip, and knee movements. There are no elbows, so that’s a minus for him, but since the scale is so small, there are really only a few that have them.

He looks good in robot form, but the when in vehicle mode, his feet stick out below his chassis. They’re very obvious if you view him from the side, and don’t look anything but other than what they are, big robot clown feet. It would have been great if they folded up into the body.

Next up is Cosmos.

I really like this one, despite it’s oddness. Because of his weird vehicle mode, a flying saucer (X-Files Flashback! X-Files Flashback!) his arms are locked in a pose that looks like he’s about to bear hug Brawn. it’s a weird looking, but you can forgive a lot at this scale.

He does come with extra paint aps, too. Some alien writing on his surface. Looks like Arabic, or Korean, or Klingon. Fitting since he’s a UFO. I’m sure he knows the Vulcan neck pinch, too.

The footprint he has also makes him hard to stand. The hollow backside, lack of an ankle, and his loose joints mean you’ll need to work a bit to get him stable. Other than that, Cosmos is probably one of the funnest toys in a while.

Beachcomber, the Autobot stoner is up next.

This guy annoyed the hell out of me when I was a kid, but this version looks really nice. He reminds me of Snake Eyes, with his googles. He’s the only one of these toys to come with a gun. It’s a detachable machine gun in the back (though WHY it detaches is a mystery, since he can hold it in robot mode). His vehicle mode is an upgraded, more modern dune buggy. It looks like something out of a military video game… if it wasn’t blue of course.

He shares the same articulation as Brawn, which is great. It gives him a few good poses. His transformation scheme is alot like the old mini-bots; flip open the hood to form feet, pull out the arms, presto! I’m not complaining. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Hound was one of the last ones I got, mostly because I wasn’t sure if I was goin to get him.

Unlike most of these guys, Hound never was a mini-bot. He was the equivalent of a Deluxe Class toy back in in the day of 2-points-of-articulation. So this update is kind of weird, especially since they just did one in the Deluxe scale. Still, it’s nice to have him with the others to display, so here he is.

I will say that he has a nicer paint job than most of them. The others seem to lack alot of applications, having many spots where it just looks like Hasbro dropped the ball and just plain DIDN’T paint areas. Thankfully, Hound has less of that.

Jazz was the first one I bought, since he was my favorite as a kid.

I don’t know why he’s not in the Deluxe Class either. He was the same size as Hound during the early years, and he certainly deserves it. I’m sure every Transformers fanboy remembers “Jazz to Moonbase-2! Jazz to Moonbase-2″. He was the cool guy before Blaster appeared on the scene.

This is a worthy homage to him, with the necessary 6-point articulation, and an extra 2 (ankles) thrown in. Unfortunately, this is one of those with the aforementioned unpainted areas. Notice his door windows? blah.

There are a few bots from Season 2 present, first among them Hot Rod.

I don’t care what other fans say, I loved Hot Rod in the movie and cartoon. He was the underdog hero with the cool scenes. The race up and down the mountain, the underwater nightmare, the Galvatron beat-down. I really can’t wait for the Fans Project upgrade of the Classics version.

This little one is a pretty good rendition too. He’s got the flames, the young look, the red paint. Not as great as the Transformers Classic, and no where near perfect, but a nice little figure.

Wheelie is the other bot from the movie.

Unlike Hot Rod, he was annoying as hell. The toy’s good though. He lacks knee articulation (well, articulation in the right direction anyway) but he’s a great nod to the G1 character. He even has the “ballcap”.

The best one in the bunch, hands down, is Warpath.

Aside from having the best articulation (he has elbows!), his bot form is the most convincing. He just looks the part of his character and every time I play with the toy, I can’t help but yell, “BANG! KA-POW! ZING!” just like he used to in the cartoon.

I wish they had given him Ultra Class treatment like Powerglide, another mini-bot who got an upgrade that was more realistic scale wise. I mean Warpath is a TANK and he’s tiny. Oh, well.

The most dissapointing one for me was Bumblebee.

I spent weeks looking for this guy, since he was the only one I couldn’t find at Podium. After getting one, I wished that I could get those weeks back, since he was a pretty crappy bot.

The first thing I notice was that he’s huge compared to the others. He’s taller than most of the other figures in his wave. What? He’s BUMBLEBEE. Hello? Even the Transformers Animated Legends Bee was smaller than the others.

Another thing is that he’s got no knees. what a gyp.

In the end. I’m glad I was able to complete the wave. Well, except for Megatron. But he’s not an Autobot, so meh. They whole set looks much better displayed together than one by one, and it’s an excellent group to have on your desk at work.