Leader Class Starscream
From the beginning of the Bayverse, I wasn’t a big fan of the re-design of the Transformers Characters. It’s probably the change resistant fanboy in me, but I hated that the new characters looked and acted like talking monkeys rather than beings that enjoyed a civilization eons older than ours.
Starscream was one of those that really fell below the bar in my book. He really was shaped like an ape; wide, with arms that reached the ground. My first impression of the original Transformers The Movie Starscream figure wasn’t very good. The pictures I saw of it showed that it was a thick, mal-formed hulk of a figure.
It wasn’t until I got the re-colored exclusive Ramjet and Skywarp that I really began to appreciate the toy. Not only were they pretty poseable, they were mean looking and had some fun action features (that’s right, FUN action features). Not long after, I decided to pick up the Revenge of the Fallen Voyager Starscream since I’d heard they re-did the entire toy, from the ground up. Not only was the jet mode more accurate and better proportioned, the robot had hands this time.
Now we’re coming up on the 3rd movie and we’re seeing some releases that are holding the franchises place in toystores until that happens. The “Hunt for the Decepticons” is the new name for the line, though it looks as if the same aesthetics are still in play, if the Ravage and this Starscream figure are good examples. If you liked the chicken-legged, insectile look of the earlier movie bots, a lot of these still share that look. The rest are toys that were slated for the “Transformers Universe” line.
Leader Class Starscream is one of those holdovers from the movie line. There’s been a lot of talk and preview pics of this figure on the forum boards and people have been waiting for it to show up. When it finally did, he disappeared from shelves pretty fast for a Leader Class. Let’s face it, p3,000.00 isn’t cheap. The more expensive toys usually hang around longer, but this one’s been flying off shelves as fast as the Deluxe toys.
Looking at him, it’s pretty obvious why. Unlike some of the other toys in this line, you can easily see where the money to make this toy went. It’s a finely detailed, well engineered, closely accurate portrayal of the Decepticon from the film.
Detailed because he’s excellently sculpted with fine techno-doodads and thingamajigs hanging off him, but surprisingly little kibble (obvious robot parts in vehicle mode and vice-versa), unlike the Voyager Class bot who is relatively smooth with lots of it.
Well-engineered because of the aforementioned kibbleless design and for the excellent articulation that blends seamlessly with the transformation process. Not to mention the fact that the electronics were worked in without affecting the lines of the figure. And all of this while giving us a figure that can balance perfectly without needing to lean on anything.
Closely accurate because, while he does not perfectly match the 3D model used in the movie, he’s damned close. One of the members of Cybertron PH pointed out that he’s closer to an equilateral triangle than the diamond shape that he has in the film, and the legs are lower than they’re supposed to be, but it’s a hell of a job, especially considering the that compromises had to be made to allow for the transformation, articulation, and the electronics.
Like the other recent Leader Class toys, Starscream has light up eyes and chest, and can say a few phrases. If you’re a fan of the show, you know that he usually says, “No one can defeat Starscream!” right before someone pancakes him or blasts him into the next life. He also has those happy transformation sounds and some jet sounds if you press a button on his fuselage.
Thankfully, they chose to make his sound trigger in such a way that you have to pull the thing rather than push like with the Leader Class Optimus Prime. When I first got that one I was pushing that thing every 5 seconds as I tried to transform him. Annoying.
He also comes with this nifty little, removable rocket launcher. His missles, which fit nicely under his wings, also fit into launcher. The great thing about it is that it is REMOVABLE. Yes that’s right, if you’re not a big fan of the BFG, then you can choose to just take it off. The launcher also stores on the bottom of the plane’s fuselage so that’s handy.
On the top of his arms, the figure also has a few gimmicks as well. The right one has a Gatling gun while the left has a pair of non-removable missles. Both weapons are hidden until you tab the little lever underneath his wrist, and they pop out. It’s a nice little add in that I feel adds a whole lot of playability to the toy. It’s too bad that that their inclusion means he’s got no wrist articulation. Trade off, I guess.
Other than the wrist swivels, he’s got some great joint work on him. Since he’s so big, most of his joints are ratcheted. It’s great since the locks allow him to keep upright despite his relatively small legs and feet. He’s surprisingly stable.
His arms are very nicely done. He’s got joints that allow him a good range of motion from the shoulder and elbow, plus some swivels and a a couple of hinges for his palm and fingers. He can’t really make a fist though, and the lack of wrist cuts can really limit what you can do with his claws. I do like the way he can swing his arms forward. That’s something that not a lot of Transformers can do.
His tranformation is easy compared to that of Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime. It took me an hour or more to figure out Prime while this guy took about 5 minutes. It’s pretty intuitive as these things go, and if you have any experience with these toys, it shouldn’t be too hard.
The jet is modeled after the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, an air superiority fighter that was top-of-the-line a couple of years ago, but now being replaced by the cheaper and more versatile (and less badass looking) F-35 Lighting II. This version of Starscream is probably the closest to the real F-22. The proportions seem spot on, and it’s not as thick in the middle as the original versions.
The jet is painted with the same Cybertronian tattoos that Bay and his people added to him for the second film. I’ll admit that I actually like this little beat that they pushed on him. It gives the vehicle a much more meanacing presence. The tattoos were present on the Voyager version. You may want to be careful, though, as they were prone to scratches on the old version. This new one looks to have a nicer plastic with some texture to it, so scratches may not appear as easily, but defitely watch out.
The Leader Class version is also much bigger than the old one, weighing in at about 2 times the mass. It’s a heavy beast. The color is a bit darker and more towards gray than beige. I honestly can’t wait for them to go and repaint this figure like the first two so that I can have a Skywarp and Thundercracker to buzz the Autobots.
I’m not really sure how much a F-22 Raptor masses compared to an M1 Abrams tank, but the Leader Class Starscream and Transformers the Movie Brawl are about the same in terms of size. For playability however, my money’s on Starscream. The extra bits are just much nicer, and his articulation is much better designed compared to the older toy.
Still look good together though.
Compared to the Leader Class Optimus Prime from Revenge of the Fallen, again I’d bet on the Starscream toy. Though the former really wowed me when it came out, the complicated transformation sequence really makes changing him a pain, plus the action features (his blades) are not worked into the design well, unlike Starscream’s. His balance is also off, making him harder to pose.
But again, both are excellent toys.
All in all, Leader Class Starscream is an excellent effort by the guys at Hasbro and well worth the p3,000.00 retail price. Definitely more so that the new Power Core Combiners or another set of re-colors of old toys. He’s still available at some Toy Kingdom branches, and I hear there are several stores in Greenhills that still have a few at similar prices.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has come and gone and it’ll be at least a year before the viral campaigns for Transformers 3 start (were there any viral campaigns for the movies? You’d think there would be). Since the collective memory of our society is about 10 minutes (Erap, people? REALLY?) , Hasbro can’t keep using that same “Revege of the Fallen” subtitle on the toys. They decided to go ahead and replace it with the inspired “Hunt for the Decepticons”.
There have been a few changes from the last batch of toys to this one, but they’re mostly cosmetic changes to the packaging. You can see that the overall shape is similar to the old cardbacks, but yellow instead of red. Both the “Revenge” and “Hunt” packages are the same size so if you’re a Mint-On-Card (MOC) kind of guy, that means easier storage for you.
Another change is a welcome switch from wire and plastic twist ties to what looks like recycled paper. I’m not sure if any landfill space is actually saved by getting rid of the much maligned twist tie, but it sure is easier to cut though these paper suckers than it was before. On a toy this small though, I don’t know why they bother. The plastic insert should have been enough to hold him in place.
There’s some online content that’s also available if you buy the toy. You get a small leaflet, about the size of a credit card that has about a gajillion digits on it. You need to go to Transformers.com and enter the code in order to play 3 games and unlock some secret whatnot. The games are pretty simple, made for kids. I played one where Bumblebee chases a Decepticon down a street and your supposed to force him to crash into obstructions by ramming him. You need a different code to play each of the 3 different games which means at least 3 different purchases. Way to milk it Hasbro!
I prefer mail-in offers. You know, trade proofs of purchases/robot points for a free toy? Whatever happened to that? Kids these days.
When I first heard about the Legends Class Ravage, I wasn’t that interested in it. I’m not a fan of the new version. Now, I’m sure I would piss my self if this hulking thing made of spikes and teeth came at me, but aesthetically, he doens’t look as cool as a black robot panther. When the deluxe version was released, I passed, but when I saw this at the recent Autobot Alliance event, I couldn’t resist.
Despite my dislike of the general look of the movie model, this little guy is an entirely different enchilada. When I saw it on the shelf, I was amazed at how DETAILED the guy is. Remember. This thing is only about 3″, long, not including the tail. Yet somehow, Hasbro has gone and fit all sorts of little techy nooks and crannies in there. He’s like an English muffin (OK, bad similie, but I couldn’t think of anything else with nooks and crannies).
The result is something that looks a whole lot better than any toy this small has a right to. He puts my G1 Legends set to shame. The Transformers Universe Ravage that comes with Universe Hound pales in comparison. I’ll still need to find one of those USB Ravages to check him against this one, but I’m thinking the balljoints on this guy trumps the questionable value of the working USB feature on that one. Plus that thing costs like p3,000.00 or something.
This one cost about p350.00. It’s weird how they’re pricing these right now. Legends are p330, Scouts are p600 or so, and Deluxe Class figures are p700. Why the huge gap between the tiny ones and Scouts and the tiny gap between the Scouts and the big guys? Who knows. Quantity discounts?
The real nice thing about the itty bitty size though is that the ball joints are good enough to support the weight of the limbs. The ball-joints on Transformer toys naturally get loose very fast. Since you’re constantly moving them while they transform, there’s a lot more wear and tear. Yet, if the toy’s limbs are small like those of this Legends Class figure up to the Scout size, there’s a wider margin from ok to “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”.
Another thing to like about this guy is that despite being too small to be in scale with the bigger bots (at least in the perspective the “show accurate or nothing” geeks), he’s a great size for playing with 4″ scale figures. About the size a cougar or leopard would be in real life. Makes for some fun play options.
He transforms into a “re-entry” vehicle. I’m not sure how “show accurate” this thing is since the form was only on the screen for what, 10 seconds?
While the cat mode is great, the vehicle mode is pretty much an afterthought. Sort of like, “well, we’ve got a leg here… can we fold it up to make it look like a wing? What about that one? Oh, ok… just fold it on top of the other one. duh…” The result is something that looks totally half-assed as opposed to a fully integrated alt form. Instead of trying to integrate kibble they basically just said, “Forget it. Close enough.”
That’s exactly why I hated the Leader Class Megatron
The real draw of this toy is the detail of his mold, his favorable size, and the nice ball-joints at his shoulders and hips. He’s also got hinge joints at the “knees” and some movement his ankles. Plus the gun goes up and down. huzzah.
If any of those things are reasons you think would make a toy fun, then you’ll be as impressed with him as I am. He really does make a great toy for the desk at work.
Marvel Universe Juggernaut!
Ok, so this review is a little late. I’ve been falling behind.
I got this little fella from the same guy who brought in the Silver Surfer, Daredevil, Iron Man 3-pack. It was a good thing too, since it’s so hard to find the new HAMMER Files figures here in the Philippines. I was asking around about sightings in the recently completed Toy Con and the new figures were still pretty scarce and went for a pretty penny. Luckily I got mine for something near the local suggested retail price (SRP) which was totally awesome.
Remember when Marvel Legends was the hot toy line? I remember everyone scrabbling to get their hands on an ML Juggernaut, that huge hulking behemoth. Looking at it now, I don’t know what the fuss and bother was about. If you were to judge the 3 Juggernauts in my collection by sculpt alone, I’d have to give it to this little fella. His proportions, face, and paint just seem exactly how I picture him in my head after 2 decades of reading X-Men comics.
The package is big, though maybe not as big as the Hulk’s and The Thing’s bubbles were. It’s still almost twice the size of a regular figure. I’m surprised that Hasbro shipped these 2 per case in that first assortment. Babe’s Toystore was selling these bundled with Colossus and the AIM Soldier. A good thing since I would have pegged both Colossus and Juggernaut as in demand items and the AIM Soldier as a natural army builder. Maybe Hasbro finally has a handle on that perfect assortment that will satisfy everyone’s demand but won’t leave any pegwarmers?
But that doesn’t explain Archangel.
The back of the card has the requisite history of the character. Blah blah blah, brother of Xavier, blah blah blah, Crimson Gem of Cyttorak, blah blah blah, unstoppable. Suffice it to say, he’s AWESOME. Just looking at the figure and the photo on the back isn’t enough, you need to open this bad boy and try it out.
He comes with a fairly useless stand since it’s much too small for him to fit. It still helps him stand if you use it for the one foot. He’s got a pretty wide footprint though so it’s not really a problem. I use it for other Marvel Universe figures.
He’s fairly small for a hulking behemoth, standing well short of the other looming giants of the Marvel world. The sculpt helps rectify that however since he looks meanacing enough to add several inches in photos. Sort of like that “Cameras add 10 pounds” thing.
Here are some comparison shots:
As I said, next to the other 2 Juggernauts I own (Marvel Legends and Spider-Man Classics), I’ll choose this one hands down. Not only does he have those perfect proportions with a flatter helment and better build, he’s got all sorts of USEFUL ARTICULATION.
Sure the old Marvel Legends one has a LOT of joints, but most of them are redundant and ugly. His torso joint is awful for one, and very unsightly. His hands can’t form fists because of his articulated fingers and the bands that wrap his hands. His head also looks sort of like an egg and his long and bulky arms make him look like a gorilla.
The Spider-Man one on the other hand is too small. He’s got a great sculpt, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not the Juggernaut I’ve seen in the comics I have. His helmet is even taller than the Legends one and his arm articulation is limited.
The Universe Juggernaut on the other hand has that squat helmet that you see in the comics and great articulation.
His only problem is is that he’s small. Solution? Find smaller figures. Solved!
Back to articulation: this figure really highlights what Hasbro can do when it really wants to wow it’s customers. They could have stopped at a piss poor non-action figure like their Hulks, but they went and gave Cain a bit extra. His arms have double swivel post shoulders, which gives him a swivel bicep. His elbow is a hinge that gives a good range for such a bulked out figure. There’s also a wrist swivel.
His legs have a hinge ankle, swivels at his boot tops, double-hinge knees that aren’t too unsightly, that weird T-bar construction for his hips and THIGH CUTS!!!
Yes THIGH CUTS!!! These are the missing joints that really stop me from enjoying Marvel Universe as a main line. I just can’t stand action figures that can’t look like they’re lunging. Juggernaut can lunge.
You’ll also notice that he’s got a new neck joint. Instead of the standard balljoint, he’s got a ball- swivel-tilt combination that works exceedingly well. Though for the most part it’s limited to a swivel because of his helmet, you can see it’s going to come in handy for the upcoming Thanos figure.
Overall, this toy is the worth the price of purchase. Having paid over SRP for him, I’d still say I would have paid more knowing what I know. This toy is just that good. If you have X-Men figures in this scale, he really displays nicely with them.
If Hasbro can manage to keep this going, I’m all in for the next few waves of HAMMER Files.
Toys R’ Us Silver Surfer,
Daredevil, Iron Man 3-pack
One of the things any late adopter of technology doesn’t have to worry about is paying more if they’re late to the bandwagon. Generally in the gadget game, older means cheaper and often times better as the manufacturers continue to tweak software and firmware. That’s never been the case with toy collecting. If you miss out the first time or decide to put it back, you’re pretty much shit out of luck. Either you’ll never see that toy again, or you’ll eventually find it, but you’ll need to pay about three times the price you saw it for on the shelf.
Once in a while though, prolonging gratification can actually pay off.
This here 3-pack was an exclusive to Toys R’ Us and never available at retail stores locally. There were a few scattered sightings at specialty shops, though. I saw one at Babes about a year back at a whopping p3,000.00 (about $70.00) which I don’t have to tell you is insane. I resigned myself to never having this little set, which was all right since at the time, I was still on my boycott of the 4″ scale.
After collecting all the other 4″ Iron Men from the movie line and the Marvel Universe figures however, I kept thinking about this set and remembering the gorgeous paint on that blue Stealth Suit. When I saw that one of our local collectors was selling a few at only p1,200.00, I couldn’t pass it up again. At p400.00 each, it was a great deal, much closer to it’s $20.00 retail price (Thanks again, man!).
The packaging is a sturdy box, with the plain graphics that Marvel and Hasbro are so fond of. Nothing spectacular, but it’s rugged and will protect the toys inside from most anything. I’m not saying it’ll withstand a round from a howitzer, but it should stand up to several falls from the toystore shelf.
The tray and box are a bit big, though. Toy companies love putting toys in dynamic positions but, personally I hate it. One, it necessitates a bigger box since a toy with it’s arms and legs splayed out requires a lot more space than one in a “relaxed” position. Two, you tend to get toys with bent joints because they were placed in the package wrong or they moved in transit. Sure a little boil/freeze can solve it, but I still have a fear every time I do that to a toy, I’m ravaging the tiny little bonds between the atoms of plastic, slowly moving closer to the complete disintegration of my prized possesion. I do not like.
Here’s what Hasbro’s practice did to Iron Man:
Still as I said, it’s a small matter that most collectors will be able to solve. The figures themselves aren’t something that you’re going to want to pay big bucks for. Let’s face it, there are 3 characters in this set, and NONE of them are unique molds. All have been released in the main line as singles and their exclusive paint jobs aren’t that spectacular.
That being said, I really enjoyed this set. If you don’t happen to have Daredevil, Iron Man, or Silver Surfer, this set solves the problem at a nice price point that is cheaper than buying them seperately (at least if you get them at the price I did). I can say that after buying the set, I was convinced that the Daredevil mold was not that bad and went out to get the Red one. That says a lot.
The Daredevil that comes with this set is the yellow and brown version. Since I was never a big Daredevil fan, so I won’t go into the history of the costume. My knowledge comes from what I’ve gathered from the movie and about 10 issues or so in my comics collection. I do know that this one is much less iconic than the red costume, but far more striking. It is lemon yellow after all.
Paint isn’t that bad, but I kind of wonder why they decided to black out his eyes. It’s sort of like they dropped a glob of paint on the first one and said, “Hey! That it looks pretty good!” There’s also the odd red lines all over the brown body suit. Instead of just the “D”, he’s got all sorts of odd highlights in weird areas that don’t look particularly realistic. Not awful, but I don’t really get the reasoning behind it.
He is still pretty articulated though, which makes his fun factor pretty high. Though he lacks the thigh swivels that some of the newer HAMMER files figures have, and isn’t as flexible as the Marvel Legends Nemesis Wave Daredevil, he can still do a lot. The torso crunch is particularly nice, as is the double hinged knees and the ankle joints.
Sad to say he doesn’t come with his billy clubs though, but rather a pair of nunchucks cast in red plastic. I can see where this came from as the nunchucks can be used for any number of ninja characters and I’m pretty sure they included them in the Hand Ninja package already. They aren’t as fun as a pair of truncheons would have been.
The mold’s been re-used for other figures besides Daredevil as well. I checked out the stores while looking for the standard red Daredevil and noticed that Moon Knight also is a Daredevil re-tool. Hasbro also chose to use this mold, which is slightly barrel chested and overly-muscled, for Mr. Fantastic for some unknown reason. Though I am convinced it’s a good choice for Daredevil, who’s dad was a boxer and who is supposedly a born fighter, it’s an odd choice for a lab coat geek.
Though Daredevil turned out to be my favorite of the three by far, the other two aren’t worthless. I love the Stealth model Iron Man. As I said, the paint on the chest is what really kept me coming back to this set. Instead of being content with the red arc reactor on his chest, Hasbro went and painted a red glow around it as well. Your opinion may vary, since it does look odd in the box, but I love the way it looks in the right light. If you have him in shadow, (which is his element since he’s a “stealth” armor) then the little glow really sticks out.
Other than that however, he’s exactly the same as the other Marvel Universe Classic Iron Man armors. He is darker than the other Stealth Armors though, which is great.
There’s nothing much to say about the articulation, it’s the standard Marvel Universe joint arrangement, just like the other two figures. No thigh cuts, so he won’t be doing any wide stances, and he doesn’t particularly excel at the ground punching pose that I love, but there’s still a lot of fun to be had:
He comes with the same accessory that ALL of the Universe Iron Man armors have; a repulsor blast that clips to the bottom of his wrist. At certain angles, it’s ok, but from the side, it’s obvious that it’s a cheat. I prefer the ones that come with the movie armors that fit over the hand instead.
The last figure in the set is a Silver Surfer and his board. This one is probably my least favorite as he’s really not different from the regular release. He’s got more paint, but both are meant to LOOK silver. This one is painted white and gray. Again, it looks odd in the box, but after shooting it, I’ll say that it’s the more photogenic of the two figures. The shadows they painted in really highlight it and you can’t really say that the silver cast plastic is that much different from the white paint. Both look white-ish in photos.
I’d have prefered a transluscent “cosmic” Surfer as they did for the Icons version. This one looks “creamy”.
Again, articulation is excellent, but you’ll need to be aware that there are some problems with this mold. The first is that though the ab crunch joint has an excellent range of motion, it’s not without sacrifice. When you push his chest to far forward or back, you can see the hole that the pin rides in on the lower torso. Not a big thing, but unsightly. Personally, I’m glad to live with it if it gives those extra millimeters of movement.
The other is a quality control issue. Though I didn’t find anything wrong with the creamy Surfer, the regular release I bought is annoying. The legs fall off constantly at the hip. The fit of the ball and socket is just slightly off, so everytime you pose him, you have to put him back together. I’m used to that with Revoltechs, but those are FAR more detailed and I can forgive a lot. These are not.
Overall, I really believe that this set is a great buy at anything around the p1,000.00 mark. If you’re a collector of this scale and luck into one, give it a try.
CATS Now and Forever
So CATS Now and Forever is showing in Manila soon. I’m kind of wishing I had the money to actually go and see it, but as the cheapest ticket price for the show is p1000.00 and the ToyCon 2010 is in about 6 hours, I’m not going to be able to buy them.
Most don’t know this, but I love musicals and the theater. Back in Hawaii, we used go on field trips to the theater all the time and watch plays. I remember this one prodcution of The Jungle Book. They had put this huge jungle gym in the middle of the stage and the actors would deliver their lines from various heights as if they were up in trees. It was pretty awesome, especially if you were 10 years old.
Since I left the Hawaii Public School System, I rarely get the chance to see any plays, except for a few at the University of the Philippines. Mostly I stick to DVDs of the movie versions. Both my copy of RENT and Moulin Rouge are worn out. I’ve got some of those classic musicals like Sound of Music and Singing in the Rain, too. There’s just something about a story where people just break out into songs that makes a movie more fun.
I was able to catch Avenue Q a few years ago. That was absolutely awesome. I doubt that CATS has any compulsively masturbating muppets in it’s cast, but I’m pretty sure it’ll rock just the same. I mean it’s not that Batman Musical I keep hearing about, but it has been as one of the longest running productions so it’s gotta be good right?
Maybe I can scrounge up some cash and just sit in the back…
CATS Now and Forever
With Lea Salonga as Grizabella
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Based on “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” by T. S. Eliot
Performances starting July 24
For a strictly limited season
Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo, CCP
Ticket Prices:
Matinee
SAT (3:00pm)
SUN (2:30pm)
PhP7000 PhP5000 PhP3500 PhP2000 PhP1000
Evenings
TUE, WED, THU (8:00pm)
SUN (7:30pm)
PhP6000 PhP4500 PhP3000 PhP1500 PhP750
Evenings
FRI, SAT (8:00pm)
PhP7000 PhP5000 PhP3500 PhP2000 Php1000
Ticket Prices are exclusive of Ticketworld fees.
SHOW DATES (as of April 2010)
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Slangards
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