Voltron Classics: Hunk and Yellow Lion

Back again to do a new Voltron review. This time covering last months release from Mattycollector.com which is none other than...

Hunk and the Yellow Lion. The 2nd set in the Voltron Classics subscription has finally arrived and has given us an even more massive lion this time as well as a new figure for our Classics Voltron Force team. But how good is this set? Let's take a look and find out.

Hunk comes in a similar package to Febuary's Lance figure, but this time instead of a red box we get a yellow one, to further signify Hunk as the Yellow Lion's pilot. There is an open window that lets you see Hunk and his key stand as well as his alternate head. The Yellow Lion comes in a plastic box that shows the lion in a running pose outside of it's den. Much like the Red Lions box, the background artwork is done beautifully. The back of the box show's off the special features of the Yellow Lion and it's place as the left leg of Voltron. The reverse side of Hunk's box, which sadly I forgot to take a picture of shows a nice image of the figure as well as which collect and connect piece you get for the Powered Blazing Sword.

The Hunk figure is very well sculpted. He has a big bulky body which is perfect for his character. The face is a perfect resemblance of the old TV show and I love the interchangeable heads. On mine, the helmet dosnt seem to be on right on the helmeted head, but it still looks very good. Hunk has 10 points of articulation at the head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips and limited knees. I'm saying limited knees because they only move the proper way about 20 degrees. This wont hurt how he sits in the lion but it is a downside. The last nice touch is the Lion Key stand. this nice little item serves a dual purpose as the display stand for Hunk and the means to open up the lion.

The last piece in Hunk's box is the CnC Blazing Sword wrist guard. It's a very simple piece but in my view a very important one. From the vintage Voltron toys all the way to Toynami's Masterpiece Voltron, the Blazing Sword has never had that show accurate wrist guard. Before Mattel made Blazing Sword Voltron, the swords were good, but never show accurate. This fact alone makes me very happy to see the wrist guard piece. Now once you put that piece on the sword's hilt, it's not coming off so only put it on when you are absolutely sure to want to assemble the sword. One last thing to note is there is a hinge on the wrist guard to make putting the sword in Voltrons claws a lot easier.

Putting Hunk and Lance together you can see how well in scale they are with each other. Hunk is a little taller and has a bigger body than Lance. Scale has never been a big problem for Voltron toys so I'm not surprised on how well they go together. Putting him next to his past figures really shows how improved this version of Hunk really is over the Panosh Place version. It's also interesting to see how well the Classics figures seem to relate to the V3D figures, I can actually see Classics Hunk growing into becoming the V3D figure at least as far as characters go. The classics figure is still better articulated.

On to Yellow Lion, its sculpt is beautiful and massive. It's hard not to be awestruck by how big this cat is. It's even bigger than the Red Lion. Really, it's about the size of a real live kitten. The paint job is simplistic but very well done. Articulation wise, it has 15 points at the head, mouth, shoulders, elbows, front paws, hips, knees, rear paws, and a double jointed tail. Most of the joints are ratcheted but not quite as heavily as Red Lion was. The joints are still strong enough to hold the lion up, but still can be moved freely. The springs in the legs for transformation will hinder the lion's movement though you can still get some nice poses. The one accessory included is it's Lion Sword. Yellow Lion has a good grip on the weapon with his mouth and he looks good holding it.

As far as features go, Yellow Lion only has a couple, but they are wonderful. The first one to note is that with the key stand from any pilot figure you can open up the Yellow Lion to get a view of the cockpit and even pl ave your pilot figure inside.  Hunk doesn't go in perfectly, but he goes in enough to look good. The other feature is obvious, Yellow Lion becomes the overly massive left leg to Voltron. To return to lion mode one can simply push the button on the lion's belly and he will spring back to normal.

Looking at Yellow Lion with his past forms really shows how the design has grown considerably over the years. Yellow's evolution looks very solid. He also looks wonderful with the Red Lion. What really stands out is when you have Yellow Lion in leg mode next to larger figures. Having a leg stand up to either MP Voltron's or Unicron's chest is quite amazing and really helps me salivate more for new versions of the Lions and Voltron himself.

Being a huge Voltron fan it's hard to not like these new classics toys. Are they perfect, no, but they still are some of the best iterations of the lions and pilots ever made. They are fun, they are posable and will display very nicely on any Voltron shelf. If you collect Volton figures you are going to love these.

TFCC Runamuck

Taking a little break from the TF Prime figures to give you a look at this years Transformers Collector's Club free figure who happens to be....

Runamuck.

If you subscribed to the Transformers Collector's Club before March 16th, 2012, then you will be receiving this figure in the mail very soon if not already. Now Runamuck is the partner of Runabout aka Over-Run, and together they are known as the Battle Chargers. Runamuck and Runabout share the same mold but have contrasting paint jobs, so Ruamuck has all the strengths and weaknesses of his twin.

Being a free figure, Runamuck comes in a plain white mailer in a baggie, packed with his instructions and tech spec card. The good news is that if you purchased Over-run, that figures box has an opening that you can place Runamuck. This means that you can store them together with ease. This is ideal since where one Battle Charger is, the other is never far behind.

Now as I mentioned earlier, Runamuck is a repaint of Runabout, which you'll see a lot of since I couldn't resist posing these two together for most of the review. His paint job is a pearled white with gold and orange detailing and black forearms. Much like his partner he has a Decepticon symbol on the hood of his car mode as well as Decepticon rubsign on his chest. His accessories include two black shoulder mounted cannons and a black and gold blaster. Video reviewer Optibotimus has noted an alternate configuration for the Battlecharger's robot modes in his review of Runabout. This alternate configuration is pretty simple to do and gives the boys a more G1 look.

Runamuck has the same 16+ points of articulation as Runabout and mold doner Generations Wheeljack. His big feet help him balance quite a bit, but it still can be tricky to get some more dynamic poses to work. It is a lot of fun to put these guys in tag team poses. Actually makes me wish I collected wrestling figure so I could give them some title belts.

Vehicle mode is a beauty to look at. The white and gold blend together very nicely, and the sparkly shine the white plastic has is gorgeous. It's also very nice that they get details like the head and tail lights, and the hubcaps. It rolls very well, although it can be tricky to get the wheels to line up properly.

When you look at Runamuck with mold mates, Tracks and Wheeljack, its easier to spot the differences than the similarities. The paint job really makes him pop. It really shows what a paint job and a new head can do for a mold.

All in all, if you have Runabout, you need Runamuck and vice verse. These guys are a team and incomplete individually. Runamuck is an awesome looking figure and will look great in any Transformers Classics shelf. If you'd like more detail into the mold check out Runabout's review here. Anyway, hope you guys have enjoyed this look at Runamuck and I will see you again soon.