Hasbro Transformers Combiner Wars Trailbreaker

The final wave of Combiner Wars is here and it’s another ’84 wave, for the most part. Three of the four deluxes are from the 1984 offerings of G1 with one from ’85. We are looking at one of the ’84 guys today in Trailbreaker.

Trailbreaker is a repaint/retool of Offroad giving him the flatbed truck vehicle mode similar to what he had in G1, minus the cover on the back. He has a great paintjob which gives him all the classic striping you’d want to see on a Classics representation of the character. The standard hand/foot gun can be placed as a makeshift cover, but still I’d love to see someone at Shapeways or some 3^rd party make a cover accessory for him.

 

Robot mode is a little more interesting. Not only is the head remolded but the arms are redone as well. While there have been more extensive retools done in this line in the past, this is still quite nice. The head is animation accurate to the G1 cartoon, with a really good face sculpt. The arms are blockier than the what Offroad or Ironhide had and the right arm even has a gun instead of a hand. For G1 fans, this is a big win as Trailbreaker had a gun hand in G1. The arms and legs are well painted but the chest is lacking. Aside from an Autobot badge, it’s completely unpainted. I wish the top of the chest was painted blue to match the vehicle mode windshield, furthering the G1 aesthetic the figure seems to be going for. Other than that he looks very nice.

 

Accessories are pretty run of the mill for the mold. He has the axe that came with the other figures to use this mold, as well as the engine styled hand/foot gun. The hand/foot gun however, has been somewhat retooled. The finger and thumb pieces have been redone to give the hand mode a more clawed look, complete with silver fingers. Quite an interesting touch. That claw can even fit into Trailbreakers gun arm to give him a very big hand. Sadly, the axe can’t plug into the gun arm. A shame since an axe arm would have been cool.

 

Given this is a Combiner Wars figure, we should get into the combined modes. The leg is as solid as the other versions of the mold. I’ve always liked how the hood of the truck becomes a knee guard. Arm mode still has some problems. I will give Hasbro some credit as the remolded arms stay attached to the tabs on the sides of the vehicle much better than Offroad or Ironhide’s, but the robot legs still come apart too easily when trying to pose the combined arm. This makes Trailbreaker more ideal as a leg, which makes the retooled Hand/foot gun rather pointless, unless you swap hand/foot guns with one of the arm bots.

 

Trailbreaker looks pretty good with the first wave of ’84 bots. I haven’t gotten any of the other figures in his wave, but things are looking good so far. When compared to the Thrilling 30 Trailcutter, it’s amazing how much more G1 accurate this new one is even without having the hood chest or flood lights in the back. I wish I had a G1 Trailbreaker to compare him to but looking at him next to Hoist, the influences are visible. I’m surprised at just how good this mold is for the character.

 

Somehow I feel that Hasbro was trying to make Combiner Wars an ideal starting point for new collectors trying to get a G1 cast together. How else do you explain getting 11 or the first 18 Autobots, Megatron, and the Seekers in one line. One could argue that Shockwave should be mentioned in that group, but he needs a voyager to count in my view.

Final waves are often cursed with being harder to find and shorter lived, making a finale of ’84 characters that never combined before an interesting way to end the Combiner Wars line. It offers comfort that a key group won’t be missed due to figure scarcity, although I do worry about the Voyager Skylinx that has yet to hit a store nearby me and may be afflicted by that curse.

Mattel DC Super Hero Girls Wonder Woman

It finally happened. We finally got a mainstream super hero action figure line for girls. Now I’m saying “mainstream” because I Am Elemental beat Mattel to the punch by a good year with what I hear is an excellent line. But now it’s Mattel’s turn and following the success or Monster High and Ever After High, they are bringing the DC girls back to high school.  

 

This time we are going to be looking at the 6” scale line, with Wonder Woman herself, and as far as action figures go, she’s pretty good. Her sculpt is very solid, looking like a healthy, perhaps slightly fitter than average teenage girl. She is dressed in a red t-shirt with white sleeves and blue jeans, with a gold belt and shoulder armor piece that has the Wonder Woman logo engrained into it. She also has her trademark silver bracelets and tiara, as well as red boots that have wings on the sides. I rather like this design since it looks like Mattel started with what a normal girl would wear and then added things you’d see on a super hero over it, which in itself sets a very positive tone for the toy. It kinda says girls don’t have to dress super sexy to be awesome, which is a good message.

 

The face sculpt is done quite well. It seems to be a mix of the previous DC action figure lines and Barbie, which is fitting when you think of it. Being the 6” line, the hair is sculpted instead of rooted, which works just fine for me. It’s more of a dark blue than black and has plenty of sculpted detail. All and all, a nice face.

 

Articulation is done well, especially for the $10 price point these toys go for. Ball jointed head, universal shoulders, 90 degree elbows with swivel at the elbow, universal hips, 45 degree knee bends, and swivels at the boots. Her hair does interfere with the head movement a bit but you can get her to look left and right. It’s a good amount of articulation, although I must admit I wish she had a waist and thigh swivels. Then again, that may just be me being spoiled on Marvel Legends and DCUC.

 

Wonder Woman only has one accessory, her signature Lasso of Truth. What makes this unique among pas Wonder Woman figures is that this one can actually be wielded. She can hold it in either hand and even get some two handed poses going with it. The lasso can also be holstered on her belt, but doesn’t look quite right there. This is mainly due to it being sculpted plastic rather than actual rope, it can only do so much. Still it’s a fitting accessory.

 

Best part of this figure is that she fits in quite well with DCUC figures, looking like a younger version of the Wonder Woman figures from that line. I guess that’s rather appropriate. She’s about the same height as Donna Troy, so she works out good if you want to put her with the DCUC toys.

 

All in all, I’m quite happy with my first venture into the DC Super Hero Girls line. Wonder Woman’s a great toy and I think I may have to try and get more. 

Hasbro Transformers Universe Dinobot

2016 is actually the 20^th anniversary for Beast Wars, which is a very cool thing. I enjoyed the show very much and the toyline was quite a refreshing change shifting from vehicles to animals. And with this Anniversary, I figure now is as good a time as any to look at some older Beast Wars related toys, starting with an update to one of the more popular characters of the series, Dinobot.

 

Now this is the Universe 2.0 Dinobot figure that came out in 2008-2009 as part of the Transformers 25^th Anniversary. Funny how that works out now. But the idea behind this was to make this figure more show accurate and better looking than the original, with mixed results.

 

Beast mode is a Velociraptor, and he looks wonderful in this mode. Very thin and lithe with a pale brown skin with lighter brown stripes. The head looks great and even has an opening mouth, even the pupils of the eyes are molded in rather than just being bits of paint. His tail defiantly looks more realistic that the older toys did. With its curve at the end. On the downside, there are robot bits sticking out of the back of the feet and on the inside of the legs, and there is also a big ugly bulge coming from his chest with hands and claws on the front of it.  It’s not horrible, but still a bit of a downer. He does however have some articulation in beast mode, with ball jointed hips, slight knee bends, ball jointed feet and swivels at the shoulders. Not the greatest posability but good for a beast mode.

 

Robot mode is really where the mixed bag feel comes into play. The sculpt is done very well, giving him a strong, fierce and even quick appearance that is fitting for the character. I especially love the face sculpt which is spot on to the old cartoon, truly a great looking face. The hands actually have two options to them, standard robot hands or more show accurate claw hands. It’s a nice touch that will make using his weapons much easier. Articulation is for the most part pretty good. A swivel at the head, ball jointed shoulders, bicep swivels, hinged elbows, hinged claws, ball jointed hips, hinged knees, ball jointed ankles and ball jointed toes. The knees only bend about 45 degrees but the feet can still help with posing options. 

 

There is also a faction switching gimmick on his chest, allowing you to choose if he is a Maximal, Predacon, or has no faction symbol at all. It’s fitting for Dinobot as he started as a Predacon and then joined the Maximals. And the no symbol option is also nice since he didn’t wear one in the show and the gimmick is on the raptor’s head.

 

Accessories are pretty much taken strait from the original toy with some new twists. The tail opens up to form a shield much like the old toy, but this time it does not spin. Instead it launches the bone sword inside like a missle. A neat feature but I do miss the spinning shield. The robot hand is needed to hold the shiled, but if you prefer there is a hook on the bottom that can go onto his back for storage. The sword is rather dinky, needing to be small to fit within the tail, a negative result of the tails curvature. It can be held in the clawed hand just fine, but honestly, if you have the sword from the old toy, it may be worth trying to use that or check Shapeways for a new one for him.

 

The biggest flaw of this toy hands down is the color scheme. It is just about completely off. Going for a pale brown, yellow and purple mix, probably to make him look more Predacon. He’s supposed to be warmer shades of brown, silver and blue. The Henkei version from Takara got the colors right but unless you’re willing to shell out $300+ for it don’t bother looking since the Henkei version is Stupid Rare and Stupid Expensive

 

Even with the inaccurate color scheme, I still think this is a good toy, and I’d love to see a more show accurate version appear in a Platinum set. This is one of the rarer gems of the Universe 2.0 line and can be a bit pricey. I wouldn’t recommend paying more than $50 for him but if you by some miracle find the Henkei version for under $100, GRAB IT, because that is an amazing deal at this point and it is the better paintjob. In any case, it’s a decent figure worth owning especially for fans of Beast Wars.

Mattel MOTUC Filmation He-Man

Masters of the Universe Classics has been going on since 2008. Eight years and it’s still going fairly strong, pretty amazing. But with all the vintage figures from the original toyline fully updated Mattel has had to change things up to keep things going. The first step was to spit the line into two groups, the Collector’s Choice line which started last month with Lord Masque, and Classics 2.0 which was recently renamed Club Grayskull which consists of Filmation styled variants of He-Man and his friends and foes. And it’s the Club Grayskull line we are looking at today with its first figure, none other than He-Man himself.

 

To fully emphasize the whole 2.0 vibe, the Club Grayskull figure nix the blister cards for a full on window box, also replacing the shipper boxes with a slip cover that actually blends into the box, looking like Castle Grayskull with the door firmly shut. Removing the slip reveals the figure stepping apparently stepping out of the Castle complete with a view of the interior behind him. The back has another image of the castle with He-Man in front, as well as a how this line was meant to pay homage to the old Filmation cartoon. No new bio for He-Man though, which is sad because Mattel’s throwing away a perfectly good opportunity to poke some fun at the old show’s campy side. Oh come on, you telling me you wouldn’t giggle a bit if a bio stated that He-Man typically ended a day of fighting evil with a warm glass of milk, or some other goody two shoes routine?

Anyway, enough of the box, let’s get down to business. For the most part, He-Man’s new figure uses the same buck as about 90% of the line, but what is different makes him quite interesting.  Most obvious is his outfit which is far more simplified than what we’ve seen in the past. The boots, belt, loin cloth, bracelets, and armor all have a cleaner, less busy sculpt to them. This serves the cartoon styling quite well, but what really brings it home is the head. The face sculpt is fully tailored to the cartoon design all the way down to that advertised hairdo. Seriously, Mattel made the “do” a selling point. All in all, I think it works well for He-Man.

 

For articulation, all the standard points are present and accounted for. Ball-jointed head, universal shoulders, biceps, wrists, ab-crunch, waist, universal thighs, thigh swivel, knees, boot cuts, and ankles. In addition to that however, He-Man also gets the added hand articulation from the NA He-Man and some better defined ankle pivots, which will make for some very epic poses.

 

The accessory count feels more bare bones, but the most essential one is here in his trusty Power Sword, which is a little bit of a letdown due to it being completely unpainted. I know this is for the cartoon look, but a silver blade would have done wonders for it. Luckily the Filmation Power Sword that came with Flogg a while back works great with this figure. There is even a sheath for the blade on his armor, a definite improvement. Best of all, with the hand articulation He-Man is sporting, he can even pose like he’s gonna pull the sword from its sheath. Don’t actually try to pull the sword out while still in his hand though, it will most likely break if you do.

 

The other accessory is an interesting display piece in itself. A simple pedestal with two divots for swords to be placed in. This has some nice possibilities to it. The boring one is just have He-Man pulling his Power Sword out of it, but let’s have some fun with this. We can have the light and dark halves displayed next to each other, which would go great with the Orb of Power. Or we could have another way to display the Sword of Power and Sword of Protection together. And let’s not forget Keldor’s split blade. For something so simple, this may be one of the more entertaining parts of the figure.

 

The real big question is, how well does this He-Man fit in with the rest of Classics? I’m happy to say he fits in just fine. He looks great riding Battle Cat, or even Swiftwind if you want. She-Ra also looks good next to him, as do most others. With many figures in the line already taking nods from Filmation, it’s not hard to throw He-Man in as another variant of the character.

 

Filmation He-Man (yes I’m calling him that) may be one of the finest versions of the character we have gotten to date and a great start to the Club Grayskull line, which now consists of only Evil Warriors (why did I bother saying friends?). That said, if you have a previous version of He-Man and missed out on this one, wait for the hype to cool down or for Matty to re-release him before hunting him down. This one’s not worth paying double or triple his original price for, especially if you already have a He-Man in his place.