Hasbro Transformers Combiner Wars Buzzsaw

With Combiner Wars coming to a close, Hasbro has decided to give us a sneak peek into what the next line, Titans Return, has in store. This sneak preview is actually in the form of one of the last Legends class figures in the line, Buzzsaw.

 

Buzzsaws alt mode is a smartphone, which is a major update from his cassette mode of old. I’m sure there are those of you who don’t even know what a cassette is, but to make it simple they were the precursor to CDs. In any case, this smartphone mode is just as much a brick as his G1 counterpart’s was. The front does have some nice decals on it to make up the screen, but unfortunately some are prone to fraying simple due to how Buzzsaw transforms. I still do appreciate the effort made on the decal art, it really does look nice.

 

Interestingly enough, Buzzsaw was also given a vehicle mode of sorts. This is more to go with the Titan Masters of the next line but it’s a little odd to see now. I’m not even sure what to call the thing, it’s just a little brick on wheels with prongs on the front. One could argue it’s just there so he can get around, but his beast/robot mode can do that better.

 

Speaking of which, Buzzsaw’s robot mode is a bird. Big surprise right. Honestly though I wouldn’t have it any other way. Buzzsaw has been a bird since his G1 days and it’s been his default robot mode. This iteration is done fairly well, but it’s also hard to mess up really. I like how there are flip out extensions to the wings to make them more wing like and how the tail tries to emulate the back cannons/thrusters, although those 5mm ports look like there were plans to give him actual cannons at some point in his design. Perhaps Shapeways can make that happen in the future. It’s also possible to fan mode a jet form for Buzzsaw by simply rotating the wings 180 degrees and closing them up. It looks decent and far more appealing than the official rolling brick mode.  Sadly, no articulation to speak of on this guy, all joints seem to be for transformation. In this case I’m not too bummed by that, but it’s worth noting.

 

Compared to previous versions of the character, there is an obvious departure from the original design, but there is still enough here that I can recognize him as that G1 character. I honestly would have loved to see Hasbro incorporate the Masterpiece transformation to this new alt mode because I think it could have worked so well.

 

All in all, Buzzsaw is an interesting and logical new take on the character and could fit well into a Classics shelf. His rolling brick mode is entirely forgettable, but not needed to enjoy the toy either, more of a bonus feature that didn’t work out. I think he would be worth picking up especially since the rest of the cassette team is coming later in the year or next year, but if they went coming, this toy would be easier to pass on.