Crosswise is kewl. Only thing that bugs me about him are the rear fender chunks, which just kinda stick out in robot mode, and seem to get in the way of transformation regardless of what I do.
Ill go with ferralstorm, the fender bits are irritating while transforming, but the fact that you have a mini freedom gundam here makes it alright. Also, he seems a little thicker when in hand than he did in the pictures. Nice key gimming, and i like the flamethrower, a very unique looking missile for the toy, or a jet booster for the car mode or a jet pack for the bot mode.
Really nice toy, and sure to be the favorite deluxe of many collectors. If there was such a thing as a basic-Alternator, I imagine this is close to what it'd be like. I honestly can't imagine anyone NOT liking the figure. First may I say Crosswise is a crap name. Crossfire or Crosshair would have been better, and Smokescreen just seems more appropriate in general. Car mode is sweet. Sleek design that looks like it COULD be a real car. The only sign that something isn't right is the robokibble visible in the windows. Looks perfectly fine as is, but can also add the weapon to the back as a rocket booster and spoiler, and even this looks perfectly believable. The missile - a translcent blue-green flame - looks like burning exhaust. Colors are spot on perfect. No need to ever do a repaint. Black with silver and gold highlights, with that translucent blue-green plastic for windows. Very sexy. Inserting the Cyber key pops up the missile launchers. SImple and effective, and unlike many cars with weapons, these don't look a bit out of place. Transformation is complex and different. Torso goes together in a way I don't recall seeing before. Some resemblance to BT/Alt in that things generally need to be done in the right order for the TF to go smoothly, especially when going back to car mode. In robot mode Crosswise is very nice, but not entirely flawless. Gold and silver show off more predominantly here, but this doesn't really change the effectiveness of the color scheme. Good articulation - ball joints on elbows, knees, hips and shoulders. Shoulders are also on a hinged "stem", so he can shrug. Head rotates, and the neck can crane back so he can look up (but a ball joint really would have been better). The spoiler-gun fits very tightly in his fist hole - it was actually quite difficult to get it in the first time. Some kibble issues exist - he has doors hanging off his shoulders and a hood on his forearm to act as a shield ala RiD Prowl. The doors also give an RiD flashback, as the hang off ball joints and can be positioned any number of ways. I'm not really sure what's official, and I haven't yet decided what looks best. The real kibble problem comes from the rear fenders, which just sort of hang off the back, with the running boards sticking out. You can either stick them up from the back, or hang them down, sort of like Energon Mirage's boat hull. They do tend to hinder the figure's silhouette, making him look much fatter than he really is. Ah! Wait a sec - I found a third possibility. Look closely at the running boards, and you'll see what looks to me like gun barrels sculpted inside them. Swing the junk around so the "guns" point foward, and he's got a pair of underslung cannons like Prime's! Wow. One little detail turns this from kibble into a really cool feature! All in all a very nice toy, an A or A- (for the kibble). Don't miss it. (Note: I still find Brimstone more fun to fiddle with, so despite the lower grade he's still my favorite of this wave)
Ever since the shift from RiD to Armada, I have feared what would happen if these guys re-did G1. Late Armada lessened my fears SLIGHTLY, early Energon lessened them a great deal more, late Energon reduced them some more, and Early Cybertron lessened them as well. Upon close examination of Crosswise, my fears are completely gone. Great vehicle, great robot, and amazingly, excellent gimmick. Granted, I'd have preferred a simple button as opposed to finding a key (or anything an inch long and narrow enough to fit in there), but it actually adds a lot and seems to be no hinderance to the figure (the biggest bane to the Armadaverse and its adherence to line-wide gimmicks). Hell, change the missile banks to speakers and it would work excellently for either G1-Neo or movie line Jazz. While not quite the Bugatti Veyron, it's close enough for me. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's the closest mainline toy to being an Alternator, we all remember RiD (Mach Alert had bucket seats for Darwin's sake; and honestly, it's as good a mold as Crosswise, if not better), but I will say that it easily fits better with RiD & Alternators than any other car we've gotten in the last few years. Of course, that might change with Downshift comes out. Anyway, excellent mold, and one reason I'm very optimistic about future lines.
Funny, I would fear G1 done in RiD style more than anything that's come after. The robot designs were nice, for the most part, but they didn't really remind me of the overall G1 design aesthetic. And don't use Darwin's name in vain.
I love him. I actually have the GF version, as I could not wait till Hasbro released their version. I wonder if there is any differences?
I never really wanted the RiD transformation style adopted for G1 characters, but looking at Mach Alert/Prowl and then seeing A. Hot Shot and A. Smokescreen (both modes) made me worry about the direction things were going. People will say that the current Cybertron toys are a natural extension of Armada, but when I look at them I see a more G2-ish style that incorporates simplicity, vehicle parts as viable robot body parts, and full articulation. Armada was just an unnecessary regression.
I think Dave VanDoleman put it best when Armada first came out. Starting with Beast Wars, the TFs began moving in a certain direction - notably ball jointed articulation, and "shellforming". This progression eventually led to BW Neo and Car Robots/RiD (Beast Machines, as a Hasbro procuct, was a bit of a tangent). However, RiD failed to catch on with kids s they hoped, and it was decided to take things in a new direction. Essentially they rewound the clock and started from scratch. More emphasis was put on play value (ie fun), which is (partly) why the early Armada toys were so simplistic. As they progressed to Energon and Cybertron (with a good deal learned along the way from the Alternators as well), I think they've managed to get back to the best features of BW and RiD (articulation and sculpture), without overusing ball joints and puzzlebox transformations.
just got him. gah! stupid rear fender kibble! really cool alt mode, nice, unique design motif. rounded edges on arm/legs make him look organic. stupid name, i kinda think he looks like a smokescreen. still, crosswise on its own is a cool new name. lastly, very cool bio. no disintegration!
Technically, they're not kibble, they're cannons. Check the insider of the running boards. Those puppies have gun barrels, which means the whole fender mess has a purpose, which means it's not kibble. Of course, that doesn't mean it'll be any less frustrating.
i saw your post and inspected the details. seriously, they couldve solved the problem either by making the door runner hinged or just making it part of the door. voila! no more stupid antennae thingies. it just seemed like an afterthought solution.
Yeah, I agree. The extra hinge would have cost money, so I see why they didn't do it. Making the rb's part of the door wouldn't, so I can only assume the design element was intentional. Personally, I was thrilled once I realized they were cannons, as I could swing them foward and make the already neat bot just that much better. But I understand such a small thing won't fix such a big problem with most people.
was late and tried the latter. it works! check it: the door runners are detachable from the fender. just use pliers to pull out the metal pins. add super glue. booyah!
Aside from Hot Shot, this is the one figure I was looking forward to the most from this line. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I'm just a little bit disappointed. From the pictures, I thought his alt mode looked more like a luxury car than a sports car... but having him has completely dispelled that. Definately a very attractive, very, very sleek sports car. I think I actually like it more without the gun on his tail. The transformation is pretty cool, I like it. A little finicky, however - while it has very little in common, it feels kinda like the same degree of difficulty as the Subaru Alterators' legs. Unlike what seems to be the majority opinion, I actually like the long fenders. I don't like, however, that they tend to pop off the ball joints. The headsculpt is really cool. I think it's just a bit too tall. I think he's a little too broad at the shoulders as well. I would have liked if there was a way to make his shield centered on his arm a little better as well, a la RiD Sideburn. Crosswise is ALMOST my perfect toy. I think that might be why I was disappointed. He has a lot of good to him, and the black, gold, silver and turquoise/green coloring is some hardcore badass. He is reminiscent of the RiD Car Brothers design-wise, but is distinctly from Cybertron/GF and not RiD. If you liked the designs from both serieses, you'll like this guy. As far as my hopes for him being a mini-alternator? Again, a little let down - he ALMOST made it. So, while I did feel a little let down, I can't say that this isn't an awesome figure. I was hoping he'd be my first A+, but he'll have to settle for an A.
I guess I'm one of the few who was very disappointed with this toy. The transformation was a bit too "fiddly" for my taste and the pieces never slotted together quite right when I put him back into car mode. His "pop up launchers" force chip gimmick works well in car mode but results in two floppy pieces (worse than Mudflap's missile launcher) in robot mode -- even just standing there, one of them sort of bobs up and down in the breeze from the fan. On top of everything else, his gun doesn't even fit in his hand! The post is far too large for his fist holes! That was the final straw -- I packed him back up and will be taking him back for a refund tomorrow. It's very rare that I like what I see of a TF enough to pick it up, and then dislike it enough to take it back. Overall, I have to give him a D+. Maybe I'm just the unlucky one who got a piece that missed quality control, but I was incredibly let down. The fender antennae didn't help much, either.
First sentence - Yep, mine's the same. But I don't know how much I'd use them in bot mode anyway. He's fairly well armed anyway. Second, it fits, but it's tight. However, I won't try and sell you on a toy you don't like. You are quite entitled to your opinion, and you stated it in a very good way how you didn't like this guy. So while I have a differing opinion, you get a for that mini-review.
