I found a way to basically wrap the limbs around the pilot to form a heli/armored hoverthingy. Anybody else heard of this?
Also, seems like the upper part of the limbs can be unscrewed and replaced. I plan on getting 2 and seeing if I can get his arms to bend normally this way. Any thoughts Peaugh? You seem pretty ace at those types of mods.

 

If they did this toy in a cybertron scrapmetal colorscheme next. I think I would army build that.

I think its a cool mold right now and I'm excited to give it a shot. Definitely off putting to those who want realism. But its great for a para millitary meets science fiction concept look.

 

I won't be posting pics or a full review, but just wanted to get out some basic impressions.

Firstly, just seeing this guy in packaging along with the other HA basics, it was very easy to choose him over the other ones, if only because his third mode, a mech suit, doesn't rely on using him as a weapon for larger figures, especially since none of the larger figs in the first wave really has my attention (Voyager Shockwave, is Wave 2, IIRC, and I haven't found him yet).

Vehicle Mode:
I would say that for most people, what makes or breaks the vehicle mode is more the concept than the execution. He's a spider-tank on treads. If you like realistic contemporary alt-modes, there are no surprises here that are going to win you over. He's a tank on stilts, and he's not even in a covered cockpit. OTOH, all the other HA basics are completely exposed in vehicle mode are exposed as well. Anyways, if you're not hung up on that, and/or if you just like sci-fi vehicles, it's very fun, and the tank limbs, although not amazingly articulated, are enough for it to be able to do whatever a spider-tank can.

Mech/Robot Mode:
I'm going to talk about these together. However, don't take that to mean that they're practically the same mode. Even though the arms and legs serve the same function in both modes, there's enough stuff moving around in the rest of the transformation for them both to feel like legitimately satisfying separate modes as a full-on triple-changer, instead of a 2.5-changer. One thing that is especially cool about the Mech Suit mode is that the chair in vehicle mode has a wide head-rest with cutouts underneath that are somewhat exaggerated, yet pretty normal for a chair design. In Mech Suit mode, the back of the rotates down 90 degrees so that the seat and the back swap places, and these cutouts form perfect gaps for his legs to fit into in Mech Suit mode, which is a VERY nice subtle touch.

Unfortunately, both Mech/Robot modes share one glaring flaw, in that his hands are fixedly molded such that his fist holes face outwards to the sides, instead of straight up, as in most Transformers. This problem is made worse by the lack of any wrist, forearm, or even upper arm swiveling. Since he can only bend straight up at the elbows (in addition to ball joint shoulders that can also move up and down in a shrug), his arm poses all tend to look awkward, especially when he's holding a weapon, unless is arm is pointing straight out to one of his sides. When playing with him, you'll tend to find yourself trying to bend his arms at a joint that doesn't exist, and it's frustrating.

Also, I don't know why, but all the pictures I've seen of the Mech Suit mode have the pilots arms just hanging out in space. The pilot CAN definitely grip onto the upper bars of the front cage. You just have to rotate his wrists a bit inward, and it's all good. J.T. Marsh would approve. (Free points to anybody who gets the reference.)

There's also an undocumented feature. The instructions show that the lower part of his turret rotates, which is required for the transformation, but in tank mode, plenty of bits get in the way of rotation, and in Mech/Robot modes, this rotation is completely locked off by other bits. However, there is a second rotation joint for just the upper part of the turret. It's not in the instructions, and it's hard to notice, because, if you transformed him properly in tank or Mech Suit mode, his head slides into the back of the turret in a way that blocks off the rotation. However, if you slide it back just a bit, it can rotate freely in all three modes, without knocking into anything else. Of course, on the downside, this means that the robot head is exposed in the other two modes, but it's a small price to pay for access to a very useful joint.

OVERALL:
If it wasn't for the combination of weird hands and lack of arm articulation to compensate, this guy could've easily been the "must-have" toy of the HA basics (if you don't hate spider tanks). However, given that he costs only $10 and comes with a human action figure to interact with, I still very strongly recommend him to anyone who won't be driven nuts by the flaws. Spider-tanks, robots, and mech suits...all within one figure is pretty much a nerdgasm in plastic form.  

 

Wow. You hit all the highs and lows AND gave us an Exo-Squad reference? Excellent review. Thanks!