The more I fiddle with Mudslinger the more I like him, but oh man do I think his paint job is still terrible. At least with the Combaticons, Bombshock and his drones have a similar paint scheme.

 

This part really annoys me too. Other than that, he's really grown on me. Chainclaw repaint was a great choice for his minicon partner.

 

Naturally, I manage to eat my own words, as I picked up this very set the other day. And my opinion has greatly changed.

The core robot isn't the greatest, that part I still think is true. To be fair, my only real problem is that the wheels aren't located somewhere on the legs to make him seem a little more balanced overall, but the legs aren't THAT skinny in comparison, they're thick enough to provide decent support. He's still clearly a stocky fellow, though, one that would happily beat the **** out of anybody that ticked him off. I do find the double swivels and that angled ball joint annoying, though, as it gets really annoying to have to fix it every time I move the arm.

Vehicle mode is the weakest of the three modes in my opinion. On my Mudslinger, I can NOT manage to get everything to fit together perfectly, no matter what I do. At best, I can make the only part that doesn't look right the windshield feet, as it looks like they're supposed to sit flush with the hood or something. The other detail that bothers me is how the head simply hides by being pushed down. On my figure, you can still see the red eyes under the engine if you look close enough. Key words being "close enough", since from a distance the alt. mode is at best acceptable.

Where Mudslinger shines is the combined mode. On my figure, it seems to have been one of the later batches as there is no cracking of any sort on the reported problem areas, although the left foot seems to have trouble keeping a hold onto the thigh peg and will come out far easier than it should. Other than that, the torso mode boasts a lot of articulation even without elbows. Alot of the extra poseability comes down to the transformation joint used for the front wheels when they pop up from alt. mode, as in torso mode they allow back-to-front motion. Used correctly, this can give super-Mudslinger the ability to move his arms pretty far behind him and "sweep/slash" his enemies. I also like the look overall. Yeah, the color scheme is crap and really should have been more like the drones, but for some reason I also like the sharp contrast. But more importantly; Mudslinger's combined mode honestly does look like some kind of mechanical monster that would make any robot sh*t his pants. Between the bulky look, that mean-looking face, and the claw hands on the drones, he truly looks the part of a Decepticon-created monster that seeks destruction of everything. (But is it really a smart idea to have the "true" core robot head be dead-center in the super-robot chest? I mean, one good, strong hit and it's bye-bye. Then again, Mudslinger only has an inteligence level of 2, so...)

Apart from that, the drones themselves are pretty cool. The buggy I find the most interesting since it can actually be towed by the "tow truck/heavy hauler" drone, but whoever designed it clearly didn't realize the chainguns that are on the sides of the vehicle are totally useles since the ends are blocked by the front tires!  The four vehicles do look awesome, though, a kind of "Mad Max/Death Race" kind of mix (especially the junker car with the giant ramming plow). The only one I have problems with is that retooled truck from the Combaticon set, since the spring on it is too powerful for its own good, and thus makes attaching that drone FAAAAR more difficult and annoying than the other three drones combined.

I've only owned this guy for a day or two, but I'm not regretting buying him. Not only did I get him for less than MSRP (for some reason, Target took $5 off the $15 price for me, maybe it was because they'd been trying to get rid of this specific shelfwarming figure for months?), but he's far more awesome than I thought. I know it is still a crapshoot out there on wether or not a Mudslinger is going to have the weak plastic issue, but it is quite a shame that it ever occured because this is one of the coolest PCC's I've got.

 

So between the two five packs I've picked up for 10 bucks (This and Crankcase), I'm enjoying Mudslinger and his crew more.

Vehicle mode is weak, but it works for what it is.

Mudslinger's Robot mode is actually way funner than I had anticipated. I like the colors and overall silhouette of the figure. His articulation is reeeally bad in the upper arms and the blue Power Core pegs really hamper the knee articulation, but otherwise he's nice to look at at least.

Combined mode is a unique beast in the way he spreads. I like the head a lot, and I have the wheels transformed in a more "Movie" angle so they're diagonally on top of each other to hide the robot mode arms better. So far, my legs aren't cracked either.

The drones look, feel and stand very well. The best set I've gotten so far. No popping off, but the connection points on them are kind of stiff. And agreeing with earlier reports, they look great on Sledge.

I wish I had a Dinopope to combine them with because the skeletal nature of them makes me think they'd work on him kind of well.

Overall I'm impressed, and if I can find the Constructicons/Dinobots for this price I'll happily pick them up.

 

I got out my Destructicons for the first time in a while and the dune buggy arm drone fell apart. The white plastic that goes around the metal pin and spring all just cracked fell apart and crumbled. That is odd considering I would think the gold plastic would have been an issue first.

 

Anyone ever tried alleviating his thigh swivel's problem? perhaps shaving/sanding the peg a bit?

 

I use a spare Mudslinger and Chainclaw to make Shattered Glass Salvage and Bomb-Burst.