I'd put Rodimus Prime at the top of the list - despite a few niggling flaws ( his chest and wings sit out a little too far in biomech form, the window shield doesn't sit smoothly in vehicle mode, and it takes a little finesse to have him rest smoothly on all wheels, too), he's a fantastic design, looks awesome in both modes, and (here comes my personal bias...) he's a figure I waited twenty years to have! Damn, I wish he had a Matrix, though. (Anyone try to put a Matrix from another toy in behind his chest?) A very close second would be The Fallen - he oozes sheer menace in biomech mode (despite the floppy tank tracks at the back, and the slight imbalance in weight - he seems to like leaning that little bit backwards...) and has a decent vehicle mode, and is a unique character. I liked him so much, I wrote a Mosaic just to introduce him into the post-Movie era (which my own fic happens to take place in, out of sheer coincidence, of course...) And I should note that Roddy and Fallen make for great adversaries, in terms of posing the figs beside each other! Jetfire is pretty cool - he looks great in space-plane mode, the biomech mode is ok (and has a decent 'civilian mode' if you pop off the wings, tail and nosecone - if only he had the flip-up visor, or an alternate head...) and while the transformation is a bit of a cheat, I can live with it. RiD Prime is impressive - he makes for a decent truck (although the lack of a metallic paint job on the plastic really makes him look cheap when alongside Rodimus Prime) and is pretty nifty as a biomech. And the ladder and pop-up guns are cool, too. Scourge is a bit meh - I only really got him because of the Omega Sweep idea I coooked up for that Mosaic piece. He looks ok in his alt mode, and it is nice that you can rest the wings in different ways (that part gave me the idea that perhaps the Sweeps all have unique ways they rest their wings in biomech mode, as a distinguishing factor of sorts) his articulation is relatively poor and his out-of-proportion head doesn't sit too smoothly in biomech form, either. I don't have the others, though I'll probably lap up that new Prowl, and I might give Grimmy a try. However, I have seen a few of the others around, and I was put off by G1 Magnus' weird rubbery head (I'd probably get him otherwise, since Magnus is a character I'd like to have a decent fig for) and the heads on the WWI seekers look rubbish, too. Gary
I do believe his bio makes reference to GIJoe characters. I don't have it on me per se, but I recall something about him being enslaved to Cobra Commander. So Joe continuity is a good as any fit, huh? EDIT: MEGATRON does not suffer fools gladly. Yet here he is, forced by the power of the Matrix to obey the commands of a simpering braggart in a hood, and a fleshling no less! Still, Megatron is nothing, if not patient. Let that shrill simpleton Cobra Commander collect his trinkets and treasures. Megatron will watch, and wait his time to strike. His chance given to him, shockingly, by the Autobots, whose cooperation with G.I. Joe has smashed Cobra's outer defenses. Feeding his own warriors into the furnace of Cobra Commander's insane tactics. Megatron holds one desire at the forefront of his mind - he will see his tormentor dead and the Matrix in his hands before the Autobots arrive.
As display pieces: All of them except the War Within molds repainted to look nothing like the characters (Magnus, Starscream, Sunstorm) and Soundwave (quite possibly the ugliest remake of any character). As display pieces alone, I like all of the original WW figures. As toys: Good: Rodimus, Fallen, Jetfire, Thundercracker Decent: Scourge, Primes, Soundwave (er, maybe laserbeak) Bad: RiD Prime (FFS, he isn't even made of metal!) Superbad: Megatron (the one that falls apart AND the one that doesn't transform), Optimus knuckle-dragger
R04: Best to worst, of those I have: Thundercracker Rodimus Prime Fallen Scourge (the above four being really quite good) . . . . . . . . . . . . Cobra Megatron (though I did fix a lot of his problems)
Fav to least Fav: The Fallen Rodimus Prime RiD Optimus Thundercracker/Starscream/Sunstorm Scourge Optimal Optimus Cheetor Jetfire WW Optimus Soundwave GI Joe Megatron I don't have WW Megatron or G1 Magnus yet. Hope to get them soon. I still rue the fact Hasbro bailed on WW Thundercracker
1. Ultra Magnus 2. Rodimus 3. Scourge 4. WWI Megatron worst? 1. GI Joe Megatron 2. Soundwave 3. any of the WWI seekers.
You mean WW Skywarp. And yeah, I hear you on that one. They absolutely could have snuck it in with the next/final wave containing WW Grimlock & WW Prowl since Skywarp was the only announced character left to do next to G1 Soundblaster. To have it "confirmed" as an upcoming release in the catalogue only to get cancelled is a massive burn, especially when someone as irrelevant to the WW series as Sunstorm got made instead.
His penis landing gear bothers me, and his back pack came loose, and he can't move his lower legs well, and he just looks kinda skinny compared to the rest. That's why I scored him low.
I have most of them (or had them... some I returned because they were so lousy). My rough rating is as follows: Rodimus (great robot mode, nice size, great alt mode, great homage) The Fallen (great figure, nice articulation, big, alt mode not bad) WW Starscream/Thundercracker/Sunstorm (good homage, nice alt mode, nice heft, I like the colours on SS) WW Jetfire (neat figure, kinda wobbly, OK alt mode) RID Prime (great robot mode, nice design, alt mode OK) WW Optimus (dunno why, but the joints on mine are nice and stiff, so he gets a good grade!) G1 Ultra Magnus (nice design, weak alt mode, head sculpt OK, colours weak and pastelly) WW Megatron (awesome bot mode marred by weak arm articulation, ridiculous alt mode) Never had Scourge. Soundwave and especially GIJOE Megatron are really crap though. zmog