Robot Heroes big batch o' twelve

Discussion in 'Transformers Feedback & Reviews' started by Feralstorm, Oct 24, 2008.

  1. Feralstorm

    Feralstorm Good Morning, Weather Hackers! TFW2005 Supporter

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    Got the six newest Robot Heroes sets from HTS:

    G1 Set 1: (Ironhide & Kickback)
    Ironhide: It's pretty tough to screw up a simple design like Ironhide's cartoon self. Looks pretty nice, the gunmetal parts of the arms and legs stand out nicely. (he's got a silver face too.) The 'mohawk' crest seems rather prominent on this sculpt. Adequate - fine, but doesn't stand out.

    Kickback: Very nice. The contrasty insecticon color scheme always looked nice and this is no exception. The purple paint is a metallic variety that looks quite nice. Looks best posed like he's trying to sneak up on someone. Stands out nicely.

    BW set 1: (Rhinox & Waspinator)
    Rhinox: Proportions and pose give kind of a 'lumbering giant' impression. Sculpt is a mix of toy and cartoon details, with big squared-off fists for some reason. Head sculpt looks wierd, like some kind of sad muppet. Maximal symbol on lower back. It's a nice, detailed figure, but kinda misses the mark depicting Rhinox.

    Waspinator: Sculpt is very good overall, in sort of a jumping/pouncing pose, above a water-like base. (looks almost like he's urinating so much that he can propel himself with it) Paint work is kinda lacking. From the front it all kinda blends into a green mush. Predacon symbol on his ass. The figure's better than I made it sound here though.

    G1 set 2: (Blaster and Thrust)
    Blaster: Almost identical pose to Ironhide. Face has a huge grin and buggy eyes. Tape door on chest is depicted as slightly open - a cute touch. Paint has the right colors in the right places. If you can get past the funny face, a solid figure.

    Thrust: Kinda like the earlier RH seekers, he's lifting off on a base of his own "thrust". In fact, it looks like he's shooting a tremendous cloud out of his butt. (these sculptors are either oblivious or have a great sense of humor :)  ) Kinda small compared to other RH figures. sculpted details are interesting - looks almost like he has a jet canopy on his back as well as the chest. Silver 'con symbol on back. Nice figure.

    BW set 2: (Optimus Primal & Tarantulus)
    Primal: Nice detailed sculpt. Pose looks like he's trying to throw a Poke-ball. Split faceplate looks a little odd, more like a beak. Paint is a little sloppy on mine, but colors look nice. Good figure, if not spectacular.

    Tarantulus: Sculpt is nice. He's another beak-face. In fact, the details on the head make him look like an armored kitty when cutesy-fied. Colors seem way too bright (maybe just too light) to me. The bright orange feet look especially out of place. Would probably look a lot better if not for the color scheme inspired by European TFs from the period between G1 and G2.

    G1 set 3: (Rumble & Arcee)
    Arcee: Sculpted in a running pose on a 'metal plate' base with some small (blue) explosions. Nothing appearing to come out of any lewd places on this fig, unless you have a fembot foot fetish. Face is wide-eyed, with an almost cat or monkey-like look. Paint could've used some work - no white in the waist area, face is the same white as the rest of the head. Oddly, the only one of this whole batch who is holding a gun. Nice figure, but kinda washed out color-wise.

    Rumble: I know who Rumble is, but who's this red guy? ;)  The pose and face go together to say "This guy REALLY loves breaking stuff!" He looks like he's in the height of a maniacal laugh. Good colors. Decepticon symbol on right piledriver. This is what Robot heroes is all about.

    BW set 3: (Megatron & Silverbolt)
    Silverbolt: Awkward sculpt, which needs to be posed just right to not look completely ******ed. Upper body is too elongated, and looks like 'Bolt's wearing a feather cape over a life jacket over a turtleneck sweater. Hands are holding the feather-swords. Paint work is a bit on the dull monochrome side, but also accurate. Maximal symbol on left kneecap. A rather disappointing figure, which is too bad because I really like Silverbolt.

    Megatron (Transmetal): Scuplted with the tail weapon in "golden disc player" mode. Backpack fans get in the way of arm movement. Cute face. Good colors, but the blue toes look really out of place. Predacon symbol on right kneecap. Not a standout figure, but better than the Pre-TM Megatron at least.

    Note: many of the figure I got had one bent leg, which made standing difficult.

    G1 guys:
    [​IMG]

    BW guys:
    [​IMG]

    Overall: IMO the standouts on the G1 side are Kickback and Rumble (and their set-companions are pretty good too) and Optimus Primal and Waspinator being the better figs on the BW end of things.
     
  2. Shark Jumper

    Shark Jumper さあ、お前の罪を数えろ

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    Waspinator lubricated himself :0
     
  3. Boy who screams

    Boy who screams Banned

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    Nice review.
    I love Silverbolt's pose!
     
  4. revlimiter

    revlimiter Bot Hacker

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    I hate the Ironhide/Blaster pose. Gah. but man, the other G1 figs are just pure love.
     
  5. drill

    drill Gotham's White Knight

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    Nice. Can I see a pic of all the BW guys released thus far together? I think I'm getting only them.
     
  6. Shark Jumper

    Shark Jumper さあ、お前の罪を数えろ

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    My Ironhide can't stand well...
     
  7. SPLIT LIP

    SPLIT LIP Be strong enough to be gentle

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    TM Megs looks awesome. If only he had the claw instead of the Golden Disk.
     
  8. NormanB

    NormanB Well-Known Member

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    I think in their attempts to feature more dynamic poses, the designers have compromised the "standability" of some of these figures. They're a little wobbly.

    I noticed the plastic in this wave is a little softer, and that the joints are looser than previous waves. Anybody else notice that in their figures?

    But don't mistake these thoughts for overall dissatisfaction.

    I absolutely love these guys.

    Rumble is easily the best of the wave!
     
  9. Shark Jumper

    Shark Jumper さあ、お前の罪を数えろ

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    Rumble looks just like another figurine from a japanese trading figure set, but chibi. I'm still waiting for the inevitable Frenzy repaint.
     
  10. defstar

    defstar Autobot...

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    So yeah...what is the blue stuff under Waspinator suppose to be...?
     
  11. Feralstorm

    Feralstorm Good Morning, Weather Hackers! TFW2005 Supporter

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    I haven't noticed any obvious difference in the material or the joints, but you're right, more seem to have trouble standing from the pose choices. More of this group seem to be using a "one foot back, standing on the toe" sort of pose, and if there's any bend in the PVC at all, it messes with the stability.
     
  12. Andersonh1

    Andersonh1 Man, I've been here a LONG time Veteran

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    After pretty much swearing off these things due to the price, I've caved and gone back to collecting them.

    Thrust - is definately thrusting. Either he's shooting a plume of blue and grey smoke out of his rear, or else he's sitting on a really thin blue and grey tree stump. That humorous smoke placement aside, this is a great little mold. It's generally a dark burgundy with a lot of shiny black painted details. A tiny silver Decepticon insignia is on the middle of the back between the wings. There are some yellow and silver details as well. Thrust is standing on one foot with the other folded double as if he's either running or landing on one foot. The pose is actually similar to Starscream/Thundercracker/Skywarp from earlier Robot Hero waves. Also, it looks as if the wings may be a seperate piece so they can be swapped out for Ramjet and Dirge, but it's difficult to tell. The winner of this set.

    Blaster - unlike many of the others in this line, Blaster looks absolutely natural with a big grin on his face. Blaster's pose looks as though he's bending down to pick something up off the ground, or he can wave while he's about to topple over (which he's prone to do). Seriously, it's one of those poses where the figure is really 'primed for action!!!!' while crouching forward. Looks good though, and looks like he's having fun, which again suits the character. I always found the original figure to be greatly oversized and not as much fun as I'd have liked, but the character was enjoyable in the comics, and to some degree on the cartoon. It's good to see him revisited in Robot Heroes.

    [​IMG]

     
  13. SPLIT LIP

    SPLIT LIP Be strong enough to be gentle

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    Here's my short thoughts on them:

    Primal: Hands down the best Robot Hero of them all. Sculpt is great, colours are great, character is great. Flawless, but most Robot Heroes are. I love his face. He looks so happy, plus he's based off the best version of Primal, the first non-bat one.

    Tarantulas: Love him. Could only be better if he were the TM version. Nice and crazy look but not so over the top he looks too demented. Nice counterpart to BA.

    Waspinator: Rulezzzzzz. Dunno why the blue stuff had to come straight out of his ass. I'm not kidding. Right out of his ass.

    Rhinox: Looks so friendly, but kinda dopey, which I guess fits, as Rhinox didn't look as smart as he was. Really nicely sculpted and painted.

    TM Megatron: Is my second Favourite. He's just so awesome. Would've been my all-time favourite if he had a claw instead of the disk as I said before. Way better than the other Megs.

    Silverbolt: Is kinda gross. He's not very accurate in sculpt, is painted in sort-of accurate colours, but with this weird green. Head isn't the cutified puppy-face nobility it should be. Seriously, he has a puppy face, and they made him a RH, and they couldn't make him cute?! BA is so sad, then again she has less boobies so so is Silverbolt. :( 

    Rumble: JUST. ROCKS. I love this guy. His eyes are a little freaking but the rest is just great. And he's red! Whee! Even my DOG Rumble likes him.

    Arcee: Is cute, but I have no idea what she's standing on. There's the cloud, but I can't tell what that is under her. Nice little gun and a happy face. Her non-gun arm is kinda hard to pose right.

    ARNN-HAHD: Sculpted okay, minus the pose which sucks. Would've liked black over dark silver but both are nice.

    Kickback: Again, another winner. Looks great with Shrapnel. Can't wait to get Bombshell.

    Blaster: Freaks me right the fuck out! His eyes are so... terrible. Pose is lame and the sculpt could be better.

    Thrust: I like him. Not great, but not bad. Not a whole lot to say about, though. Again, though, the stuff comes right out of his ass, but his foot still touches the base, which means they did that JUST so he could have STUFF COMING OUT OF HIS ASS.
     
  14. Andersonh1

    Andersonh1 Man, I've been here a LONG time Veteran

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    Arcee - I'm not used to small, dainty Robot Heroes! :lol  Arcee is both, with a very dynamic pose to boot. I really like the metal ground she's running on, though I'm not sure what the blue smoke/crystals are a reference to, but the color works with white, pink and silver.

    Rumble - Looks like he's crazy with that wacked-out expression! He's got Alternators Rumble's lack of hands and darker red color than the original, but he looks good with plenty of details.
     
  15. Andersonh1

    Andersonh1 Man, I've been here a LONG time Veteran

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    Time to review my latest Robot Hero sets. There are some good ones in these sets, and then there's Silverbolt...

    Waspinator and Rhinox
    [​IMG]

    I'm a completist when it comes to the G1 Robot Heroes, but I pretty much skipped the movie RH figures. I was planning on skipping the Beast Wars figures as well, but I liked this set enough to add it to the collection. I may go back and get some of the others as well.

    Rhinox: one of my favorite Beast Wars characters, and this is a great little figure, which is based off the Mainframe animation models more than the toy. That's a good thing, given that the original toy is very much a shellformer, and not a good one either. The RH version of Rhinox has a doofy smile and overly large arms, but the size and strength of the character are well conveyed with the sculpting. The figure is very stable, unlike some of the other RHs, some of which are difficult to balance.

    Waspinator: another of my favorites. Again, the figure is well-sculpted and full of detail, though from the front it looks very plain. The base green plastic should be darker, and though it looks fine as is, the gold and blue don't make for a strong contrast. From the rear, the yellow and black wasp thorax and gold wrist bands stand out more, and so do the light silver wings. The whole thing is very stable on the blue base, but I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to be. Maybe Waspinator's flying up out of the water or something, or maybe he's sitting on one of those unstable energon crystals from the first season.

    Overall, this is a great set, and well worth having. Both figures are really strong.

    Ironhide and Kickback
    [​IMG]

    Ironhide: is very clearly sculpted from the animation model, with no toy details visible at all. As a result, the figure is very plain. It looks good enough, but is basically a middle of the road figure for the Robot Heroes line. It's not bad, but fails to impress with a good translation into the aesthetic or with lots of sculpted or painted details. For example, Hot Rod avoids this by having painted details on his shins and shoulders that resemble the stickers on the original toy. Ironhide's just a little plain.

    Kickback: makes up for Ironhide's sparse details by being chock full of 'em. Kickback alone is worth buying the set for, particularly if you already have the other RH Insecticons. The figure is full of details from the original toy, including the grasshopper legs folded up on the back of the robot legs, the vestigal Diaclone cockpit on the robot chest, and details on the knees and feet that resemble the stickers from the original figure.

    Overall: Ironhide's ok, but Kickback is really good.

    Megatron and Silverbolt
    [​IMG]

    Megatron: in contrast to Rhinox, who is one of my favorite BW characters, Transmetal Megatron is one of my favorite BW toys, and this RH does the figure justice. In addition, the toy is sculpted with the golden disk, which featured in the plot of multiple BW episodes. The blue toes are a little odd though... they should be purple, like the other transmetal bits. Despite the fact that the figure has the same shoulder/neck articulation points as most RH, there's very little shoulder movement possible, because the turbine backpack keeps the arms from moving far at all. This makes Megatron one of the most 'statue-like' Robot Heroes.

    Silverbolt: is deformed, even by Robot Hero standards. There's no other word for it. Proportions are off and colors aren't quite right. The wingtip feather missiles which looked like spoons on the original toy look like shafts of wheat on the Robot Hero. The neck rotation looks really twisted and painful if it's turned too far in either direction. Silverbolt isn't so bad that he's good, but that's almost the case.

    Overall: Megatron's worth buying the set for, in my view. Silverbolt has major issues, but they amuse me, so I'm still enjoying the figure.


    And a bonus picture: the G1 Insecticons, Robot Hero style.
    [​IMG]