Review: Botcon 2012 Shattered Glass The Bard of Darkmount

I realized, a little too late, that I forgot to include the gallery of photos for my Shattered Glass Soundwave Headband review. If you didn't get a chance to take a look at it, check them out. With that said, my first Transformers review from Botcon 2012 is The Bard of Darkmount. Shattered Glass Darkmount/Straxus/Spraxus is a poetic dramatist and I find his character*extremely difficult to love as much as FunPub claims I should. Here's the review.

Shattered Glass The Bard of Darkmount



Alt Mode: Shattered Glass Spraxus is a simple repaint of Transformers Generations Darkmount. People claim that the color scheme is based on Scrounge... no. The popular theory is that it's based on Serpentor... what's the relation? Cheetor... nonsense. If anything, I'd say RiD KayBee Destructicon Bludgeon... but that isn't a good match either. Months ago, I remember hearing that this deco was simply just the original figure's colors inverted; there goes the mystery. There really isn't anything significant to this color scheme. I see maybe three extra paint apps on this version of the mold, but it still looks like simple repaint. Another important thing to mention is that the figure is primarily cast out of a shiny metallic yellow plastic; gold plastic syndrome anyone?



Robot Mode: I'd like to go on the record by saying that neon colors on Transformers does not automatically default said Transformer into the second generation. According to Pete Sinclair, apparently the color scheme is visually striking... meh. There isn't much to talk about... read my review on Darkmount or Skullgrin if you're really curious about what I think of this mold's robot form.



Overall: The Bard of Darkmount is a decent freebie figure. While it doesn't beat last year's Fisitron or 09's LeoZack, I can honestly say that I like it. I like this figure because it was "free", wasn't blue and red (like most of the box set's toys), and because I love the mold. The character itself I honestly don't care about. The bio and comic depiction is completely snooze worthy, so there is no attachment there. So for most of you, this figure is not going to fly at all. I can see people liking it more if it had a deco that would*repurpose it into an already established character.

For more pictures, check out the review at The Rabbit Haul.

TheRabbitHaul * B/S/T * Feedback

I don't know why, I dig this...

Wish it was based on Derrick's G2 Straxus. Even if they had to loose the animal print to fit it in budget.

Is this the first time the freebie was a mold not used anywhere else in the set?

Nah, Slicer in 2010 wasn't in the set at all either.

TheRabbitHaul * B/S/T * Feedback

Ah, I forgot about him. Still need him and Turbomaster to complete my "G2". Too bad I'm a cheap bastard.

I still love this deco, and I want this thing so bad.

Originally Posted by Shatterpoint Don't jump, Soundwave! DON'T JUMP! PUT THE RAZOR DOWN!

Back in the 80s, there was a German company that issued the Marvel TF comics, but they recolored things in a scheme that made even less sense than G2 and gave them original covers that were so bizarre they fit right in with the weird colors. SG Straxus' colors are based on one of their covers

Transformers Comic-Magazin issue 10 - Transformers Wiki

It's a freebie and my 1st toy from this mold, no complaints on that.

Personally I think SG concept works better on HoF level characters that's well recognized when it comes to personality and colors. On other characters that few people knows much about, like Darkmount, who knows what to expect in mirrored universe, it's nothing but confusion.

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Well, to be fair, they only randomly colored their covers and stories that were originally published in black and white.
Image:Tf comextrachainclaw.JPG - Transformers Wiki

Colored US issues had their colors redone with some errors, but no crazy colors there.
Image:TF-commagmagenta.jpg - Transformers Wiki