Arms Micron Capsule Wave 3: Ratchet, Wheeljack, Starscream & Dobo

Discussion in 'Transformers Feedback & Reviews' started by payres, Dec 22, 2012.

  1. payres

    payres Well-Known Member

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    Arms Micron Capsule Series Wave 3

    My box of the Arms Micron Capsule series wave 3 arrived this week courtesy of HLJ.com who supplied both of my previous waves no problem. However the box they sent me this time contained:

    4 x Wheeljack (peachy orange capsule)
    3 x Starscream (purple capsule)
    2 x Green Dobo (yellow capsule)
    1 x Red Dobo (blue green capsule)

    NO RATCHET! NOT HAPPY! So if any UK based fan is reading this who can sell me a Ratchet Micron/swap for a Starscream/Wheeljack Micron I'll be very happy & grateful.

    Wheeljack

    Near perfect likeness of the character with blades protruding from the ends of the arms. Articulation: ball joints at hips and shoulders, plus the shoulders fold forwards across the chest as part of the transformation. His right shoulder has a purpley red trapezoid Autobot spark crystal (It's a bit hard to say what the exact colour is) while there's 5mm sockets on his left shoulder and outer sides of both knees.

    Transformation: Fold the back of the legs down under the feet and clip the legs together. Fold the arms down straight at the sides, then fold in at the shoulders. Fold the backpack up to cover the head.

    Wheeljack transforms into a Kunai, a Japanese tool which can also be used as a weapon which rather suits Wheeljack's dual role as warrior & technician. We get a 5mm peg in this mode, on the base of the weapon, and an extra socket on the back. The shoulders (crystal and one socket) end up on the base of the weapon while the sockets on the knee are on he side of the blade.

    My one complaint is there is a definite front & back to the weapon mode.

    Decent blade weapon and robot mode. Well worth owning.

    Starscream

    I'm not keen on Starscream's Prime form and the Micron version is even worse looking like a Star Wars Lego Super Battle Droid figure. The robot mode features the wings folded back which just unbalances the toy and causes it to fall over backwards. The ball joints on the toy at the shoulders and hips are a bit loose compared to the other Arms Micron toys. There are no real accessible 5mm Micron pegs or sockets available in this mode, all being ruled out by the wings being closed together. Fold them out to the sides and you get a better balanced toy as well as 5mm pegs on the end of the wings, another on his back, a 5mm socket behind his left wing and a yellow hexagonal Decepticon Spark crystal behind his right wing.

    Transformation: (if necessary) fold the wings forward and out to the sides. Push the hips up. Fold the arms up so the shoulders cover the head and the hands clip into the top of the wings. Fold the legs up so they clip into the bottom of the wings.

    The transformation won't work if the hips haven't been pushed up first - it took me a while to crack the trick with the hips so I spent ages being frustrated that I couldn't get this toy into weapons mode. Even now I have I can't get the limbs to stay attached to the wings properly.

    Starscream forms a Boomerang wing a 5mm peg at each end and in the middle. The 5mm socket and spark crystal end up on opposing sides of the wing. The weapon mode is a bit something of nothing but works better as a jetpack - try it on the Wheeljack Micron, with the backpack folded halfway forward. It would make a very good chest plate for a Power Core Commander but he's missing a 5mm hole in his chest to make this possible.

    Robot's got issues and I don't like the design. Weapons mode is weak. Worst Arms Micron Capsule toy since the monochrome beasts in the first wave.... possible worst of the lot.

    Dobo

    Onto the Decepticon animal in this wave. Dobo is an dragonfly with four ball jointed wings. Between the wings is 5mm socket - there's another under the body and a third under the end of the tail while there's a 5mm peg under the head as well as one under each of the larger front wings. The Yellow/Green Trapezoid Decepticon spark crystal is mounted on the top of the start of the tail.

    All the Decepticon Arms Micron Capsule animals have two colour variants and like Dado he mixes both colours:

    Colour 1: Body & Tail

    Colour 2: Wings & Tail Core

    The colours chosen this time are Green & Red so we get a green dragonfly with red wings and a red dragonfly with green wings which brings to mind the Beast Wars toy Jetstorm and his Beast Wars II repaint Tonbot. Very Nice!

    Transformation: Fold the wings forward, locking the two larger ones together. Extend the tail.

    Dobo's weapons mode is a gatling gun with six gun barrels arranged in a circle at the end of the tail. The barrel rotates nicely, but that means the 5mm socket on it moves round the toy. There's a pair of 5mm pegs under the folded back wings but it's probably best to hold the weapon by the peg underneath the rear of the weapon, the insect's body, or mount it on either the socket located just in front of the peg or the one on top of the insect's body.

    You can have some fun with two of these toys, one in each mode. You can plug the weapon into the insect by sliding the peg under the insect into the socket on the top of the weapon. Or you can shorten the weapon to insect length and match the peg & socket at each end of the toys so the insect is carrying the gatling directly underneath it.

    Easily the star of this set, but I'm worried about the long term durability of the wings which are very thin and have a disturbingly small connection to the ball that locks them into the body.
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2012
  2. TFtoycollector

    TFtoycollector Well-Known Member

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    Looking forward to these guys. Hopefully Kapow is still getting them.
     
  3. Lbsammills51

    Lbsammills51 Well-Known Member

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    Nice, I figured Dobo would be the star of this wave. Starscream sounds disappointing.

    BBTS is doing bags of six rather than 10 this time around...hopefully that guarantees one of each because I'd be disappointed to miss on any of these, even Starscream.
     
  4. Thundershot

    Thundershot Ratchet Fanatic

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    Got mine from BBTS today.

    Oddly I have an extra Ratchet. Unfortunately, the tabs on my Starscream's wings are broken or bent... So if someone wants to trade an extra Starscream for a Ratchet, let me know. I'll post some pics later..
     
  5. Shark Jumper

    Shark Jumper さあ、お前の罪を数えろ

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    I want these, but not sure where I'd get the best deal on them as I don't want shipping to cost more than the microns itself.
     
  6. Flexx Ark

    Flexx Ark Original Cyberverse - Yes! New - Meh......

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    Captured Prey offers a great deal on these and you can get them cheap as individuals.

    Ratchet is great by the way.
     
  7. Thundershot

    Thundershot Ratchet Fanatic

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    I can't figure Ratchet out. The little rings in his arm and leg... They don't show what they're supposed to do in the instructions...
     
  8. ChaosLordX

    ChaosLordX Well-Known Member

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    Out of curiosity does anyone know how much would the shipping be on a ratchet spanner from captured prey?
     
  9. Thundershot

    Thundershot Ratchet Fanatic

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    Try going through the checkout process and it'll tell you.....
     
  10. GreednGluttony

    GreednGluttony grumpy smurf

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    :useless 
     
  11. Thundershot

    Thundershot Ratchet Fanatic

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    Pics incoming....
     
  12. Thundershot

    Thundershot Ratchet Fanatic

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    Okay so here's the group. I think the instructions are wrong since they don't mention Ratchet's "rings" and I'm pretty sure the dragonfly mode is supposed to be abdomen extended... but I'm not sure so I took pics both ways.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    First up are the dragonflies.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    The last pic is how the instructions show, but like I said, dragonflies have long bodies, so I prefer it the other way..


    Now Wheeljack. Pretty simple.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    My Starscream has a broken tab and a really stressed one.. You need to be extra careful with him.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Finally Ratchet... Again, the instructions show one thing (see above), but they don't utilize the rings at all... Also where the handle is located makes even less sense...

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    And here they are all in use. Starscream really can't hold his... And Ratchet's is... odd...

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Pavol Palat

    Pavol Palat Palatinus

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    With the previous wave, I complained that I got only one Bulkhead (out of 10-pack purchased from HLJ).

    With this wave, it's even worse: 4 Ratchets, 4 Starsreams, 2 Wheeljacks :-(

    Anyway, these are all cool minicons, I hope there are more coming in the future.
     
  14. cybeast

    cybeast Freelancer Pun Maker

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    Ratchet one looks like a handcuff for me. XD
     
  15. froggy124

    froggy124 Well-Known Member

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    The little rings on the Ratchets are to lock the other arm and leg together so they dont come loose.
    Once this is done the rings act as 5mm sockets in which you can mount other microns onto to form a bigger weapon.
    I attached AM Ratchets sword onto the end to make a giant blade type weapon.
    I find it also acts as a shield and looks good with ratchet holding it and the Sword micron.
    Sorry no pics but Ill post some if I can later.
     
  16. froggy124

    froggy124 Well-Known Member

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    Here is a pic from my iPhone, sorry for the poor quality but it shows ratchet holding both microns.
    [​IMG]
     

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  17. RedAlert Rescue

    RedAlert Rescue Banned

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    I'm glad you guys managed to get an order from HLJ they cancelled mine and said they had problems stocking them.

    I think Ratchet might also double as handcuffs - they are quite similar in shape to the hand and wing Cuffs Starscream wore that one time.
     
  18. Scaleface

    Scaleface Well-Known Member

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    Added a SG symbol to the Wheeljack Kunai MX. Now it makes sense.

    IMG_20220528_211500876.jpg