First of the new Earthrise Micromasters I decided to mess around with. These are tiny, simple pocket Transformers that are a ton of fun when placed with other Micromaster figures, however, by themselves, I think they'd be nice travel companions. Definitely my preferred duo over the Autobot sports cars in the same wave (Trip-Up & Daddy-O). In terms of QC, the leg joints (for both) on mine are a bit loose out of the box, but definitely not going to ruin the experience–I don't see myself applying any floor polish on the ball joints for a long time. Bombshock's heels were loose enough to allow him to lose balance when standing but is still something that could be worked around. Weapon mode is probably the most stable out of every single Micromaster from the WFC trilogy I've tried. While still a bit, weird, I suppose, it's still quite amusing to see two little guys crumpled up into some sort of mega-gun. Growl may have a tendency to droop down, though. The handle on Bombshock is fairly tight and has worked well on most figures I've tried it on (mostly Siege and ER Starscream). Other than that, these are some neat Micromasters. Probably my favorites next to the two Decepticon jets from Siege.
Growl is the solid winner of this set. More poseable than I thought it'd be. Bombshock is disappointing mainly due to the faux heel hinges that are prone to looseness. The tank barrel base has to be pulled up a little bit to clear the tabs otherwise they'll catch and stress.
The parts reuse here is really interesting: the gun and hinge with handle are no longer paired with the same pair of legs they were on the Battle Patrol! Bombshock's gun & heel spurs and Growl's legs are reused from Topshot Growl's hinge w handle & Bombshock's legs are reused from Flak. Growl's chest looks a modified version of Flak's Can anyone get me a picture of Bombshock with the green chest panel folded up, so I can see what the detail under there looks like and compare it with Topshot's?
.... Seeing that, and knowing there must be one grey frame for both toys leads me to think Bombshock's shoulder joints are from Topshot too.
They have the same shoulder joint design (along with Red Hot/Heat but his joints are in white). However, it looked like Topshot's joints are molded are in a very slightly darker shade of grey. I might be wrong though.
Sorry to necro this thread, but I've been looking around and couldn't find one piece of info in any reviews I've seen. Could anybody tell me if Growl's weapon uses a 3mm or a 5mm post? I've been thinking about getting a set to use some parts for a few mods. Thank you.
