Eager for this one. Having no prior experience with this guy or Apeface, I figured I'd dive in and see what these triple changers had to offer. I loved Apeface, once I figured out how to tab everything, he was a great addition. It looks like the same holds true for Snap Dragon! Thanks for the review! I'll admit these wacky alt modes do offer some fun that a jet/car can't do!
Picked up Snapdragon and the Decepticon clones this weekend, partnered them up with my Siege Apeface. I love the shared color schemes they all share.
Got one this morning from the local Walmart. Transformed it into the dino mode and absolutely adore it. Haven't really messed with it that much yet, but man, this guy is solid and the joints are all tight.
Love to see a pic of all of them together. I do have the clones which I got as a takara two pack a few years ago but have to find them and add them to apeface. I'm waiting on this guy. Gonna get him for my nephew too as he likes animal type transformers and his dragon mode woukd be something he would enjoy.
I think Krunk's arms are supposed to go straightforward, so that they fill Snapdragon's dragon eyes in red. At least, I assumed that was the intention behind the weirdly shaped arms of his Headmaster.
Picked him up last night, He’s fun but man if they could’ve got wrist rotation in and some decent elbows this guy would be the definitive con as it stands 7/10
Personally, the fact that he's a white/black/purple/teal dinosaur/jet dude and not a red metrosexual Decepticon surgeon prevents him from being a Knock-Out figure, but to each their own .
Honestly, my only major issue with the figure is that they changed the way the Headmaster integrates into the dragon mode. I thought it was a lot more clever and elegant in the G1 version. I thought it was pretty amazing how they managed to make a triple changing Headmaster head. I know, I know, it would have made him pin headed. Frankly I'm okay with that for what is basically a Kaiju Godzilla mode.
I’m kind of torn on this. The bot mode is great and I have no complaints about that. The jet mode is fine but the jet is the least interesting part of the whole package. Then we get to dino mode and it all kind of falls flat. The headmaster integration is pretty poor and ends up resulting in a dinosaur with significant underbite on a jaw so anemic that it just looks stupid. It also requires a worrying amount of force to get the damn headmaster plugged into the dino head to begin with. Thankfully the ridiculously skinny jaw could be fixed with an add-on part. Hopefully one that can beef up the upper jaw too. He’s a solid upgrade for sure but his most important mode is badly hamstrung by the awful head and the torso being a mess of barely tabbed together flaps.
This figure and his ORGINAL G1 counterpart copy goes so deep with me in my heart and soul. I can't wait till i get my copy from Amazon. I feel in love with this figure the first time i seen it. To me there's nothing this figure could do wrong in my opinion. I have the ORGINAL G1 figure and can't wait to put him next to the G1 figure. So in all i am so excited to when that will happen.
Either that, or they could make the headmasters for Apeface and Snapdragon a bit bigger - it's not like we're in the middle of Titans Returns, does it really need to be a consistent system at this point? When we've already got various takes on the Targetmasters over the years at various scales, and they keep changing their ramp attachment system. Why are they so stuck on this version for headmasters?
I personally appreciate the compatibility and standardization of the Headmasters. Targetmasters are not nearly so integral. As long as they have 5mm compatibility, then you can do anything with them. There were numerous variations on them in G1 as well.
I picked mine up from my local Target earlier this week. PROS -super tight joints -great robot mode -sleek jet (though some gaps in the back) CONS -dragon mode...they were so close! Tail and beast hind legs are fine. Those front arms have such limited range of motion. Just needed one more joint there to move those forearms! The headmaster gimmick doesn't quite succeed here either with that weird bite when you plug in the headmaster. Also, that red line across his dragon head (to mimic the original G1 version) just ends up being distracting Fun to play with and satisfying to transform. Just needed a little more attention to the beast mode
I've been trying to think of how they could have improved the head of the dragon mode, I think it would require a faceplate that could rotate 180 on the Headmaster. I forgot that the original toy connected using the headmaster's butt, rather than his head, in robot mode.
I have come to expect and understand that when it comes to triple changers, almost every time there will be one mode that gets sacrificed to save the others. No truer is this than with Apeface and Snapdragon. Apeface's jet is a box with wings thrown on that barely clear the body. Snapdragon gets a dragon mode that- while passable- does have its shortcomings. Beyond that, though? He snaps together tight and isn't loose. I have no problems with panels not lining up properly or not going where they are supposed to. He doesn't have the issues with his feet that Apeface has where he never feels like he is sitting flat on a surface. His modes are unique enough for me to feel like at least I didn't get something I already have. And most importantly to me, he swaps between all 3 modes without an undue amount of fuss. I was never a big fan of the "season 4" characters. Even growing up in the 80's, I missed its three episodes until I was in my 20's so the nostalgia isn't really there. But I really am digging the semi-shared color schemes between Snapdragon, Apeface, the clones and Sixshot. Their white/black/purple/green-blue palettes mix well and make them more appealing to me even beyond the memories and base collecting value. Sorry, just saw this! Will get a shot tossed up tonight when I get home from work.
