(Please excuse the crappy phone pics, camera is in storage!) And now, the review you've all been waiting for....NuRiD Combiner Force Activator Strongarm and her new indentured servant Trickout! Here is Trickout: Some kind of Cybertronian armoured milkfloat? His back wheels roll well but alas, not his front. And he's mad about that! Grrr. (He rolls much better in this mode.) Transformation is one-step and he has no articulation whatsoever. He's smaller than the average Mini-Con... Here's Strongarm, looking much like her Warrior version: Plastic is the same as usual for NuRiD Warriors, so it feels fine. She rolls well. Size comparison with some other NuRiD vehicles; she's a bit smaller than Gregevor in this mode: Trickout has a fold-out 5mm post, which is required for the action feature that is this toy's main raison d'être: PREPARE TO BE AMAZED! Here we see Strongarm, hot in pursuit of meaning in life: But meaning eludes her. So... ...COMBINE & THROTTLE UP! Well, that's what it says on the packet. More detail is visible here in the newly-revealed gaps, but Hasbro didn't bother to paint it. Strongarm now towers over her foe! (In-hand, the height difference on activation is more noticeable and the gimmick feels fun. However, please bear in mind that I am very easily amused, often by things that would be scorned by a small child.) Trickout can turn in the socket to be a gun turret, but while he can angle down, he can't angle up. Strongarm in robot mode! Transformation is very simple: activate, flip out and separate legs, fold hood back, rotate head. Her head rotates 360 degrees, her arms move up and down at the shoulders, her legs move outwards until blocked by her hip skirts, and her knees bend backwards. So she *can* strike a pose or two... ...by which I mean about two. Face-sculpt is actually better close-in than from further away! Looks the part. This is why you will probably want to display her from the front: ..or facing away, in a huff. In robot mode she's a bit taller than her Warrior mold: "Drop it pal, you're under arrest!" Next, a sad story of battlefield scavenging. (Death Chicken grows fat.) TAV Gregevor is a fun toy and should be purchased by any fans of CHUG-scale 'bots or RiD who don't hate the Strongarm mold: Combiner Force Activator Strongarm costs £25.99 in the UK. She may also be a pirate now. Or something. Conclusions: bought this toy with Xmas dosh so I didn't have to pay for it out of my own pocket and therefore rather like it. It is however, horribly, horribly overpriced for what it is and you should not buy one unless it is on discount so deep it's covered in lava. Which is probably what it deserves. (I still like it though.... )
I don't mind gimmick toys but for the love of christ, they needed to PAINT the extra detail. If you're gonna make a toy focused on the gimmick, do it! Jeeeez.
The boxart has the extra detail painted in glowing blue stripes to show you how powered-up she is, so it's not like they didn't understand the concept! Maybe Takara will do a better job. Yes, and it's also like a Stealth Force toy that actually transforms. It does work pretty well for what it is. It's just the price point is all wrong.
