Got Arcee as a surprise in my Ice Cream Twins package today, figured I'd throw something (up) together as a (warning) review.

So, as a motorcycle, Arcee's alright:



She's actually more of an orangey-pink than the dark red we've seen in promo shots. She comes with a weapons platform/sidecar that is looser than Britney Spears' nether region and worthless as any kind of support for the motorcycle (notice the kickstand is still down in this pic):



Transformation is flipping out some stuff, moving some stuff around, swearing at the way the ball joints keep anything from lining up in anything remotely resembling anything, and you end up with this mutant:



I think the spring loaded arm blade is actually pretty cool. It's not just the weird ROTF aesthetic for the Cycle Sisters that kills it for me, I actually LIKE Chromia. I think the concept art for the third cycle is outstanding. But Arcee is just a giant pile of mung. I hope the combined mode is semi decent. I'll be willing to over look some of Arcee's design if it's due to sacrifices for the combo mode, but I'm not holding out hope until I see decent pics of such a mode. Here's a shot of her with Chromia:



And a shot with her much better Movie 1 version:



I didn't take any pics of the slotflap stuff, s250 covered that in a thread in the news section
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Long story short, don't waste your cash until we see pics of the combined mode. If that looks cool, it might be worth nabbing Arcee, but otherwise don't bother.

UPDATE!

Well, I don't LOVE her, but after forcing myself to fiddle with her some more at work last night, I'm liking her a lot more. I found out how to tab the cycle mode together a lot better, found out how to get the sidecar to stay on, and found a way to not make her look like a pile of ass in robot mode. SO I'm upgrading her from "Piece Of Crap" to "Decent But Flawed."

 

Oh well, only reason to pick her up is for the combiner

 

  I'm excited to hear your rant! Perhaps I'll pass on Arcee then, and use the money for the Ice Cream Twins...

 

Huh. She's that bad.

Still getting her.

 

I'll buy her for the combined mode. Can the "spine" be straightened out?

 

NO.

 

Peaugh, you should do a video of you lighting Arcee on fire. Or hitting her with a hammer. OR BOTH.

 

Aww, I was hoping she'd be an improvement over Chromia.

 

If the combined mode sucks, I may well do just that.

 

I'm waiting then.  

 

Huh... can the midsection be swiveled forward so her chest and shoulders are at least centered over her "legs"?

Otherwise she looks like that shot from Terminator 2 when the T-1000 gets all blown apart.

 

Again, NO. Those pics are the closest I've been able to get to "centered."

 

Gotcha, I thought the previous poster was referring to extending the spine straight up.

Don't know what to say about Arcee here... I'm hoping this is a sacrifice for the sake of the combined mode. *crosses fingers*

Thanks for the sneak peak.

 

She looks kinda decent. Let's hope the combine mood will be even better

 

Call me crazy (no really, go for it), I LIKE the sideways warped spine. Is the main problem you have with her the design of it, or is there something structurally wrong with her?

 

This. I actually kinda like the design, unless there's something that actually makes the toy frustrating.

 

i really do hope the animated arcee gets a wide release, that one (ROTF) really is a disaster.

 

It's worth noting that the digital art for the third cycle-bot has the exact same sideways-bent spine design, as well. In fact, it looks like it's just a mirror-image of Arcee with one of the wheels on her hand instead of both on her feet.

 

Is she as bad as that Uber-lemon of a universe Hot shot you got?