Shatter. The calculated attitude of Strika mixed with the badass-streak of IDW1.0 Arcee. I never bothered to get the first (car) version of Shatter because of the inaccuracies and complaints....and y'know what, I'm pretty glad that I waited. Shatter transforms into a kinda-sorta Harrier looking jet. It's not totally accurate to the movie, but the mode cleans up excellently for what it is; even coming with retractable front landing gear. Stick that one, Earthrise Starscream! There's not a whole lot else to say about the zoomy piece of metal with wings, other than it's one of the sleekest jet modes I've seen on a modern Transformer, and the paint job is very well done (where it is done at all - the shade of gunmetal grey plastic is fantastic...why doesn't HasTak use this stuff all of the time?!). Shatter also sits nicely alongside her whirly accomplice in this mode. I'll let you all experience the transformation yourselves, since it's both a straightforward and at the same time confusingly clever run into robot mode. Reminds me a lot of RoTF era Deluxe transformations. But not Breakaway. In robot mode, Shatter cuts a mean (and very screen accurate) figure. The level of sculpted detail is beautiful, and the inclusion of a face on her face instantly puts this version about the previous "car Shatter". Only criticisms I can level at this cool customer, are the large (but accurate) back kibble and the lack of ankle-tilts. Don't expect this gal to be pulling any naturally wide stances with those twinkle toes. Should you fancy letting the lady stand around on display instead of dark street corners, she comes with a "display base" portraying the Sector 7 base. Don't stick your fingers in any plug sockets, or she will find you! As you can see next to Bee, Shatter is appropriately larger than the little yellow bugger. Bumblebee feels like a more compact and articulated package, but Shatter is sure to command more of a presence on your shelf. A couple of other comparisons with what I had to hand in robot modes: Overall, Shatter is another pretty fantastic home-run for Studio Series. While I don't personally find her as fun to handle and pose as SS57 Bumblebee, she is still full of character and commands a presence on any shelf. I still haven't got around to buying Dropkick V2, but I imagine they look a fine pair together. If you have that blue psychopath already, I'd imagine getting Shatter is a no-brainer.
What a fantastic sculpt. What I love about this version of Shatter is the fact that it's still evident that she *could* transform into a car as well. Heli-Kick didn't really look like he could have a car mode at all.
No, I mentioned in the review that I don't have that version of Shatter. Her head looks to be standard size, so I imagine it should be possible as long as the other version has a regular ball socket? Yeah, her sculpt is definitely the best thing about his figure. It's amazing what a difference it makes having the toy designers working with the finished CGI models!
It should work then. Are you thinking of swapping the new head into the old car version or the other way around?
Yeah, the head has the ball connected to it at the bottom of the neck. I was just wondering because this seems pretty much like the perfect Shatter as it is, compared to the car version.
The turbine/wing assembly? They're all attached via a few pin joints, and the cockpit hiding under the turbines is directly attached to a transformation joint connected to her torso. You could remove it all, but it won't be the most straightforward of jobs.
I love how her read thrusters can tilt, I'm guessing that's a harrier thing they decided to go the extra mile on? But man, Dropkick keeps getting the better deal. His first deluxe came before car Shatter, and while Heli!Dropkick was inaccurate, he was a good deluxe in isolation. Meanwhile, car!Shatter is one of the worst things in the Studio Series lineup. Then along comes car!Dropkick, who is both utterlky fantastic and accurate to Dropkick's car only look. So even though we still don't have a good and matching marital couple, I was pretty stoked about Shatter V2, based on Dropkick V2's quality. And... she's okay. I'm going to disagree with OP here and say that I do not like this gunmetal grey plastic, it's just kind of drab and there's so much of it in concentrated blocks. The gap between her upper back and her backpack is a little odd as well (Not helped by how easy it is to knock her head back down into that gap, with nothing to fill it), though it does allow her to use her mid torso rotation (from transformation) to make up for the lack of a waist swivel. Posability wise, she's at the minimal standard, except for the head- her neck sculpting really puts a limit on the range. I do like the transformation, it's one of those that achieves a lot in a deceptively simple way. The jet mode also does a decent job cleaning up, the exception being her legs at the back; but even then I think that if her thighs were colour matched to the rest of the jet, and if her shins were sculpted smoother, the only blemish would be her toes. Plus, real front landing gear and adjustible rear thrusters. Overall, a good B-tier release. Good, solid work, even if her husband set the bar too high with his second deluxe.
Pros: * Looks nice and sceen-like in robot mode. I didn't get car Shatter as I didn't care for its look, so this one is a definite improvement IMO. Stands fine too, despite the copious amount of back kibble. * Jet mode is pretty clean as TFs go. While it's a made-up mode, it at least tries to evoke a Harrier in appearance, and the little pivoting jet-heel nozzles are a nice touch, even if that's not where they go on a real Harrier. * Transformation takes some work to figure out on your own, but not frustrating once you know what to do. Cons/Nitpicks: * Articulation is kinda weird and lacking in places, though you can do reasonably OK with posing, though you might have to unfasten a thing or two to do so. * Shatter has a LOT of backpack, made up of the jet nose, wings, and engine cowlings. It pegs together well enough, but in a way that seems like it should collapse into a more compact form, but doesn't really. * As a bit of an aviation buff, I'm annoyed how Shatter has the screen-accurate Harrier jet nozzles on the kneecaps, but they get tucked inside and invisible for jet mode. I find it kinda vexing how a lot of these SS jets are fictionalized things, especially when Earthrise Starscream is a straight-up F-15 (by Boeing-McDonnel-Douglas, same as Shatter's AV-8B Harrier and Blitzwing's F-4 Phantom) with the serial numbers filed off. Overall: Preddy gud, 'specially if you want a Shatter toy.
Cool figure, but not my favorite. The joints are a little too tight for me, and the articulation is compromised in a couple areas. I plan to shave away the back of the neck and maybe part of the ankles to better this situation. Jet mode however.....I LOVE IT! Really awesome looking! I think the figure is worth it for this mode alone. Also she displays really well so if you're looking for a shelf shatter(er) then this is also still worth a pickup:
Fantastic photos! Great figure as well. Her articulation is kind of weird and the back pack kind of awkward but she’s a lot of fun.
Helikick needs more paint is all he's got a lot of the molded details. He's even got the shape of the headlights in those square bits on the chest. If those bits were blue with the lights picked out silver/white I think this toy would have a leagues better reputation with that small improvement alone. It does have the brake lights molded into the legs and painted red on the knees, and the skull emblem visible on screen in both modes correctly placed above his ankle. Transformation is a joy too. But this is a Shatter thread. She is currently on her way to meet up with the gang.
It's also the fact that he's almost entirely gray, when Dropkick's robot mode in the film still had a lot of blue.
