Transformers Gentei! / Henkei! Strafe

Behold! The latest Gentei! / Henkei! release from Japan. Strafe is simply a repaint of the Henkei! Cyclonus figure, but is supposed to be the Generation One version of the character. Regardless of of who he really is, let's get right to the review!

Like past Gentai! exclusives, Strafe comes packaged in a monochrome black/white packaging of the toy it was repainted from...in this case Cyclonus. Not much else to say.

When I first saw the solicited pictures back in February/March I wasn't sure what to think...other than I liked him. Some people have referred to him as the "candy cane" Transformer. I just think he's so oddly different he's cool. As you may be able to tell the wings have remained chromed, now sporting a shiny red deco. Strafe's Targetmaster companion is Rocketbot, a repainted Nightstick that was also included w/ Cyclonus. I am happy to report that the gold on Rocketbot is a metallic gold and NOT chromed gold. When used right I'm OK w/ chrome plating, but I'm glad Takara Tomy decided to tone down the Targetmaster and go with a metallic paint instead.

I hate when jets don't have landing gear so I'm happy they were included on this toy. I also hate it when you've got a robot basically hanging underneath the alt mode. Glad to see they were able to engineer this toy to hide most of the robot bits.

Strafe and Rocketbot ready for combat!

I'm glad Takara Tomy decided to make the feet, legs, elbows and fists orange because it helps break up the Christmas themed red & white. The orange really pops and makes the figure stand out even more. Some would say that is a bad thing, but alas I disagree. His eyes feature translucent blue lightpiping to allow light to enter from the rear of the head and give his eyes a glowing appearance. A bright red Cybertron/Autobot symbol appears right in the middle of his chest.

One of the best features of the toy however is the articulation. I count 17 points of articulation. His feet have 2 toe tabs each that are independent of each other that combined w/ articulated knees, thighs and waist joints let you pull off some really good action poses.

So a lot of people will be wondering if they should plop down their hard earned money for a simple repaint. That's always a hard question for me to answer. I find myself buying less and less repaints now days thanks to a number of reasons, but I just couldn't pass this one up. I love the overall color scheme, mold and character so it made the decision rather easy for me. If you have the Hasbro Universe or Takara Tomy Henkei! version of Cyclonus then you essentially know what you're getting. All in all I think this is a great toy with a great color scheme (just screams Fire Guts in my opinion), but due to his price tag and limited nature he's not a Transformer for everybody.