Transformers Legends: Arcee LG-10

When it was announced that Takara Tomy would be using the new Transformers Legends series in Japan to release some of the then current Generations figures from Hasbro, many were hoping that Arcee would be included in the series.

Takara Tomy has a knack of taking a good figure and making look great. Premium paint apps or just slight tweaks and collector's have that dilemma of whether to settle for the average Hasbro version or too import the better Japanese version.

 

If you aren't familiar, the Arcee on the left is what Hasbro gave the fans; while the version on the right is Takara Tomy's. How long have we been waiting for a proper non-motorcycle version of G1 Arcee? Forever. That's how long. When I first saw the mold I was really excited...except those black areas killed a lot of that excitement. To this day I can't figure out why someone at Hasbro thought the use of black was acceptable. Thankfully Takara Tomy came to our rescue.

This is my first Transformers Legends figure...that is until Nightbird and Blackarachnia are released later this year. I'm a sucker for packaging and I think that Takara Tomy did a great job here. On the right we have the classic G1 grid look while on the left you have the now widely used Transformers logo. The large window allows you to get a good feel for the figure before you even remove it from the box.

Throw in large vibrant images of the toy's vehicle and robot modes with some great anime style artwork in the back and you've got a very nice back to the packaging. It appears Arcee has a mini bio too, but since I can't read Japanese I'm just guessing.

     

The sides of the box give you a better look at the art work and the toy itself, even if it's only half of the figure!

When I first saw a similar image as above for Optimus Primal, the first figure released in the Legends line I thought for sure it was a trading card sized tech specs. After all, outside of Masterpiece releases not many of Takara Tomy's Transformers have come with cards lately. 

This wasn't the case however as this is really just the instruction booklet. However someone really needs to make a trading card using this design! It lends itself perfectly for a trading card set.

The back features a bio of the character along with their individual tech spec rankings. No artwork is included here, but when the figure looks this good who needs art?!

The inside of the instruction booklet also contains a comic. I recognize T-AI from Car Robots, but I really have no clue as to what is happening in this mini story.

Arcee comes with two pistols and a set of translucent blue weapons. I think they look like knives, but others seem to use them as guns as well. 

Whomever designed this toy needs some kind of medal or trophy. I haven't been buying many of the modern updates of G1 characters, but Arcee was a no brainer. I mean just look at the alt. mode here. It looks so close to the animation model of herself.

There are 5 mm peg holes on the side of the vehicle that allow her blue weapons to attach to the sides. Not my cup of tea, but I'm sure there are some that like this weaponized look.

I didn't have many Generations figures handy at the time for a scale comparison so I just grabbed Hoist. I know Hoist has one of the smaller alt modes, but I think you can see she fits in good with the rest of the Generations cast...or Classics...or whatever people are calling these series these days.

As much as I enjoy the alt mode of Arcee, I truly feel as if this is where this figure really shines. The figure's head sculpt captures her G1 animation model look and lends itself well to the feminine body sculpt. I know some people have an issue of a robot having a sex in the first place. I get it. It really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. However if you are going to have both male and female robots, the females should...well look like females. While in the past there have been a few decent attempts at female Transformers figures, I feel this mold nailed the overall femininity.

     

Arcee does have a little backpack kibble, but surprisingly the figure stands up well on her own without needing additional assistance. The view from the side or from the rear makes the backpack look rather large and unattractive, but when you look at her head on it doesn't look so bad.

I know Arcee is being portrayed in a whole different light in the current series of IDW comics, but I never pictured her as carrying much firepower, however with this figure you can easily equip her with all 4 of her included weapons.

You would expect a modern day Transformer to be articulated and Arcee doesn't disappoint. I'm not good at posing my figures so this is about the best you'll get out of me, but hopefully you can get the picture that one more creative than myself can really pull of some great poses with this figure.

Surprisingly she even has neck articulation. Arcee isn't the biggest of the Transformers so I guess it makes sense that she can look up as that is the direction she'll be looking when she is near Springer or Ultra Magnus.

Just a few comparison pictures with a few 3rd Party items I happened to have handy. I don't know about you, but I think Arcee is a tad undersized compared to ToyWorld's Orion figure.

Arcee is a great figure hands down. From the alt mode to the robot, you can't go wrong. They nailed her classic G1 look for once. Takara Tomy just took this figure a step further by painting the black areas and making the figure look more uniform. I can't afford to import many figures that end up being released by Hasbro, but sometimes there are some that deserve to be imported. Arcee is one of those cases where the extra dollars are justified.