I've stayed away from the 3rd party Transformers scene for awhile now, but every once in awhile I like to dip my toes back in the water so to speak. I've been really intrigued with some of the various legends scale toys that several different companies have been pumping out. While some are better than others, I've liked most of what I've gotten my hands on. I've been sitting on this toy for some time so let's get to it.
I don't know much about the Mechanic Studio company, but they've been producing a lot of the popular Generation One characters. Huffer is one of my favorite minibots so I'm inclined to pick up any new version of the character I run across. In this case, Huffer, known as Engineer, comes in the same packaging as MS-03 Heikew (aka Pipes). I assume this is a cost saving move since the mold is essentially the same? Either way, the box features some nice art on the front. I've heard they have "borrowed" artwork from others in the past and not given the rightful owner proper credit so I hope that isn't the case here. The back of the box shows both toys in their robot and alt modes.
Each side of the box showcases either Engineer or Heikew along with their included little armored dude. I'm still not sure what these are supposed to be or why they are included.
Once Engineer is freed from the plastic tray inside the box you get a fairly cartoon accurate rendition of the Huffer character. The colors are spot on to his animation model, as is the head/face sculpt. The plastic felt pretty good upon first inspection. Paint apps were nicely done as well. Just need a Autobot sticker for his chest to complete his look.
Obviously this is a step up from the original Generation One toy. While it's a fun little toy, it looked nothing like the character's animation model. This annoyed me as a kid so much. I'm glad to have a new, small version of Huffer that looked like his screen counterpart.
One of the included accessories packaged with Engineer is this welding torch...or at least I think that's what it is. Maybe it's an oil applicator...I don't know and frankly I don't care. It's a great looking piece and a nice added touch. I like his it fits around the fist and looks like it's almost integrated into the arm itself. In the first season of the Sunbow cartoon many of the Transformers were notorious for retracting their hand and replacing it with some type of gadget.
I was surprised to see how many different points of articulation this figure had. The head can rotate a full 360 degrees, arms are attached via ball joints and have a good range of motion. Elbows and knees feature hinge joints. I will add that the joints on my figure were incredibly tight upon removing it from the package, especially the arms.
I love the look of Engineer's alt mode. Just like the robot captured the likeness of the character's Sunbow animation look, so does the truck mode. The blue paint used for the windows has a slight metallic sheen and looks great in person. It blends well with the muted orange and with the silver accents. The only negative thing I have to say about this mode is the exposed purple plastic on the smokestacks/arms. From the rear view you can't see these small pieces, but from an angled view they are exposed. Not a deal breaker, but it's there. The wheels rolled nicely along a smooth flat surface.
Transformation from robot to truck was only a few steps and pretty straight forward. This I found very refreshing because many modern Transformer toys are too difficult for me to figure out without looking at the instructions anymore. This transformation wasn't too far from the original G1 toy.
One thing I do appreciate from the designers is when the weapon or accessory included is worked into the vehicle mode itself. Here you can see Engineer's welding torch fits snugly in the rear center of the truck.
Comparison time! I had the G1 toy near by in my glass cases that house my entire G1 collection. The Titans Return version was within reach as well so I grabbed him for a few comparison shots. Here you can see that Engineer is the bigger figure, but not by too much.
When comparing robot modes Engineer is the clear winner in my book. What about you? Which version do you prefer?
Engineer scales well with the modern deluxe/warrior class in my opinion. The scale of most third party TFs is all over the place, but I think he looks good alongside Combiner Wars Sunstreaker here.
Here we have Engineer side by side with Hot Soldier's version of Ironhide. Scale is obviously off, but who cares?
Overall I was very pleased with Mechanic Studio's effort here. They took a character I loved as a kid and finally gave me and other fans a toy that looked like the character we watched on TV each and every afternoon after school. He was reasonably priced at $20 or so. I haven't purchased anymore of Mechanic Studio's releases, but not because I wasn't impressed. I've really scaled back on my TF purchases outside of Hasbro main releases, but I may look into more of their releases at some point.
