Transformers Cyberverse: Repugnus (One Step)

When I heard my favorite Monsterbot from Generation One was getting the Cyberverse treatment I was elated. Rarely has this character been given the proper treatment in toy form. He got a decent upgrade in the Titans Return line and even a small PVC figure in the Robots in Disguise Tiny Titans line, but none of these really scratched that itch that I had. Will this new One Step toy satisfy me? Read on.

It's been awhile since I've purchased one of the One Step Transformer toys. My first exposure to the simplified toys was met with a little disappointment. I know that these toys aren't aim at a 40 something guy like myself, but I was really underwhelmed. For that reason alone I was a little reluctant at buying Repugnus, but he hasn't exactly been an easy find so when I did I went ahead and grabbed him and hoped for the best.

Packaging is pretty nice as its an open blister card with the toy partially exposed. The toy looks small and that's in part to the toy being hunched over to fit in the blister. The back of the packaging shows the one step transformation and Repugnus' robot mode.

Let me say that I absolutely love the chibi look of Repugnus. I'm amazed at how well they were able to capture is G1 likeness...well minus his height! His arms are full articulated at the shoulder and elbow. His pinchers also can retract in and out in a "chomping" motion. My only gripe, and it's a small one is that you can see the backside (hollow) robot legs on the back of Repugnus while in beast mode.

Alongside his Titan Master self

Transformation is literally just one step and that's unfolding Repugnus. In robot mode he retains (most of) his G1 look, including his red and yellow color scheme. Even his robot head is pretty faithful to the source material. His original G1 toy while in robot mode did not have exposed claws on his hands, but I don't mind that they are still there on this version. With the ball joint at the elbow you can rotate his forearms to expose either the robot fists or turn side ways where he has claw hands. Speaking of the ball jointed elbow, the only other articulation this figure features is in the shoulders. The beast legs hang off the back creating a kibbly backpack. This does make the figure a little top heavy. During my photoshoot Repugnus did fall over a few times. Thankfully his legs are already angled outwards and his feet are a decent size. Being a One Step figure it really lacks some needed paint applications. At least they did manage to tampograph an Autobot faction symbol on his chest. The only thing left to improve his look is for someone to make a rifle for him. Cuing Nonnef Productions!!

Repugnus stands just a tad shy in the height department versus a regular Cyberverse deluxe class figure, as you can see here with Hammerbyte. While I don't have the few Cyberverse toys I own on display, I'm glad he melds well with the other figures under the same banner.

Overall I'm very impressed with this figure. Not only does it stroke that G1 nostalgia factor for me, it's just a well executed figure. He's hefty and has some substance, unlike some of the other One Step figures I've seen in the Cyberverse line. I'm still surprised this figure was included in line and I hope others are able to experience how much fun this figure is.

Marvel 500 Blind Bag (Series 8)

Marvel 500 is a line of bind packaged 2 inch tall PVC mini figures of various Marvel super heroes and villains. The line would prove quite popular as it would feature a total of 16 series'. Each blind bag featured the figure a trading card sized checklist of sorts.

I grabbed one bag from my local Walgreens drug store just to see what these were like. Growing up with the likes of M.U.S.C.L.E. figures and being a pretty big Marvel fan, I knew I call fall down a rabbit hole with these figures if I wasn't careful. Knowing that this was the only figure that I purchased for myself.

I purchased a Series 8 bag and ended up with Sandman. I was impressed with the sculpting of the tiny figure. The swirling sand that takes the place of his legs is a nice touch, as is the enlarged fist and mace. As you can see the figure is cast in a translucent plastic, accented with gold glitter inside to replicate the sand look. There aren't any paint apps on this figure and that's probably wise as it looks good as-is. I believe this figure first debuted in Series 3 and was cast in a solid tan color plastic.

I was tempted to grab a few others, but at a suggested retail price of $2.99 each I decided my money was better spent on other things.

Hot Wheels: American Steel - '67 Pontiac Firebird

I believe this new series of Walmart exclusives debuted at the beginning of 2020, but with the current quarantine all sense of time has seemed to disappear! Called American Steel, this collection of 10 vehicles features classic muscle cards from the 60's and 70's. Today we'll take a look at this beautiful 1967 Pontiac Firebird which is #8/10 in the collection.

While most of the cars in this American Steel series feature a shiny paint job, this Firebird stood out thanks in part to its flat black paint. The exposed silver chromed engine helped it stand out even more. The paint apps are modest at best, with orange stripes in the door along with the number '67' . The wheels aren't painted, but do feature a chrome bronze rim. The windshield and rear window appears have a smoky tint. There doors do not have windows. The mold has a copyright year of 2017 "DTW82".

While the car itself is pretty classic, I love the flat paint on this car. The only thing that would me it better was if the engine wasn't exposed. I wish I had now purchased more from this limited series as Mattel did a really nice job with these paint decos. If you can still find them at your local Walmart, pick them up!

Transformers 3rd Party: Vecma Studios - Head Warrior Wolfman VS-02

It seems that over the past few years the focus on 3rd party companies making Transformer related items has shifted from "masterpiece" scale over to "legends" scale. I for one am OK with this as generally the prices are more affordable and the figures are easier to pick up and fiddle with versus the more expensive and larger figures.

Vecma Studio appears to be yet another new company on the 3rd party Transformers scene, however I would not be surprised if it's an offshoot of another existing company. I don't know much about them, but Wolfman is the second purchase of theirs I've made and I'm quite impressed and happy with their work. Whether these are essentially KO's of Unique Toys' Palm Collection I'm still undecided, but the resemblance is uncanny.

One thing I like about these Vecma releases are the packaging. The box is made of a thick, glossy cardboard and features the classic Headmasters packaging from the Japanese Takara releases from the 80's. I know some people no longer keep packaging, but this presentation is just too nice to toss away. With the nice artwork on the front I'd love to find a way to display the box with my other vintage Japanese G1 boxes.

The contents are housed in a black plastic tray with a clear lid. The instructions are a simple folded, full color sheet. Wolfman comes with 3 accessories/weapons along with what appears to be a tiny power loader from the Alien movies. I still don't understand the inclusion of this so I'm basically ignoring it.

Once I got the figure out of the packaging I was impressed. I did notice that the right toe had a slit in the plastic that the other toe didn't. Then I realized the uneven symmetry of the legs. Once I flipped the figure over I understood the reason for the legs as I could see the "cockpit" on the backside of one leg and the rear wolf legs on the backside of the other leg. This was my first clue of the rather clever transformation this figure had.

Overall Vecma did a good job at capturing the likeness of the character. The yellow and dark turquoise used match the original Generation One toy. You'll see this first hand once we get to the comparison section of the review. 

The Headmaster gimmick is still in play!

This figure is well articulated, however you may not be able to tell that from my horrible posing ability. The area where the head plugs into is part of larger circle piece. This allows the head to be fully rotated which is something that I did not expect. The arms are on ball joints and allows for a full 360 degree rotation. The upper torso has a swivel joint to allow the top half to be rotated 360 degrees. The legs are attached to the hips via ball joints, as are the needs. The upper thighs have a swivel joint as well. The fists and feet do not have any type of joint to allow movement.

Wolfman comes with his dark turquoise gun and sword/tail as the original G1 toy. He also comes with an identical gun case in the same light gray plastic as the wolf head.

In wolf mode this figure reminded me of how the Titans Return/Legends figure of Weirdwolf. He's very slender in this form which is a drastic difference over the original G1 toy. The robot arms double as the wolf's front legs so you still have a pretty good range of motion. However the back hips peg into the body so they do not move. This does limit the poses you can pull off with the rear legs. The wolf head does rotate a full 360 degrees as part of the transformation.

Speaking of the transformation, I rather like what they did here. Earlier I mentioned how I found the symmetry of the robot legs to be off. This is because the right leg splits in half. Before you split the leg, you rotate the top half at the waist 180 degrees. Split the right leg to form the rear of the wolf. Very ingenious. The only down side to this is it does leave a few small gaps in the center of the wolf's body. Viewing the toy in beast mode from an angle doesn't expose these gaps, but from a side view they are noticeable.

You can lift up the metallic red painted cockpit to reveal an area behind the wolf's head where his Headmaster trainer, Albite can sit (or stand if you prefer).

All the joints were nice and tight straight out of the package. Thankfully they weren't so tight it felt like anything would snap during posing or transformation, but they were tight enough to hold certain poses.

Comparison time! I was able to reach into my glass case and grab out my vintage G1 Weirdwolf for the side by side shots. Wow, I haven't messed with this figure in years. While he was my favorite Decepticon Headmaster I have to say that if I'm being honest this figure really isn't that great. Once I got the two side by side you can see just how chucky the G1 version is. It is amazing however to see how far the engineering of transforming robot toys has come.

   

Here we can see the differences between the two Headmaster trainers, Albite and Monzo. For being such a small figure, I was surprised at how well he was resembled Monzo. Albite's arms are on the same peg so when you lift one arm, both arms raise. 

In head mode there are some liberties taken with the face, but I'm OK with this. A darker metallic red paint was used for the eye visor and looks great. The other noticeable difference is the absence of the flat pieces of plastic just in front of the tiny robot head/peg that effects the tech spec reader built into the body.

I do have to admit that I'm not a fan of Wolfman's chest piece featuring a hinge on the top. Of note the tech spec ratings are the same as Weirdwolf's.

 Here you can see the aforementioned gaps in the body.

This is Vecma Studio's second release thus far, with the first being Chivalrouser VS-01 aka Chromedome. While I found that figure to have less flaws than Wolfman, that does not mean that this isn't a good figure. Personally I think the robot mode is the stronger of the two forms. The flaws are so small however that they shouldn't deter you from picking up this figure if you have a budding legends class collection. It's well made and a lot of fun and will display well however you wish.

Transformers Prexio Mini Figures

Hasbro is not shy about sharing their Transformers license with other companies. Recently a small company from Hong Kong, Prexio Limited released some small PVC mini figures to discount stores. These were based on classic Generation One characters such as Optimus Prime and Megatron. My older brother happened to find all 6 at a Dollar Tree store.

The packaging for these mini figures are quite nice, something I didn't expect from an item manufactured exclusively for discount stores. Each figure comes in a small foil bag featuring the original 80's art from the toy packaging.

Each figure stands roughly 2 inches tall and are made of a hard plastic. The figures are in a fixed position so no articulated arms or legs. The paint apps are ok, but some of the colors used are questionable. Don't even get me started about how the hands are posed!

Outside of the hands, I really like this Optimus Prime mini figure. The mold itself is pretty nice, as are the paint apps. The paint on the face is a mixed bag, but I've seen worse.

I never have liked the Bumblebee character, but with his overexposure today I have come to loathe the character. At least this mini figure is based on his classic animation model and not his original toy.

Hands down Grimlock is the best of the Autobot figures. He's got some heft to him and looks like he jumped off the screen. I love his tiny arms.

Here is Optimus alongside one of Super 7's Keshi figures...which are in similar size to the original rubber Decoys from the 80's.

I have mixed feelings over Megatron. There is something about the face sculpt that I can't get past. Yes, it looks like Megatron...but it doesn't. I'm not sure about the black used on the lower portion of his torso or on his legs.

Starscream perhaps looks the worst of the bunch. The mold itself (minus the hands) isn't that bad, it's the color choices made that detract from the figure. The figure is cast in a metallic like silver plastic and in my opinion is too dark to mimic his original silver color in both animation and original toy. The head should have been painted black, just sans the red used for the eyes lacks any other paint apps.

Finally we have Soundwave, everybody's favorite transforming cassette recorder. The mold used for Soundwave gets the job done. It's not great, but it's better that Starscream. The paint apps are serviceable. I do like the large purple Decepticon insignia on his chest, nice touch.

Megatron with Super 7's Keshi figure of the Insecticon, Shrapnel.

For a buck a piece you get what you pay for. Well maybe a little more or a little less depending on the character, but none the less these make for a nice "desk bot" or just something to look at for a few seconds before discarding in a junk draw on placing into your favorite character collection. I'm glad my brother was able to pick up a set for me because I never saw them in my limited trips to the local Dollar Tree store.