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.

Featured eBay auction of the week - 2001 Botcon Arcee & 2004 OTFCC Sentinel Maximus w/ Ape-Linq

Back before the days of Fun Publications, Botcon was a smaller, more affordable Transformers experience.  Originally the brainchild of the Hartman brothers, they later took on a 3rd person (Glen Hallit) and 3H Enterprises was formed.

OK, so then what is OTFCC?  Well that's an interesting story.  At some point the Hartman brothers had falling out with their business partner, Glen.  The Hartmans owned the Botcon name and took their property elsewhere.  Glen was left to his own devices and carried on the annual Transformers convention w/ Hasbro's help.  Dubbed OTFCC, this was an acronym that stood for Official TransFormers Collector's Convention.  Yeah, doesn't exactly run off your tongue as easily as Botcon, does it?

click on the picture to see the eBay auction

I was fortunate enough to attend the annual Botcon/OTFCC convention from 2000-2004 and 2006-2007.  2001 will always be special to me as it was held in Durham, NC...just a few hours drive north of where I was living in NC at the time.  Back then it wouldn't cost you an arm and a leg to attend the show and buy the exclusives.  Admission was reasonable and there were only two exclusive toys to buy.  That's it.  In 2001 fans were treated to Beast Wars Tigertron and Arcee.  The packaging on these guys is a sight to behold.  Blue Olive Studios was contracted to design the packaging and they hit a major home run in my opinion.  There were actually two versions of Arcee made available, though you can't tell just by looking at the packaging.  Pre-registered attendees were treated to a surprise when they opened the front window flap on box.  They were greated by Susan Blu's voice saying, "Arcee, Maximize!"  Yup, the voice director of Beast Wars and the voice of Arcee from the G1 cartoon recorded a few phrases on a chip.  This was embedded inside the box.  Pretty cool.  Only downside is when the battery dies, you have to open up the package in order to change the battery.

While I love the overall presentation of this toy, I never cared much for the actual mold the toy uses...Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Blackarachnia.  I debated whether or not to keep Arcee and in the end decided she was better off in someone else's collection.  After all she had been stored in my closet for several years.  Trying to find a fair asking price wasn't easy as not many have sold in the last 6 months on eBay.  My price may be a little high, but we'll see what happens.

click on the picture to see the eBay auction

After the fall out with the Hartmans, Glen Hallit marched on with OTFCC.  In 2004 the show was held again in Chicago, IL.  I could only attend to go one day that year, so I flew in early that Saturday and flew home later that evening.  I was hoping to go home with this awesome piece, but due to circumstances beyond Glen's control, Sentinel Maximus wasn't available at the show.  In fact, Hasbro had to step in and mail the toy out to those that had pre-registered several months after the actual convention.  Some people never even got their toy due to old, outdated mailing lists that 3H provided Hasbro.  Thankfully, I got mine.

Sentinel Maximus is a remolded, recolored Armada Overload.  His Mini-Con, Ape-Linq features two new head sculpts.  It's a beautiful toy, but the time has come where he just doesn't "fit" into my collection.  I had a hard time finding a fair asking price for him as well, but we'll see how he fairs on eBay.