Transformers 3rd Party: Renderform Hawk Saber RW-012

I've always been fairly selective when it comes to buying any 3rd party Transformers related items, however some things are just worth taking a chance on. While familiar with Renderform and their past works, I had yet to purchase anything from them. Once a upon a time I owned the Botcon exclusive version of the Pretenders character, Metalhawk. He lacked a weapon and sorely needed one. Enter Renderform's Hawk Saber.

Limited to just 200 pieces worldwide, I placed my order so that my new Autobot recruit wouldn't be defenseless against his Decepticon enemies. Once I got the weapon in hand I was impressed and disappointed all at the same time. Let me explain myself.

While the sword was well made and felt very solid, it feel as if it's just too big. Metalhawk is only a deluxe size figure and this Hawk Saber seems to be scaled better for a voyager class figure. It's a shame because I really wanted to like this weapon.

One other good aspect about the weapon is the additional peg on the sword's hilt. This allows you to peg in the weapon for storage on the back of Metalhawk as shown above.

  

In the end I love Renderform's effort with this much needed accessory for Botcon Metalhawk, but it just falls a little short as a "must have" in my book. If you like this piece and still haven't purchased it, it's not impossible to locate. In fact my good friends at Captured Prey currently have the sword in stock and on sale for only $5!

Transformers DOTM: Decepticon Vortex (Takara Tomy)

QUICK INFO: 

Name: Decepticon Vortex (DD-06)

Line: Transformers Dark of the Moon (Takara Tomy)
MSRP: unknown (yen)
Year: 2011

Bio:

Vortex is the aerial soldier of Decepticon.  As he has ruthless and brutal nature, his ultimate pleasure is the chop up the Autobot he captures.

Strength:  4  Intelligence:  9  Speed:  6  Endurance:  5

Rank:  6  Courage:  7  Fireblast:  7  Skill:  8

Vortex is one of two exclusive Dark of the Moon deluxe figures (Air Raid was the other) that was announced for the Japanese market only.  When images first surfaced on the internet a lot of people immediately spotted the G1 Combaticon Vortex resemblance.  Most online retailers quickly sold out their pre-orders shortly after they went live.  Is it worth tracking this figure down?  Read on...

 

Decepticon Vortex is a repaint/retool of the Hunt for the Decepticons Tomahawk.  This was one of the better new molds released in the HFTD line so I was thrilled to see it being reused.  You may have also noticed that Vortex sports a new head sculpt as well.  The MechTech gimmick is present as well, but we'll look at that later.  Most of the Japanese versions of the DOTM toys come packaged with a type of gaming card.  Not sure how all of that works, but as a card collector it is a nice bonus.








Even though Vortex ranks in with a 10 in intelligence one may not know that based on his simple bio.  To me the bio makes him out to be...well, stupid.  Another carry over from G1 Vortex is that his gun isn't just any gun...it's a glue gun!  I love when they pay attention to the small details such as this.














Vortex is a beautiful shade of gray with splashes of purple and turquoise.  I'm not sure what real life helicopter he is modeled after, but it is one of the more realistic combat helicopters I've seen used in the Transformers line recently.  The plastic used for the propellers is fairly rigid letting them spin freely.  Right out of the package the propellers are straight and stiff and I hope they stay that way.  I hate saggy propellers!





The designers did a pretty good job hiding a lot of the robot kibble.  You can see two ports underneath the "wings" on each side.  Tomahawk came with 2 missile launchers.  Vortex only has his MechTech glue gun which can be attached in either of these ports.

I love the robot mode and how well all of the colors come together.  The helicopter's tail fins form a nice bladed weapon mounted on his right forearm.

 

The MechTech glue gun is OK.  I'm not a huge fan of the gimmick, but at least the weapon works better than the last one I got (Walmart exclusive Optimus Prime deluxe).  When you pull back the lever the sides of the gun extend to make the gun larger.  The lever sadly doesn't lock into place however.  Boo.

Armed and ready!

 

The included card is part of some type of collectible card game.  Most of the DOTM toys in Japan come packaged with an exclusive card.  I think there is a stand alone card game as well.

Included with the card is a clear translucent overlay with the MechTech weapon.  It reminds me of the smaller cards that came packaged with the Iron Man 2 action figures.

Lay the translucent piece over the card and now your Transformer is armed with that MechTech weapon.  The instructions show you can use this overlay on any character's card.

Dark of the Moon on the movie front was awesome.  Hands down the best of the trilogy.  On the toy front I've been impressed with a few, but underwhelmed overall.  While there are a few jewels to be had most of the domestically released toys just aren't worth my hard earned money.  Vortex however is an exception.  I jumped on one of those early pre-orders from the fine folks at Captured Prey and I don't regret my purchase what so ever.  This figure is fantastic...whether you plan to display him on your Classics/Generations Decepticon shelf or as your first DOTM toy.  Don't let the movie packaging throw you off.  It's a great toy that just happens to be stuck in movie-verse packaging.  If you can score him for $30-35 pull the trigger.  I don't know how readily available he'll be long term so if you have the chance to pick him up do it.