Transformers Legacy Evolution: Dinobot Sludge (Core Class)

   

I've been sitting on this figure since February where I picked it up from a comic shop while I was in Wilmington, NC for a wedding. I'm glad I went ahead and grabbed it because the initial distribution of this wave of Core Class figures in my area was horrible. 

The draw here is that the Dinobots combine. I've never been a fan of this idea (and won't be displaying them this way), but with this combining feature in mind, I do believe we may see these toys released as the Japanese exclusive Dinoforce team. Afterall, those toys did combine (well, the inner Pretender robots did) to form the combiner Dinoking.

I'll start off with saying for a Core Class figure, this isn't a bad representation of the Dinobot, Sludge. It doesn't faithfully re-create the G1 toy on a smaller scale, but you can tell who he's meant to be. Sure, he has dinosaur kibble hanging off his hips and the "wings" he normally has in robot mode aren't attached to his back (they are on the back of his arms), but the sculpt isn't bad. I quite like the head as it looks like the classic character.

Articulation wise the arms do move at the shoulders a full 360 degrees. The legs are attached to the hips with a disc shape joint and allow the legs to move freely, however the dino kibble on his waist will hinder some of the overall leg movement.

Sludge's dinosaur mode (Apatosaurus?) has all sort of issues...where do we start. First of all the tail is almost non-existent. It's more of a stub than a tail. The back legs are also way out of proportion that it throws off the look of the dino. Most of the toy features gray, non-painted plastic. He does feature some silver paint on the upper portion of his back and of course the gold highlights on the back and head. The legs do move, but you're limited in your posting due to short, squatty legs.

If you so choose to combine Sludge with his fellow Dinobots, he does form the lower upper body/waist of the combiner. Getting him combiner ready is fairly easy as you just rotate his arms straight up, fold up the legs and position them on each side of his waist. Doesn't look like much, but once you start attaching some of the other Dinobots it's not a bad design...I just don't like combining Dinobots in my world of Transformers.

Overall I find Sludge to be a charming Core Class figure, but it's not without it's faults. Usually I like to display my Dinobot figures in dinosaur mode, but this is one of those rare cases where I feel like the robot mode is the strongest of the two forms. I think you can pass on this figure (and the rest of the Core Class Dinobots) unless you are a major Dinobot fan or a completionist. There are far better figures in of this price point in the Legacy series.

Transformers Legacy: Bomb-Burst

When I learned that Hasbro was making another attempt at bringing the Generation 1 Pretender characters into the Legacy line, I was beside myself with excitement. The G1 Pretenders have always been some of my favorite toys and characters, despite missing out on them when they were originally on retail shelves. When I first started to re-build my G1 collection the Pretenders were the first I went after. I always found the monster like Decepticon Pretenders to be more interesting and the monster vampire, Bomb-Burst, is a great example.

Bomb-Burst is part of the Core Class size of Transformers in the Legacy series. While I would have preferred him to be a deluxe class size, I'll take modern version of these characters however I can get them.

Pulling off a G1 Pretender type shell with modern toy making could be done I suppose, but Hasbro decided to go a different route and basically merge the shell and the inner robot together. Bomb-Burst retains the look of his outer monster vampire shell look, complete with large bat ears, snub nose and sharp teeth. The back of the figure does give you a peek at the inner robot's vehicle mode. I'm not wild about this "backpack", however I can live with it as the rest of the package is pretty awesome.

One of Bomb-Burst's pack in weapons just happens to be a smaller version of his classic sword.

The other included weapons are two blue, arm mounted lasers. On the G1 version these guns were wielded by the inner robot and a part of the robot's alt mode. With the Legacy version these guns double as the bat wings that were originally attached to the shell's shoulders. One side of the guns' fins are painted like wings. These attach to the nose cone "backpack", however said nose cone has to be positioned outward from the body, and well just looks a little odd. Looking straight on its not that bad, but viewing the figure from an angle or the rear you can see the flaw. The nose cone can also store the sword accessory which is a nice touch.

Hasbro nearly nailed the look of the G1 inner robot's alt mode, which you'll see more in some comparison pics below. It's not an exact 1:1, but it retains most of the look. From the maroon cockpit, to the VTOL engines on the top of the aircraft, it's still a jet that is formed by literally folding up a robot. By the way, the sword's hilt makes the gun for the ship's cockpit, wasn't expecting that.

I know that the original G1 toys aren't everyone's cup of tea. Some of them aren't that great and some of the toys haven't aged that well, however some of the designs and characters found in the original 80's series are fantastic. Hasbro found a way to bring one of the more obscure characters into modern form, and while I wish it was larger this is still a great toy. I hope we see more of the Pretenders brought back to life (in either scale), whether that be in the Legacy line or in a future Transformers series. 

Transformers War for Cybertron - Kingdom: Soundwave (Core Class)

 

Kingdom is the third and final chapter to Hasbro's War for Cybertron trilogy and this series introduced a new size class, Core Class. Scale wise, these are very similar to the current "Legends" scale made popular by many 3rd party companies like Iron Factory or New Age. My first exposure to these size toys came with Optimus Prime and Vertebreak released at the very beginning of Kingdom. Now that we are close to wrapping up this trilogy, more G1 characters have been released with the latest being none other than Soundwave.

Soundwave comes packaged like all the previous Core Class figures, that on a blister card sporting the same Kingdom design that also features some stellar character artwork. The back of the packaging is rather simple with product shots of both the robot and alternate modes.

I've often heard of some of these Core Class figures referred to as "Mini Masterpieces" and while I understand that term being thrown around, let's hold our horses a bit. The level of detail, articulation and paint applications on Soundwave here is very impressive. In a lot of ways this figure does look like a smaller version of it's Masterpiece version, more so than a smaller version of the G1 toy. 

Thanks to the ball joints in the arms, hips and feet, you have a great deal of range of motion of the limbs. The sculpting is fantastic, from the iconic head sculpt down to the cassette buttons on his waist...this looks like the version of Soundwave that I grew up with.

With a figure this small I wouldn't have been surprised if the cassette door didn't open, but thankfully the designers were able to keep this feature Soundwave is known for a part of the figure. A very small, non-transformable version if Laserbeak is included. The front side of the cassette features silver and red paint while the back is unpainted. Small touches like the cassette really help bring out the charm of the mold.

Soundwave never had a difficult transformation (at least in this form) and this figure is no different. In fact I was surprised at how close the transformation steps were to the original G1 toy. Now of course some liberties had to be taken, such as the feet and the weapon storage, but overall it's a very easy and straightforward transformation process. As you can see from the rear of the cassette recorder, Soundwave's weapons no longer fit inside the battery compartment. They now peg into the sides of the arms...which works in terms of practicality, but aesthetically doesn't look that great.

Overall I found this toy to be a lot of fun. I have always loved the old "basic" scale made popular by Beast Wars and subsequent lines, so it's nice to see this size still kicking. As of this post, the next series, Legacy, will be coming soon and it's already been leaked that the Core Class size will continue on. Now as great as this figure is, finding him at retail can and will be tough. If you ever have the opportunity to pick up Soundwave grab him...I highly doubt you'll be disappointed.