Transformers Prime - Beast Hunters: Huffer

Hasbro continued the Transformers Prime story and toy line with Beast Hunters. While many of the core characters got upgraded toys, Hasbro also gave us new toys of non-show characters, such as Huffer.

Huffer is part of the Commander Class, the larger of the two sizes that were under the Cyberverse umbrella. It's the closest to the old Basic size class as we've been given in quite some time.

The Huffer toy itself is a retool/repaint of a fellow Beast Hunters Commander Class toy, Trailcutter. I've always liked the Huffer character so this was an easy buy. 

The character has the familar orange and blue colors those of us from the G1 days will remember, but there really isn't much else about this form of Huffer that harkens back to his original days. The figure itself is a fun little toy. It sports a good range of articulation all around and the paint apps are pretty good. 

The drawbacks of the toy is the mold itself. There is a lot of kibble hanging off the bottom of his arms, the front of the truck (including the plow) just sits on the back of the robot. To me this takes something away form the overlook in robot mode. Then there is his gun. The bright blue gun reminds me of something a mid 90's GI Joe figure would've came with. While it's not spring loaded, the missile does shoot (surprisingly pretty far) when you press the back of the missile while inside the gun.

Huffer's truck mode looks like something out of a Mad Max movie. Gone is the traditional tractor trailer cab, replaced with a armored truck with guns, blades and a plow. I guess I get the two gun barrels mounted on the front of the truck and even the big plow, but the silver blades (or are they fins?) on the corners of the truck's cab? What purpose do they serve?

I almost get an Energon Landquake vibe looking at Huffer in his truck mode. While I don't love the alt mode, I've definately seen far worse over the years. I can't really recommend the figure, but it's not horrible either. Should come pretty cheap on the secondary market should you wish to pick it up for the first time.

Reprolabels: Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Prowl

While cleaning up my hard drive and deleting a bunch of older pictures I had taken of toys, I ran across several images of Transformers Prime Beast Hunters deluxe figure, Prowl. This was one of those releases that Hasbro did to get a little more mileage out of a mold (previously used for Beast Hunters Smokescreen) and while it looked pretty good as-is, I was impressed w/ the work Reprolabels and how it changed to whole look of the toy.

The mold was too bland looking in it's original form. This set of stickers gave the toy some much needed color. From the blue used for the head lights to the blue and red on the light bar. Even the metallic silver on the windshield and windows makes a huge difference.

They even gave the back of the car some detail with a few stickers, including a license plate.

In robot mode Prowl received several accent stickers for his legs. They were a bit of a pain to put on since they were cut so thin, but once applied he looked much better. I did have some issues with the silver foil stickers staying in place on the top of his feet, but the others applied just fine.

Hasbro often does a good job at repurposing a mold into another character. This is one of those cases however where a little more detail helped this figure tremendously.

Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Bumblebee

So are you as sick of Bumblebee as I? Then you may be asking why did I buy this? Well the answer is easy...it was on sale so it was more of a impulse buy...and one I regret. Thankfully however I made some kid's day in August when I sold him at Charticon.

 

The premise here (at least for the toy line) is that the Autobots bulk themselves up to ready for battle against the Predacons. Now had these upgrades appeared in season 3 of Transformers Prime, I'm sure myself and possibly others would have been more interested. However that is not the case and these toys just feel unneeded. If Hasbro can release another version of Bumblebee however, it seems as if they'll pull all stops to do so.

This is just a retooled Prime RID mold. Throw on some spikes, missiles on the doors of the car and you have a "new" Bumblebee. Blah. Plastic feels cheap and the toy looks goofy. Argh! Major buyer's remorse!

The packaging calls his weapon Eagleshot Bow. While I do find this new weapon remotely cool, attaching it to the top of the car just doesn't do anything for me.

Transformation is exactly the same as the base BB toy. I guess this is just one of those love it or hate it figures. I'll go w/ the latter. I still have a hard time picturing this character as anything other than a little yellow Volkswagon Beetle, much less an armored gladiator.

And just for kicks here are a few comparison shots with Arms Micron Bumblebee that I just happened to have finished stickering prior to opening Beast Hunters Bee.

Transformers Arms Micron: Thundercracker (exclusive)

If you haven't figured out by now, every time Hasbro or Takara Tomy release a new Starscream toy it's inevitable that we'll get a repaint out it. Sometimes it seems they like to make us collectors frustrated as they'll release Skywarp and Thundercracker to different markets. Being a fan of Thundercracker more than the seekers in general, this can be really frustrating. Over the last few years I've been lucky as it seems Hasbro has released the various Thundercrackers here Stateside, while Skywarp was exclusive to the land of the Rising Sun. Not the case for the Prime First Edition mold used for Starscream.

Skywarp was released as part of the main Arms Micron series in Japan, but Thundercracker was the limited exclusive this time around. Only available at a few shops (Yodobashi Camera & Yamada Electronics), Thundercracker underwent some slight mold changes and was given his own Micron, a silver chromed version of Balo. You may remember that Balo originally came packaged with Skywarp. The box used for Thundercracker is very similar to the rest of the Arms Micron series for this size toy. The red stripe down the side of the box however was done in red foil and looks really sharp in person. I've always been a fan of Takara Tomy's packaging and this one doesn't disappoint.

As with other Arms Micron releases, the back of the box has an action shot of the figure and his Micron along with a "table of contents". If you are wondering, yes, Thundercracker comes with stickers you must apply if you want him to resemble his G1 style look.

I took the liberty of applying most of Thundercracker's stickers before I taking pictures for the post. Most of the stickers are rather easy to apply and look great...especially the red chrome wing stickers. The blue plastic used has a slight metallic look and is quite beautiful in hand.

The toy itself is basically the same as the First Edition Starscream, but does feature some new tooling underneath the wings. Gone are Screamer's missiles and replaced with some sort of pods...or are they bombs? Whatever you want to call them, they have Micron ports to hold Balo or any other Micron figure.

It took me a while to warm up to this mold, but now it's one of my favorite Prime toys. Overall Thundercracker has a great looking robot mode, however I wish the jet's gold canopy was better hidden. I'm guessing that is why Starscream's canopy was painted black.

While I like the look of the bombs in jet mode, I kinda miss having the missiles attached to the forearms like Starscream has. True, you can attach some Microns to the arms, but it just doesn't have the same effect.

I don't think of Thundercracker being the same sly and conniving robot that Starscream is, so the smirk on the face just doesn't fit the toy. It would've been nice to have received a new head, but it's not a huge issue I suppose.

 

I'm not sure what animal Balo is supposed to be. Is he a one eyed buffalo or is it a bull? Whatever the case Balo now sports Lucky Draw-esque silver chrome. He does feature a few small purple stickers to help break up all the shiny. As far as his alternate mode, the instructions show him either as a shield or perhaps a type shuriken. Ironically enough the instructions don't ever show Balo transformed into a drill as Skywarp's instructions show. Odd.

This was a no brainer for me. I will buy just about any Thundercracker toy. I even bought the Dark of the Moon toy *shudders*. I don't normally buy non show characters, but I had to make an exception for Thundercracker and I'm glad I did. Fun mold, beautiful blue color and a shiny Micron make for a great release. If you missed out, he shouldn't be too hard to find or too expensive. In fact, my good friends at Captured Prey have in stock as of today, 09/13/13 for only $45.00!

Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Skylynx

Summer of 2013 has brought some changes as well as new Transformers toys. Look carefully at the packaging and you'll probably notice that the Prime moniker has been dropped, and Predacons Rising subtitle has been added.

Skylynx here is the first of many exclusive toys for Target stores to use the new Predacons Rising packaging. From a marketing standpoint I have to say that Hasbro has done a remarkable job here. I can see these toys really standing out on retail shelves. Can't you already see the kids begging mom and dad for a new Transformer toy after seeing the large image of Predaking so prominently displayed? Look even carefully and you'll see flames molded into the blister bubble. Very nice touch Hasbro.

While I love the front of the packaging, there is one thing about the back that bothers me...and it's not unique to this release. Where are the tech specs? I'm not talking just the number rankings either. In the 80's we were treated to several paragraphs about the character, their traits, abilities, skills, strengths and weaknesses. Now we're lucky if a new character gets one or two sentences. That's it! Come on Hasbro, do the right thing and bring back Bob Budiansky. Larry Hama was brought back to right the file cards for G.I. Joe, so why not Bob?

Upon opening Skylynx I was surprised to see how small the instructions were. Impressive. The booklet opens up much like the old G1 instructions. This I like, especially when compared to the massive sheet style instructions that the Prime and Beast Hunters toys previously came packaged with.

Skylynx comes packaged in robot mode, albeit folded and crammed into the blister bubble. Stretch him out a little and you've got his proper robot mode. First off let me say this is my first experience with this mold. I didn't care for the garish colors of Skystalker and his Transformers Go! version doesn't look much better, so Skylynx it is. First impression, how is this guy going to stand on his own with these chicken legs and huge wings pointed backwards? Well thankfully he has a tail (that resembles what you'd find on an Ankylosaurus) that you can use to help give him some stability. Also the right wing's swivel joint was loose out of the package and didn't always want to stay in a vertical pose.  

Plastic seems a little soft, but the paint apps were beautifully applied. I love the overall color scheme. If Skylynx wasn't a Predacon I'd say he almost looks patriotic! Articulation is very laid out with the use of ball joints in the shoulders, elbows, hips and knees.

The robot head is concealed by the dragon's mouth, so you get this cone head look He has an interesting head sculpt, but I wish there was a way to get rid of the upper jaw hanging off the back of the head.

Not being familiar w/ this mold and kind of in a rush, I forgot to show off his weapons. I wondered what the odd discs on his wings were for and now I know. Rotate the wings around forward and now he has "shoulder mounted" weapons. I'll have to test those out by terrorizing my cat, Lion-O later on.

Transformation to beast mode is very simplistic. You basically fold him over onto all fours, close the dragon's mouth and post the wings to your liking. The robot's crotch area does slide apart to give the back legs more distance between each other, but the two pieces don't lock into place. I found the back half of the beast to be a little loose and jangly for my tastes. With all the ball joints though I'm sure you can strike much more dynamic poses than mine!

I think my favorite aspect of Skylynx is his beasts' headsculpt. Just look at this head, it looks like it was taken straight off one of Slayer's album covers! Great detailing, especially the red horns. Love it.

Skylynx is a decent deluxe Predacon. I still give Lazerback a slight nod over Skylynx (mold wise), but Skylynx has a much more pleasing overall color scheme. I'm still trying to figure out if I'll be displaying these Predacons with my Prime toys, or just giving them their own little corner? If you like transforming dragons and have a Target nearby then take a gamble on the figure, you just might be surprised.

Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Lazerback

So Hasbro decided to bring back the Predacon name and faction for Transformers Prime, Beast Hunters.  The G1 geek inside me was obviously happy when I heard the news.  Then the toys were slowly revealed and my excitement slowly dwindled.  Thanks to a buy one get one 50% sale I grabbed Lazerbeak solely to get the discount.  What happened next even surprised me...I kinda like this toy.  He reminds me a lot of some of the Beast Wars Fuzor toys.  Odd looking and the colors are overly bright and slightly annoying.

I've noticed that a lot of Beast Hunter deluxe toys seem to be crammed inside the blister bubble and Lazerback is a fine example.  The Predacons are supposed to be dragons in the series, but is Lazerback a two legged dragon like Marvel's Fin Fang Foom or is it a dragon at all.  Kinda hard to tell in package, but he does come with a Toxic Strike Blaster!

OK, now this is better.  I'm still not sure if I can classify Lazerback as a dragon, but at least now the buyer can tell that he belongs on all fours instead of standing upright like a bi-pedal creature.  I kinda wish Hasbro would drop the whole Prime Autobot group picture on packaging...seems out of place now.

The first thing that popped in my mind when I took Lazerback of out the packaging was this guy looks like that creature from the old Sega video game, Golden Axe!  OK, so maybe that's not all that accurate, but you can see the similar ties, can't you?

I've really come to enjoy this mold as there are a lot of things to like.  The beast head sculpt looks fantastic.  Loads of articulation in the ankles and feet let you pose him in some good walking/lunging/action poses.  The one thing that bothers me however is the exposed robot forearms/hands as pictured above.  I feel as if the designers should have put a panel to cover this up in some way...at least the purple hand.  Oh well.

Lazerback's Toxic Strike Blaster can peg onto his back while in beast mode for some extra firepower.

In robot mode Lazerback looks pretty thick.  He would give the appearance of being top heavy, especially with the long and skinny "chicken" legs he has.  Thanks to the large hind feet of the dragon, Lazerback can easily support the heft that is centered on the top half of the figure.

The Blaster can stay attached to the back, or can he wielded has a hand held gun.  The tail detaches and acts as a club.  Not the most original idea, but it works.

Lazerback is the weakest of the Predacons released to date, but that doesn't mean you should pass him by all together.  If you don't care for his loud color scheme thankfully you have choices coming soon for this mold.  Takara Tomy's Transformer Go! version of Lazerback has a muted, better metallic color scheme as Gaidora.  Oh yeah, Gaidora has a new head sculpt that I like over Lazerback's.  In typical Hasbro fashion, a redeco of this mold has already been solicited, Vertebreak.  Love the name, not so sure on the tiger-esque deco.

Happy Birthday to me!

Its been awhile since I've gotten some really cool stuff for my birthday. I guess when you're getting closer and closer to 40 you just can't expect to get toys anymore on your special day.

This year however things were different.  Not only did I get some baseball cards, but I finally got New Super Brothers U for the Wii U...and today Transformers Beast Hunters Shockwave is finally going home with me!  Yes, growing older has finally paid off!

Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Ripclaw

If I'm being honest I wasn't sure what to think about Beast Hunters when I first heard about it.  I kinda laughed when I saw the images of the spiked up Autobots.  I guess one of the problems I have with Beast Hunters are the names.  When I hear the term Predacon or the name Predaking, my mind instantly conjures up images of the G1 Predacons/Predaking.  I mean no disrespect to the Beast Hunters Predacons, but that's just the way it is for this long time Transformers fan.

I will say however that after I got over the abomination that is the voyager Beast Hunters Predaking toy, I was excited to see the deluxe sized Predacons like Ripclaw for instance.

I hadn't planned on reviewing Ripclaw when I bought her, otherwise I would've snapped a few in package pics first.  Right out of the package though I knew I had a pretty cool toy in hand.  One of the first things I noticed was the swirled plastic.  I hadn't seen this used in quite some time.  My only concern with the swirl is will it compromise the strength of the plastic as the toy ages.  It seems that swirled plastic on older toys has issues so I was a little concerned here.  I actually like the look of the swirls though.

Ripclaw is a decent sized toy.  The large wings and long tail give the figure some extra heft that you don't normally see in this size class.  She has large enough feet to support the size of the figure, but it's also nice that you can position the tail to give the figure some extra stability.

I love the overall look of the figure, but the head sculpt is the real winner.  When I look at the face it immediately get a Ultron (Marvel Comics) vibe.  Perhaps Hank Pym should've made Ripclaw here for Ultron instead of Jocasta!

Ripclaw features a very large tail which at first glimpse doesn't look that special.  That makes the tail so interesting is the fact that it features an elastic band inside that gives the tail articulation, but only when you want it to!  What I mean by that is you can re-position the teal links slightly spread apart to allow the articulation.

You can also remove the large claw off the tip of the tail to use as a hand held weapon.  Push in the gold button in the center of the claw and all three prongs snap close.

Ripclaw has a beautiful dragon beast mode.  I wouldn't expect such a large alternate mode from the robot mode or even the way she was crammed into the blister bubble packaging.  There is plenty of articulation in the legs and feet, the wings are on hinge joints as well is the jaw.  The rich teal, red and gold colors all mesh together well, but the yellow paint apps are an eye sore.  I had rather those yellow areas be filled in with a darker color like gray or even black.

Is is an awesome figure and I can't wait to see how Takara Tomy handles this figure for their Transformers Go! series in Japan.  I will mention that I recently finished reading the IDW mini series, Rage of the Dinobots, and this mold was used for a character called Ser-ket.  She featured a more muted color pallet, but was equally nice looking.  As much as Hasbro likes to re-use molds I can see Ripclaw being repainted at some point down the road, especially w/ their recent collaborating with IDW.