The One in Till all are One.

In my last review I,well for better lack of a term gushed over my enjoyment of Starscream. So for my latest I shall discuss the toy that got me start to collecting Transformers and bring a small piece of my childhood into my adult(ish) life.

One day while visiting a local dollar store I had just happen to pass through the toy section and mixed in with the various cheap toys and amusement devices I saw something that caught my eye, a bright green dump truck. On closer inspection I saw a additional yellow excavator and blue dosser. I grab the dump truck and to my enjoyment the bright packaging shows what appears to be a combined Devastator. Flipping the bubble pack over, I see black and white instructions to change the truck to a robot. I begin to think to myself, are all 6 in the shelf? If they are do they have all the pieces? So I begin to look on the peg board. I already located the dosser, excavator and I was holding the dump truck, let the hunt begin! I find the concrete mixer and front end loader easily, I am holding all the pieces? I look at the added parts, I see two fists and forearms, a large gun and a plain looking panel, but where is the head? I go digging further, there has to be a missing part.There buried deep in the pegs is a yellow crane and a familiar face looking right at me. There in my hands I have all six members of the Decepticon team known as Devastator, and all for the convenient price of $1 each. So forgetting why I went into the store in the first place and not knowing the Pandora's Box I was about to open, but I had the biggest grin on my face.

I know these figures are not the standard green of G1 release or the yellow of the G2 figures. They of course are missing the Decepticon symbols or may not even be the original moulds, but I did not care. When I returned home I ripped into the bubble packs and laid the parts out in front of me as my inner child was screaming for joy as I began to inspect my haul. Now please forgive me as my memory is not what it use to be, so I do not recall which parts came with what figure so I shall review each one as if it came with those parts originaly.

Not Mixmaster

The cement mixer and right leg of the team is mainly black with a yellow mixing drum with silver paint details and chrome plastic. The stickers on this figure and the others came applied out of the packaging, which is a shame as the one on the drum is not aligned correctly. Unlike the original versions there are no die cast parts, but what do you expect for a buck? The wheels are free rolling and the drum does rotate, just a fun little vehicle. Transformation is very simple, pull the cab forward and tilt up. Take the rear wheels and pop them out followed by......oh wait that's all! In robot mode you have a red chest piece and a sticker on the waist and surprisingly yellow painted eyes. The only articulation is in the shoulders to move the arms up and down.

Not Scrapper

A red front end loader with black wheels and cab cover. The cover has the only sticker application in alt mode. The wheels roll free and the bucket can be raised and lowered. Flipping the rear section over creates the legs and exposes the chrome plastic for the thighs. Pop the head up and position the bucket and arms to complete the transformation into robot mode. Taller in robot mode then his right leg comrade with additional sticker details on his chest. The black head does appear to have a faint application of yellow for the eyes.

Not Long Haul

The truck is mainly green with gold paint details on the hopper, chrome plastic on the underbody and a sticker applied to the hood. The wheels do move freely, but you will not be able to move the hopper without those rear wheels lifting off of the ground. Continue moving the hopper up and over and you have formed the legs, bend the front cab over to form the chest, and move the roof of the cab over to the back. Next you will want to pop the head up and move the arms out followed by the fists. In robot mode you can clearly see further stickers on the inside of the hopper and the surprise of the painted eyes on the face. The short arms do move up and down and due to transformation there is additional movement in the wrists. I call those arms short because if you look at this figure on it's profile, they are not even long enough to reach past the chest.

Not Bonecrusher

This purple bulldozer had some flaws right out of the packaging. The canopy that covers the control area was mismoulded and one of the pegs that hold it in place is not present. There is a sticker on the top of that canopy, as well on the engine cowl. There are no wheels under the solid treads so there is no rolling, but the bucket does move up and down. There is a lot of transforming in such a tiny vehicle, the first thing is to move the treads over to the front via the pivot point under the bucket, slide the front of the treads out and rotate them up to form the feet and legs. Next you want to take the engine cover and rotate them outwards and twist to expose the arms and hands hidden underneath. On the upper shoulder there is another joint so you can bend those arms to a 90 degree angle. The chest looks plan till you move the bucket up on the additional pivot point, moving the open end towards the figure to expose the additional sticker hidden underneath the bucket. Move the canopy back and pop up the head. This head being yellow is perhaps the reason why the eyes are not painted, but the chrome forearms and yellow hands help bring colour. The legs and feet are static in place, but the arms do move in and out as well as up and down.

Not Scavenger

The yellow colour is a reminder to the G2 version, with paint details on the boom and a sticker application on the sides. Much like Not Bonecrusher, the moulded treads have no wheels or moving parts but there are two points of articulation on the boom arm, as well the main bode does rotate. Move the treads over and rotate the feet out, pop the arms out from the sides and flip the head up. We are back to a black head so once again the nice added touch of the painted along with the normal articulation only found in the shoulders. There are no additional paint or sticker applications in robot mode. The chrome piece on the chest adds some extra details but the connection port for combine mode is in a very unfortunate place if it were moved into position.

Not Hook

The final member of the team is a crane made up of purple and yellow plastic with free rolling black wheels. The boom crane can expand with a chrome hook on the end and does pivot up and down. It is placed in a rotating base adding to the play value while in vehicle mode. To begin the transformation, grab the cab section and move it forward as it slides along a surprising little piece of die cast, this frees up the cab pieces as you flip them over to form the feet, now slide the assembly back into the original position. The arms are hidden behind the rear wheels, pop them out and flip up the head, you have the robot fully transformed. There is a sticker applied to the chest and once again the added touch of the painted eyes or visor in this case along with the same articulation in the shoulders.

Now that you have meet the team time to move onto the main show. Not only did my dollar store find nab me all six members there was also some additional parts tucked away inside each bubble pack that look mighty familiar. Just like any other G1 combiner you have many pieces that could be easily lost over time, but without these additional parts you cannot merge and form the first of the combiners, Not Devastator! The one thing I never understood about some collector's is there hatred of partsforming, yes I will admit in a past review I jumped on that same train but I believe partsforming has a place when done correctly, and making combiner is the best way to apply it. So lets begin.

Not Devastator


Why not start with the legs? After all that is the way it is done in the cartoon. Before I get started it is best to start these transformation into the body parts from their alt modes. Starting with Not Mixmaster, place the cab in foot mode but leave the arms tucked in. Now grab Not Scrapper and move the arms straight up and flip the entire assembly with the bucket facing down. Next you can grab the larger bland looking red piece and tab in the legs into the corresponding parts on the hip assembly.

Onto the torso by first taking Not Long Haul and bend the cab into the same position as in robot mode but now here comes the tricky part. Slide the centre piece that is sticking up from the bland red central piece in between the chrome thighs till it tabs all into place, the hopper section will bend back slightly making it look like it will start leaning forward. Complete the look by taking the red waist cover and tab it into the underside of Not Long Haul.

Now with Not Hook take the front and rear sections and slide them out as those parts will slip on the die cast piece in the centre. Once split turn them 90 degrees so the front cab and rear bumper are facing forward. Take the head piece from the pile of parts and slide it over top of the die cast piece. One last step before placing this part into position, there is a small tab on the right shoulder that you need to swing out, now. On the head piece there is a tab and slot and taking a look on the top of Not Long Haul, the smoke stack looks like a tab and on the top of the cab there is a slot. Place tab to slot, slot to tab and the chest and head are now all connected.

Now take one of the fists and forearms and piece them together. There is another little surprise, the forearms are spring loaded launchers that work quite well and lust like their original versions. Under Not Bonecrusher's there is a peg that the forearm slots into. On the underside of the dosser you will see a small hole that looks like it is waiting for a square peg, the same peg that was swung out before pacing Not Hook on the rest of the combined figure.

With Not Scavenger in alt mode, move the treads out of the way as if you were going to change them into the legs, next take that very unfortunately placed connector and pivot it in place. Build another forearm and hand combo and slot that into the peg available just on the front of Not Scavenger. Unlike Not Bonecrusher this limb connects differently, the connector hooks into an available port on the left side of Not Hook. Now you have a fairly naked combiner, time to dress him up a little. On Not Long Hauls front grill area there is a rectangular hole, the chest armour has a post that slips into this available port. Now on to a personal choice, there is a small weapon that can plug into the side of the head followed by holding the large gun into one of the fists.

Other than it not being an official release, you have a great KO figure. The head sculpt is exactly how I remember with a painted silver face and red eyes, the winged chest amour and the large rifle. With the different shaped limbs this figure always looks to be in a state of motion even while standing still.
For a KO the joints are tight and the figure surprising stays together quite well. Now there are a couple of flaws, I did end up receiving two right hands, so I have the left hand on backwards just to keep the shape. The other flaw is the stickers, the glue used is very weak something that I have forgotten about as Not Devastator stands along with my other combiners and this is the first time I have really handled him in years, to be honest.

Starscream might be my favourite character, but combiners have always been my favourite figures to collect. To add the grandfather of them all even if that figure is a knock off, I am happy to place it along my legitimate releases. Oh and even though it was only seconds for you, it was a few minutes for me, I just went to the Reprolabels.com and ordered a set of replacement stickers for my Not Devastator. I shall update this entry or create a new entry outlining the removal and application of those new stickers.

TheRealRonin
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Tabs, Tabs and more Tabs will make you Scream like a Banshee

I have not held back in the past in saying that my favourite Transformer of all time is Starscream. I am not all that certain why that is. Was it the wonderful voice acting of Christopher Collins in the original series? Was it the fact that he transformed into an F-15? Was it the fact that at every chance he would try and usurp Megatron's command? Or even in the face for death he never did disappear? Well at least as much as a ghost can.

So when you have a favourite and you're a collector, you always have your ear to the ground and if something new appears on the market, well you at least have to have a look at it, right? That is the way it was for me with Impossible Toys TS-01 Banshee. With the closure of Impossible Toys theses are going to become rare, but thankfully I was able to pick up one of their Tetra Jet from TFsource before that sad day.

In the past Impossible Toys has been plagued with quality control issues, cheap plastics or just overall poor reviews from previous product lines, so of course I was hesitant on even giving Banshee a second or third look. It was not until Internet Personality Vangelus's review of the almost complete squadron did I become sold on the figure. I will say my first impression of this third party toy is impressive and it is sad to report that Impossible Toys banked their future on presales of the Tetra Jets and the company will no longer be producing any more after the release of their Minibot line.

Now with most third party figures, you will pay a premium for, meaning you will pay more than a regular Hasbro release or even an imported Takara price. I did pick up Banshee on clearance, and it now appears to be sold out on TFsource, but I have done some searching and I have been able to find the squad from other sources.

If you remember way back to  September 1984 with the original TV series, in More than Meets the Eye Part One, when what appears to be Skywarp and Thundercracker transform on Cybertron they do not form their familiar F-15 mode they change into something more alien, something more befitting a Cybertronian jet in the shape of a tetrahedron. Granted back in 1984 and sooner the engineering to make a complex shape out of a brick was impossible, but who had the foresight to think that a couple minutes of screen time would make fanboys of the Seekers like myself cry out for what later became known as the Tetrajets.

This figure is on the fly review, so I shall start with the box. Short of no picture window you can clearly see the G1 influence.Stylized art work of what the toy looks like in both robot and alt mode, the fonts and colours they choose. The one side panel explains how the Tetra Squad came to be. The back has the bio for Banshee, sadly there are no tech specs to read or decode and the final side panel has a drawing of Banshee, the same one located on the front. Once you open up the package the figure comes in Robot mode inside a plastic clamshell as well the instruction sheet.

Even though I wanted to write the majority of this review on the fly, can you really blame me from wanting to check it out first before moving forward? I hope not and it is because of that reason we start in jet mode. Banshee has some slick and curved lines, and plenty of little details that were not present in the short time they were represented on screen. Clearly in this mode you have the classic Starscream colours of grey, blue and red. In keeping with classic seeker design the nullrays have their spot under the wingtips, but in keeping with the original series there are two tiny blasters on either side of the nose. The bright yellow canopy does open to reveal a shallow cockpit, not large enough for any figure I have seen. It is a shame that with this additional detail they did not make the canopy in a semi-opque plastic,and with the noticeable overspary on the inside (at least on my figure) the canopy shall remain closed while in tetrajet mode. The rear of the figure is showing more of that artistic licence, as a main thruster is present along with some added moulded in details that could have been enhanced with some paint detail.

While sitting on it three retractable landing gears, with actual rolling wheels, it is hard to imagine where the panels all fit, but like any jetformer, this figure suffers from the same flaw they all do. One flip of the jet and you clearly see Banshee's arms and legs, but this is a flaw that no amount of engineering can solve when covering a robot into a jet. The day it is completely solved, it have better be a version of Starscream....just saying.

Now this is where I would normally go into the transformation process, but after careful review of those steps in the print it was very boring, very long and to be honest not very useful. Instead I have scanned the instructions for your viewing pleasure. There are few points I wish to add:
- This is an adult collectible and not a child's toy.
- There are multiple tabs that will need to be separated before transforming.
- The multiple joints that are strong, but I would not put any undue force on them.
- Take your time transforming for the first time as this can be confused with a shell former but surprisingly is not engineered that way.

If you stopped and looked at the instructions there might be only 17 steps but may of those steps are done twice but you will have Banshee in his robot mode. Looking straight on at this figure, could it be anyone but Starscream?

Starscream is here, down to the greys, reds and blues jumping straight out of the original cartoon series. The body design was borrowed directly from the Classics Seeker mould in which is not a bad thing at all. Well time to get to the main difference that is staring you right in the face, or should I say his face? That's right the head sculpt.

The head on this figure is as large as the ego is from which the character is inspired from. The eyes are painted red, the face is silver and with a black helmet. The details are there, but the mouth is shallow and is easily lost within the silver paint. As for the rest of the figure, there are some noticeable paint details missing when comparing this to a Generation's Seeker, something that could easily been solved with some reprolabels, but due to the lack of popularity of this series I doubt that set will ever surface.



The majority of the robot mode folds up and behind the figure creating an interesting backpack, nothing that seems out of the ordinary, but is really the only sign that this is a shellformer. The full back panel is in one piece, but on closer inspection there appears to be an abandoned extra transformation to add further shape.

During transformation I noticed a screw that looks to be holding a plastic washer inside a slip joint. The screw goes into the small circles that are present to the left and right of the main thruster, and yet there is no movement to slip those parts over each other. The curve that is present in the side panels, and with the tip bending over those pieces it does look like they belong. Now I did wish the tips bent over all the way versus the 90 degrees they do. The long nose drapes over the whole assembly in the classic seeker position. The stem that is connected to the back of the head is long enough as to not get in the way of the backpack created from the wings.

As I continue to provide my first impressions with Banshee I am impressed by the joints and how tight they feel. The head can look left and right, the shoulders can move up and down as well as in and out. There is an upper arm swivel along with a double jointed elbow and the hands are pretty well static unless you count the transformation step of moving them into the forearms. The is no waist articulation. The legs move in and out, but forward motion is limited by the front area panel and details on the thigh. There is also a upper thigh swivel followed by another double joint in the knee. The foot moves up mainly from transformation and the rear heal created from the wing tips does offer some additional movement and stability. With the large backpack the centre of balance is thrown off but it is possible to get Banshee into a walking pose. It is in the arms in which this poseibility shines, the free moving shoulders, double jointed elbows and the nullrays placed on the upper shoulder versus the forearms are not being oversized which is a bonus over the Generation's Seeker.

This entire review has been written based on first impressions. Banshee arrived from TFsource around noon on Wednesday April 18th 2014 and although this review was posted a few days later for editing and photos. There are some flaws with figure that I need to note.The peg holes for the nullrays do slightly split at the shoulders and easily pop out when placed into those holes. Those same nullrays seem to be a last minute thought. There are no paint applications and the backs are hollow. The oversized head with some missing details is screaming (no pun intended) for a replacement. As well there are some great paint details, I feel this figure would be enhanced further with a third party sticker set that would 100% need to include some Decepticon symbols for the wings. Outside the large head those are minor flaws and can be adjusted or fixed . I am happy to add Banshee to my other Starscream figures and Seekers as a welcomed addition. If you are looking for something new to add to your collection, a conversation starter, are you are a G1 purest, a fan of Seekers or Starscream himself this figure is a must have.

TheRealRonin
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Is it really a UFO, when you know where it comes from?

There are many debates in the world of science, both fiction and fact. Which came first? The Chicken or the Egg. Who shot first? Greedo or Han. And did Cosmos fly on the Arc with the other Transformers to Earth? Or did he make the long journey alone? My money is one he travelled alone and took orbit around Earth and calls the Moon his home. Why you ask? It's simple, if Cosmos had the ability to hold an entire troop of Autobots in the same fashion as to the Decepticon’s Astrotrain, why would the Autobots build the Arc in the first place for their search of Energon?

For my latest, out of this world review I present to you Generations Legends Class Autobot Cosmos (I guess we can thank Neil DeGrasse for copyrighting the word Cosmos) This time the creators of this toy wanted to make Cosmos seem less of a lone watcher and the provided him with a little buddy, Payload.

Are you uncertain on what Payload actually is? Is he a Legion Class Shuttle, or a Target Master? I'm here to end that debate, Payload is a Triple Changer Target Master. Payload is a Shuttle, A Robot and a Double Barrelled Blaster all in one tiny package. The shuttle mode resembles the now retired NASA Shuttles, all white, with a black nose, leading edges, thrusters and windows with an Autobot symbol on the wing. Flip those wings up and over, stand on those thrusters and presto you have Payload in robot mode. The black paint continues to the chest, with a red and blue face hiding under the cowl of the nose. Once you flip up the centre yellow piece in the chest, slide the feet up the thighs, you instantly have a blaster that Cosmos can easily hold, or any other figure with a standard 5mm peg hole we have become familiar with.

Speaking of Cosmos, we come to the main show and the reason why you are all here. The figure itself only stands about 4 inches tall, but even in the G1 world where creative licence was taken when it came to character scale, Cosmos was always small. It is that smaller stature that allows him to stand next to Deluxe and Voyager figures and not feel out of place. One thing the designers do very well in the Generations line, is take a classic G1 character and do the figure justice with modern engineering and tooling. A prime example of this is the fact that Cosmos now comes with elbow joints! Consisting of mainly green plastic, there are plenty of paint applications that help bring Cosmos to life. On the shoulders the added yellow paint with an Autobot symbol on the right arm, followed closely by the added details on the chest and abdominal area bring the G1 Cosmos into the 21st century. The head sculpt is spot on, red helmet, blue eyes and a yellow mouth plate, that easily tucks into the chest during transformation.

Taking in a 360 view of this figure, it is hard to believe that he transforms into a flying saucer. The articulation points are not only necessary for transformation, but some of them actually aide in posing the figure and making him look good in the process. If you can look past the gorilla hands, there is plenty of movement in the elbows and shoulders to easily wield Payload in his blaster mode. There is added waist articulation due to transformation followed by hip and knee movements, but due to the large static feet, there is not many stances that you can place Cosmos in without him falling over. One surprising joint is in the head, granted it is not on a ball joint, but he can look left and right easily.

Transforming Cosmos is both fun and painful experience. The first thing you want to do is flip up the thrusters assembly on his back up. Take the feet and on the double jointed knee, fold them up and match them to the rounded thighs. At the abdominal section, twist it 180 degrees and this is where those gorilla arms will get in your way. Using the elbow joint, move the forearm up and behind, till the corresponding peg slots into the space on the back of the shoulder. The upper shoulder is on a socket joint that pivots down allowing the two arm halves to form the back of the saucer. There is a small notch and peg that loosely puts the two halves together but it is not until you pop the rear fin section into place do those pieces actually remain in place. Time for the headaches, take the assembled leg pieces and turn then 45 degrees inward and move the former butt of Cosmos up. Next you need to tuck the thighs into the hollow cavity of the legs and place them into position. The painful parts continue, the panels will fit together snugly, but getting to that final position will cause them to pop out, slip and move in directions that you did not intend but once together, you have a one last and very satisfying thing to do. Take Cosmos's head and with all the frustration that you just felt, bop-it into the main body of the saucer!

By no means is this a UFO, we know who this is and what he is. The classic Cosmos look is still alive, a full green body with yellow pin striping that flow into the rear thrusters. The chest paint details are still visible and of course the red top makes this saucer still look like a door bell. In both robot and vehicle mode there is not much in the way of kibble to give away either mode, but flipping Cosmos over, the slick lines of the saucer are broken up by a gaping hole. This flaw is begging for a third party stand to emulate the saucer flying through space, or even to hold up Cosmos in robot mode so you can actually pose the legs into a dynamic attack pose. Oh and if a third party company is reading this, my idea shall not be copyrighted unless you don't give me a free sample. Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge. 

In short, even with the concrete block feet that limit poseibility and the gorilla hands, this is the Cosmos figure we have been wanting from Hasbro since the joining of ball joint to toy. You also get the added value for the same price point of a Legends figure, you get Payload as both a companion and weapon. Which reminds me both figures can team up in their vehicle modes. On the front of Cosmos there appears to be two small forward facing turrets (makes sense as they are painted gun metal grey) Those turrets plug into the thrusters on Payload giving you the look of a Space Shuttle towing a UFO, just something for those third party companies to keep in mind when designing the base for Cosmos.

TheRealRonin
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Always Second in Command and Never a Prime

It has been brought to my attention that I have only done reviews of the bad guys. Well can you blame me? It's the bad guys that have the best lines, the best weapons and well being the bad guy has (at least in my unsubstantiated opinion) always been cool.

Well who am I not to give into peer pressure? As you may have guessed if you have been following this blog, I like to go slightly against convention. I could select everyone's favourite good guy in Optimus Prime, or I could go with (or it seems) everyone's favourite yellow car BumbleBee, but I'm not. Also I'm not picking some obscure character that only three people other than myself have heard of. I have chosen the bride's maid of the Prime linage. I present to you Fall of Cybertron Deluxe Class, Ultra Magnus.

I know what am I doing here? I am just giving you a repaint of the FoC Optimus Prime, why not review him instead? Well hold on to your hats, there's more! Have a closer look, notice anything new? That's right, this is a two for one review, as I also have the Keith's Fantasy Club KP-01UM addon kit. This kit helps set apart the two moulds and brings in some G1 goodness to a newer figure.

Now for a deluxe, this figure is slightly smaller than what we are familiar with in this size class, a trend that thankfully seemed to start and end with the Fall of Cybertron line. This is where the KP-01UM kit comes in handy (calling it a KFC addon make it seem like I am getting an extra side of coleslaw)

I read and heard some chatter over this mould and compared with the War for Cybertron Prime, and yes I will agree that the WFC Prime is a great figure, but the Optimus version for FoC does fail, but for once in Ultra Magnus colours this figure shines. On top of the paint scheme the addition of the KP Kit with the shoulder pylons and missile launchers make this figure scream Magnus. The majority of the figure is not paint application, but moulded plastic. There are red, white and silver details on the chest, which carry through onto the thighs and feet. On both shoulders there is an Autobot symbol. The head sculpt looks like a traditional Magnus, with the high antenna and pronounced chin but that head does look tiny when compared to the large chest. There is no light piping, but the eyes are painted red on a white face. The wheels are all plastic, with silver trim hub caps.The front wheels facing inwards on the forearms, while the rear wheels can be seen on the sides of the legs.

The KP-01UM shoulder pylons just friction fit into the smoke stacks
that are folded down on the shoulders and the missile launchers just fit into a slot on the sides of the arms. The complete kit itself is just packaged in a small bubble pack with no real instructions. The pegs on the missile launchers need to be inserted and the reason for this is to allow posibility and movement of those launchers and aide in transformation. Ultra Magnus also comes with 2 weapons, the first is the same blaster FoC Optimus Prime came with. On its own it is a good representation of a G1 blaster, but more suited for Optimus. Th second is a giant sword that Magnus could challenge Crocodile Dundee to a "Now....this is a knife!" competition and win easily. So you have a giant sword and a lack lustre blaster, but what can you do? Well I will tell you, the sword separates into three pieces and can be merged with the blaster, making the Ultra Magnus Ultra Mega Blaster. If you cannot get the matrix of Leadership might as well have a kick a** weapon!

Moving onto articulation. The head is on a ball joint allowing a full 360 degree spin and some movement up and down. There is an waist swivel mainly from transformation. The shoulders are on a ball joint so they can complete a full 360 as well as pivot in and out. The upper arm is on a swivel and there is a simple joint at the elbow. The fist can turn 360 degrees but it is not on a ball joint so there is no rist tilts. On to the main issue with this figure, the hips. They are your standard ball and socket joint that plug into the upper thigh on a swivel allowing some great poseibiltiy but they are extremely loose. Now they are not so loose as in the figure cannot stand under its own weight, but just loose enough that it may fall over if you have the figure in a complex pose. The knee can bend more than 90 degrees, but again due in part to the transformation that also makes for an weird look when bent due to the figure's larger than average calves. The feet are on a ball joint, but they do not have much of a pivot due to the large lower legs.

Thanks to all those moving joints, this figure folds in on itself quite well making for a small vehicle mode even when compared to other deluxe figures in the same series. The first thing you want to do is take the fists and turn them 180 degrees. Now you can unpeg the feet and on the joint move them up and forward, push the legs together fitting the pegs into the corresponding holes and flip them up over the thighs from behind. On the back of the figure there is a small plate that fits in with just friction, pop that plate up and push it towards the back of the head. That action will move the arms via a poorly executed auto-morph. The "feature" now adds the step of having the move the arms out of the way for the following. At the waist there is the ball joint that allows the swivel, move it up and back, there are two pegs where the feet are and they slot into the two ports on the back just below what appear to be thrusters. On the back of the shoulders you will see exhaust pipes, move them up, so they are now parallel with the rest of the arm. Now turn the forearm 180 degrees so the wheel is facing the outward and bend back at the elbow. On the now inside part of the arm we have another peg and slot that fit into the side of the cab which aide in holding the front end together. The last piece to complete is the front bumpers that hangs on the forearms with for no purpose other than to be a front bumper. The two halves are on a ball joint, so you need to twist them around 90 degrees. Now keep in mind one half fits into the other. One side has a puzzle style piece connector, followed by the second half with the slot for that piece. And there you go, Ultra Magnus in a Cybertrionian truck mode.

If you have the add-on kit, you can skip the step with moving the exhaust pipes to leave and the pylons in place, but I personally like the look of those big pipes. The missile launchers can remain in place and thankful to the peg and slot construction you can move them easily into a forward facing position. As I stated before, this is a small deluxe in vehicle mode, and being a big truck it would scale better with the smaller figures versus its fellow deluxe class comrades. Since this is a fold and twist transformation, there is not much new to report that you did not already see in robot mode other than painted white arms are slightly more pronounced.

There is weapon storage via a hole on the bottom of the foot and flipping the blaster upside down, you can also place the sword in an available port near the rear wheels but I just feel that this looks silly. The figure does have free moving wheels and does roll nicely, but as you may have guessed short of the cool exhaust pipes this is not my favourite mode.

In short, out of all the Optimus Prime moulds to be repainted into Ultra Magnus, this is by far one of my favourites that I have ever come across, all for the simple fact that it does not look like just another Prime repaint. When placing them side by side, this is the rare situation that it looks like Prime is a repaint of Magnus. Add to that, the Keith's Fantasy Club KP-01UM addon, to which I highly recommend, it adds just that last missing piece to make this figure truly Ultra Magnus.

TheRealRonin
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