Don't call me Fat you Clutch Munching Piston Licker!

There comes a time when a toy looks interesting enough to pick up but there is that little voice that says, not now it can wait for a sale. Well I will say I'm glad that I picked this one up cheap as I feel he is only worth the $5 I paid for him. Without any further delay I present to you Transformers Generations Deluxe Class Tankor.

To say this figure is a disappointment is not what I felt when I first held him in hand. I knew with my own research what the potential I would receive but to have any little doubts removed about Tankor and more or less confirmed is what disappointed me. *Spoilers* The Beast Wars that turned into Beast Machines, we saw Rhinox's spark stolen and placed in the vehicon named Tankor. With an awesome release of Voyager scale Rhinox I knew a Deluxe figure would pale in comparison size wise but before I go bashing this figure any further I should start with what I do enjoy.

Starting with bot mode the overall look is ripped directly from the CGI model from Beast Machines, something that was needed over the original incarnation of Beasties Tankor. The paint applications are sharp and they pull in the right amount of detailing, from the stripes on the shoulder pads, the missiles on the chest picked out, the silver mouth plate and the yellow lights on the sides of the head. The arms convey a lot of emotion with their double jointed elbows, upper bicep swivel with a matching forearm swivel. That combination of joints allow you to pose claw hands in countless number of position.

Those expressive arms do their best to make up for the lack of articulation in the rest of the figure. Now don't get me wrong, this is no G1 brick as all the traditional joints found in today's Deluxe figures and yet those joints are lost due to the nature of making an almost complete screen accurate toy. The legs have hips joints that move in, out and up and down, an upper thigh swivel, a decent knee bend and the feet do pivot back and forth. It is those feet that limit the actual poses you can manipulate Tankor into. I have tried a dozen or so attempts but with each try Tankor appears to be an ungraceful figure skater. If you ever watch the TV show, Tankor just rolled around on his large tank tread feet so there is no real loss there.

The head sculpt is right on the money but in the show the face had more possible poseibility versus this toy. The extent of the movement is left and right and if that weren't enough, it is further limited by the shoulders. The head can do a full 360 but it hops and jumps all over the raised sections from the collar bone area. Adding to the block feel is the lack of waist articulation but in fairness the transformation prevents even the idea of even engineering one. Thankfully the waist and chest piece do their best to cover up what is perhaps the largest gap I have ever personally seen in a modem day Transformer.

The cannon over the right shoulder adds to almost spot on representation of the Beast Machines model but it is severely lacking in details. With the almost spot on paint details I doubt even a company like Reprolabels will produce a kit to add what is missing. The lack of poseibility continues into that cannon. It clips in just behind the shoulder on a C Clip and being on a long solid pivoting arm, it freely moves up, forward and back. That pivoting arm in bot mode only looks good in the over the shoulder or resting on the back but due to the lack of a swivel joint allowing side to side motion, this friction blaster just sits there like the chunk of plastic that it is.

Transformation is fairly simple and intuitive. Everything pegs in quite nicely in robot mode and that continues into alt mode. Start with moving the cannon up and back out of the way, straighten out the arms and using the double jointed elbows bend the arms up so the forearms are flush with the biceps. Next you want to unpeg the shoulders from the back and move that and the chest assembly forward. Bend the feet down and flip down the covers over the treads. Move the legs off to the side using the waist joint and complete the flip down of the chest section on the double jointed hinge. Move the legs back into position, pegging them into the former crotch piece. Take the folded up arms and flip them inwards and make sure the shoulder pads are under the collar bone section of the head assembly. Next tab in the head into the pegs that are present on the forearms, move the cannon into position and you are done.

Much like with bot mode I will start with what I like in alt mode. Are you ready for the list? Are you sitting comfortably? Have your favourite snack or drink handy? Good, well here it is. It rolls nice.

OK, now that I've got that out of the way lets have a closer look at Tankor in well, his tank mode. First thing is first, he suffers from visible everything! You can clearly see his head, hands and chest. Now I know what you are going to say and that is, well you saw his head in the CGI cartoon so why should a screen accurate toy be any different? To that I have no argument, but when reviewing the on screen look of Tankor the rest of what I mention seems to have been blended into other parts of the CGI model. From the looks of the design you could be confused with this being a one step changer and the transformation would just be to stand him up and you're done. The flaps that covered the shins, now expose a large gap behind the forward treads, while the arms now fill in that chest gap I mentioned earlier.

While I do feel they got the portions for the length as close to accurate it is the width that leaves something to be desired for. While in this mode no one will call him 'Fat' Tankor. Looking straight down the front you cannot help but see how skinny this tank is when compared the height and length. Without anything hidden the paint apps that were wonderful in assisting the look of this toy in bot mode continue into alt mode but a feel the grey plastic that was used could have been a shade or two darker. 

It has been awhile since a figure has not impressed me and sadly I know I am not the only one that feels this. With the awesome releases of Beast Wars Rhnox, Waspinater and Rat Trap a part of me was hoping for updated versions of the Beast Machine vehicons. With this first offering anything else will just not line up in scale in either mode. If this designed shared the same scale as his beast mode counterpart this may have tipped the scale more in favour. We may have received more articulation in the head, the cannon as well additional girth allowing for a more in scale look with Thrust and Jetstorm, but those dreams like this toy will fall flat.

Now there is room for improvement. The cannon that just clips on with a C Clip could be replaced with a third party or 3D printed offering. There is no need for it to spin as it does in the CGI cartoon, but added side to side movement and perhaps the addition of the Key to Vector Sigma, but for now I will work with the IDW inspired cannon.

I will add this. If there is a artist out there that currently does 3D printing and you require a Tankor for measurements to produce a new cannon I will be more than willing to lend you my figure so you can begin your work. All I ask for in return is of course the figure returned (no rush) and a version of the cannon you have designed. I'm just putting that out there. For now I shall pose those wonderful arms in a head scratching pose, place Tankor at the back of my shelf, as he sits and wonders what a great toy he could have been if they started by making him Voyager scale.

TheRealRonin
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Transformers Generations Windblade. The 30 in 30 out of 30 for the Thrilling 30!

What do fans want most? The was a question Hasbro asked Transformers fans to begin the kick off for the Thrilling Thirty. Once voting was completed and tabulated, I believe we received a combination that I can say was not expecting. For starters we get an Autobot but no real surprise there. The alt mode is not a car but a plane to which we know is rare for an Autobot. Now I cannot recall all the questions that were asked but I belive but gender and weapon were asked. To which the answer a sword and the most surprising is a Fembot.

Once the basics were answered it was time to hand the results to the great folks at IDW Publishing to add life to a character to what would later became a four part mini series. Now this review is not about the mini series but what that series was inspired by. That is the toy that was created by the fans. I present to you Deluxe Class Windblade.

I am not going lie but once I saw the first mock ups of Windblade I was excited. As time passed and more photos began to appear my excitement grew. Then later came the release of Windblade #1 through #4 from IDW and I knew that I just had to have this toy. Being in Canada I have gotten use to waiting longer than we should for releases, but with a single tweet I knew what I had to do. I sent a text message to a friend on the floor at the Toronto Fan Expo to swing past the Hasbro booth and pick up my very own Wingblade.

Two days later I had her in my hands and I could not wait till open the package. I felt like Charlie Bucket and I knew my golden ticket was inside. Now with this being the official Hasbro Canadian release there was no packed in comic as with other releases of the Generations toy line. The comic that will be packed in should be Windblade's first appearance in Dark Cybertron chapter 8, sadly I don't have that one.

After handling the figure a few times going from robot to jet mode and back, I am happy that we have received a completely new figure as everything feels new with Windblade and no "stolen" engineering from other toys. Now with saying that, I am going to start with my impressions with what I feel is the poorer of the two modes, that is Jet Mode. Yes we have seen and heard all the complaints about jetformers, so I am not going to rehash the old complaints but I will list flaws that appear with this particular figure. The first real glaring fault I find are the feet on the rear of the jet. They do not fold down or away creating a blemish in the tail section that even my imagination can't come up for a reason for being there. 
Now between those feet is a gap and a very noticeable one and hard to forget once seen. The weapon can be stored underneath to which does help with filling in the gap, but you will lose one of the pleasant surprise of Windblade in VTOL Mode, more on that later. The handle of the weapon does stick out further than the exhaust, but the added addition of the fan blade in the handle adds to the appearance of a directional fan for the VTOL mode (See I told you I have an imagination)

On the underside you have your very traditional robot junk tucked and folded away, but being a jetformer no surprises there. The one disappointment is the rear landing gears. They are well detailed but perhaps too detailed. I know space would prevent folding struts, but their size become apparent in robot mode. What I think should have been done is to give them a slightly lower profile so when the front gear is down it will give the impression of take off when laying on a flat surface. One last thing and honestly this is not a complaint but an observation, the cockpit canopy does not open. To me that is not a make or break deal but for others it might be.

OK, I have gone on long enough about the bad, lets get to what makes this VTOL great. the overall design screams a plane that we have not seen in the Transformers universe, and I am even including Thrust. The dark colour scheme we are use to seeing on Decepticon jets works on Windblade, maybe it is the red or the white nose cone but you just know this is an Autobot. The highlights of the yellow canopy does not take away from the off white rotor blades of the VTOL parts on this jet. The blades do rotate within the cowlings quite easily with your finger but will take more than lung power to get them rotating on their own. If you have read the comics, you know that those blade were rotated not only for take off but also for flight and in this figure you can emulate this.The cowlings do pivot to allow some dynamic poses never seen before in wings. Straight on down the white nose of the jet, the robot parts tuck away just enough to add the illusion of intakes for the dual jet engines. The front landing gear as I mentioned does retract to aide in the next little surprise. The port that stores the weapon in alt mode can serve as a port for an action figure stand. Now I do not have one as the majority of my own toys are displayed in robot mode so a qucik little makeshift stand I am able to balance Windblade to emulate the look, but if I ever come across a second Windblade I know my hunt for a real stand will begin.

Transformation from jet to robot is fun, but the same cannot be said about robot to jet. Starting in jet mode once everything is unpegged the transformation seems natural, as the parts flip, slide and move in ways we are familiar with. It is going from robot to jet mode for some odd reason that it doesn't seem to be as cooperative. I have transformed Windblade a few times and I still have gotten the knack of it but it does get easier. The poseibility of the figure is beyond belief for a Hasbro release and unlike recent releases, Windblade seems to have the collector in mind. I will start with the restrictions in movement, the head is on a swivel joint and the only real up and down movement comes from the transformation joint and the collar hinders the side to side movement. The feet are static and the heel piece can cause more issues with standing Windblade than what is is designed to prevent. Nothing fully pegs in and the majority of the joints just friction into place. It is those friction points that will cause extra work when posing this figure. The shoulders are on a mix of a swivel and ball joint followed by an upper bicep swivel, which is awesome to see in a thin arm but every time you move them you will need to readjust the should pads. The elbow has a natural bend with a surprising wrist swivel. Outside the static feet all the traditional movement is in the legs, There is a deep knee bend and ball jointed hips. An added feature missing from most Hasbro releases and due to transformation there is an added waist swivel. The wings tilt up and back allowing for some dynamic and expressive poses.

In robot mode Windblade will be a conversation starter even while standing in your display. The head sculpt stands out above and beyond the rest. There is no light piping but the paint details make up for that minor nitpick. The design is explained in the Windblade mini-series so go out and pick up your copy.


The gold head crest does slide out from behind to be an additional fan weapon but when removed, I feel leaving it in storage is the best place for it. Speaking of weapons, Windblade come packed with a sword and sheath.




The sword is held easily in her hand and with the wrist swivel it adds to the playability and poses. The sheath can also be pegged into the slot on her thigh adding both storage and the aesthetics.

There is one major flaw with this figure in robot mode and that are the heels. When flat footed the heels give a great look but due to transformation they only move towards the foot. That movement can cause issues when standing Windblade, and much like most of this figure the heels do not peg into anything. I feel the lack of pegs can cause issues in the future. On my figure the joints are tight but I have heard word that some figures are coming with lose joints but just how wide spread that issue is uncertain. It is a concern I have if the joints on mine work themselves lose as time goes on.

In short, is the figure for everyone? I would say no. Windblade screams to me as a collector's toy and more so if you enjoyed the Windblade mini series produced by IDW, written by Mairghread Scott and drawn by Sarah Stone as much as I did then this figure is a must have. If you at all on the fence about picking up Windblade and my words have swayed you do not hesitate is grabbing your own as I feel this one will be tough to find once pre-orders and initial releases are grabbed up. I was fortunate enough to get one as I have heard others were not so lucky.

If you are so bold you can win your very own Wingblade. The good folks at the Transmissions Podcast have a contest you can enter. Click on the following link for the details and you will be battling other Transformers fans, including myself, for an awesome Windblade prize pack. All you need to do is follow the directions here and enter. Good Luck. *EDIT* I'm sorry to report that the contest is now closed, if you entered I wish you luck as you will be going up against me. 

TheRealRonin
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A good toy is the right of all seintient beings.

There are characters that have been revisited, retooled, repainted, repackaged, reinvisioned and multiple other words that begin with the prefix 're' but no other character embodies that more than Optimus Prime. For the last 30 plus years I cannot recall a toy line, TV series or movie franchise that does not include an Optimus Prime. OK yes you have an argument for the Beast Wars/Machine era but your argument does not have much to stand on. Outside of being a Gorilla of some sorts, Optimus has always been a truck of some kind. Be it a big rig, fire engine or pick up truck but there always seems to be one constant and that is the paint scheme being primarily blue and red.

Even with all the various forms Optimus has appeared in over the years, there one design that has set most fans off the most! That design would be the movie version of Prime. We have heard all the complaints over the years. Why is he not a cab over? Why does he have flames? This is not the original Prime I remember! I am not here to add fuel to those fires and that is not my goal. All I want to say is to have patience. In the last 7 years we have seen 4 live action movies, and if you have been waiting patiently I have some good news, it only took those 7 years to get the Optimus Prime you wanted all those years ago.

With Invasion Mode Optimus Prime from the latest release of figures for Transformers 4 Age of Extinction you get, a cab over design, red and blue deco (without flames) and windows in his chest. Are you happy now? Well you can leave your opinion in the comments section below. You will receive my answers as you continue to read. I will toss in the criticism that I have heard over the last few years with previous movieverse Prime's and since this figure has been officially available since May, or if you were lucky early April, but I feel this is the Optimus Prime people have been calling for and waiting for.

We are going to start with Prime in truck mode. The loudest voices against with the movie version of Prime have now been made silent. There have been cab over designs of Optimus released since 2007 in other toy lines. Have we forgotten about the much talked about MP-10 Optimus Prime? The paint application is a closer match to that of MP-10 versus G1 Prime and I think that is the feel the designers at Hasbro were going for. Yeah fine, but he only has one smoke stack! Are you really going to nitpick on that one detail? Did you even look at the stack? Did you not notice it is a dual stack and that is just routed to one side of the cab? I guess not since you are stuck on only seeing the one. Anyways there are some flaws in this mode, the first being the lack of paint on the rear section. A great job was done to hide the majority of feet and legs, but a little bit of paint for bumper, tail lights or even to bring out the details in the trailer hitch. Looking at the instruction sheet you can see they intended to also paint the hub caps of the wheels but that idea did not make the production floor.

Still looking to the back of the figure you come to the one major flaw I have with this mode. That is the open rear of the cab. You can see the faux chest exposed but no cover. That choice was made to eliminate the majority of alt mode kibble the in latest line of movie figures seem to suffer from. The front of the cab screams G1 Optimus Prime but there is a flaw that I have spent quite a bit of my time trying to solve and that is the way the front windows line up. The easiest way I have come to resolving this issue is when transforming into truck mode, turn Prime's head 180 before fitting it into the cab. The neck joint when turned around allows for the head to fit easier in the spaces provided.


Doing so allows the inner lines of the windows to line up just a little bit nicer albeit still not perfect. Overall the cab over design has not been done all that much in a Voyager class scale, but it is nice to see the original G1 and Masterpiece touches.


Moving onto transforming Optimus, this can be a bit of a chore but at
the same time enjoyable. Like many of the newer figures it comes package in one mode while the instructions go in the opposite direction. In Prime's case he is packaged in Robot mode but the instructions start in Truck mode. I have included scans of those instructions. A few steps I added while playing with this toy. The first I spoke of is turning the head 180 degrees to help with the alignment of the front windows. Next will be the arms as they can be tricky. It is best to form the sides and top of the cab first as the other pieces will slip in nicely once everything is flipped into position. The legs can be left for last but why not have some fun and make yourself a Gerwalk or AT-ST Prime? 

Robot mode this is where Optimus shines. He is a complete mix of G1 aesthetics with the movieverse look. The G1 look comes via the blue legs, feet and hands, add to that the grey thighs, red chest and clear windows. Out for the box Optimus is a victim of gorilla arms, but this to can be easily solved. The hands are painted blue so you will need to take his gun to turn them 90 degrees as they are tight on the pivot joint due to the coat of blue paint. Once done you can keep the hands in this better position as it does not affect transformation in the least. Oh look Prime doesn't have a faceplate! This argument is growing old for me as I can point out multiple other primes in the cartoon universe that did not have faceplates. I say this to you, why "hide" the impeccable voice acting of Peter Cullen behind a mask? Even as a child I wondered why his voice did not sound muffled behind the plate? Oh well here I am going on a rant when I should be talking about the head sculpt. The details are amazing and brought out with the blue and silver paint applications as well the nice lightpiping for the eyes. There are some paint details that were planned like the hubcaps did not make it to the production floor. Looking at the box art you see the upper arms were meant to be a mix of grey and red but instead they choose to go with a solid blue plastic. This is easily solved with some paint and patience but it is always interesting to see the design choices that change from a final prototype to production.

A small little addition that is completely by chance due to the transformation is you could (and this is a bit of a stretch) open the chest to give the impression of a Matrix of Leadership chamber. Now there is a planned detail is located on the back of the figure. Just above the waist you see a moulded in trailer hitch. This added detail that was not required but is a very welcomed addition.


Much like the cab over design there is an addition that some collectors have been waiting nearly 4 years for. The box calls it an Ion Cannon for Optimus but we know it as something else. This is Megatron's shotgun from the Dark of the Moon. If you look at the handle you can see the square pegs that will fit this gun into Megatron's hand. Now if you do not happen to have Dark of the Moon Megatron, I guess you can say that Prime took his weapon in the spoils of war.If you disagree I will have a spring loaded missile pointed your way.

I personally am not a fan of this weapon for Prime. I feel he should have more of a traditional blaster to go with the G1 look and feel of this figure. For that reason I display mine with the gun that comes with Generations Deluxe Orion Pax.

Overall this is a good figure. The poseibilty for a Hasbro figure is there with the addition of both a waist swivel and ankle tilts, two features that are rarely seen in  Hasbro figure. The paint applications are sparse and more details in robot mode would have been a nice touch, especially on the shoulder pylons and the upper arms. Is he worth full retail price? Well being a movie figure the market can be flooded with them so that choice is yours but if you are looking my opinion I would say yes. Out of the 6 Age of Extinction figures I have picked up, Optimus Prime is by far the best one of the lot. This design will serve both Hasbro and Takara well for years to come with the inevitable repaints and retools to come. We know that Rusty Prime for the movie will be released and I am almost certain a Nemesis Prime repaint is around the corner. Looking at the figure through the eyes of a model builder I see an almost unlimited potential for customization and one wonders what an Ultra Magnus repaint would look like?  Now how would I attach or hide the shoulder missiles? I have not heard much on a possible trailer release for this figure but that is something in which you should not to get your hopes up on. The trailer hitch is there for looks and there appears to be no future use for it. I personally will only have Optimus displayed in Robot mode, so if by chance a trailer is designed I would hope it has a base mode adding further to the G1 feel and playability.

TheRealRonin
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Vinyl is Retro....Once again!

In a previous review I discussed Series One of The Loyal Subjects vinyl figures. Since that review was first posted I have added to the collection by finding Megatron, Optimus Prime, and Starscream (via a trade with Cybertronian Beast go check out his YouTube channel) and I am still impressed with them. Recently my local comic book shop had the newly released Series Two. Only seeing photos from conventions they appeared to be similar to Series One and so I had no hesitation at all in my mind in grabbing a couple.

With their first release there were a couple of items that could be improved on and to my surprise they have and I will first start with the packaging. With the first release the box was perfect for the G1 feel but with some figures once their accessories were added to them, say their wings in the case of the Seekers, you were not able to place them back inside. The boxes in Series Two are larger and yet they still give the impression of the classic G1 package albeit with a more of a decided Decepticon look. Still a blind pack with no part or product numbers on the outside, so it is a complete gamble on which figure you receive. The box art does include drawings of the figures that are available. In case you are wondering, in Series Two you have Slag, Shrapnel, Thrust, Ramjet, Shockwave, Mirage, Sideswipe and Prowl (the highlighted ones I received) Along with 3 mystery figures that are scattered throughout the cases available, one of which is a talking Optimus Prime.

Once the box is opened you are greeted with a foil bag further adding to the mystery of these blind boxes. Rip open into that foil and you finally get your first look at the figure you received. Inside that bag you also have any additional pieces and weapons along with a G1 style techspec card. When you first remove the figure from its foil prison you start to see the list of improvements that were made after Series One.

The first will be the improvement in poseibility. The head, waist, hips, shoulders and hands are on a ball and socket joint. When I first removed Prowl from his packaging the socket on the waist had popped apart but it was very easy and simple to pop back into place, but be a little careful as they joints can weaken. Those socket joints allow for greater movement over Series One. They do have joints in their waist, neck, shoulders and wrists but overall those joints they are more or less a few pieces of vinyl blocks. Series Two in my eyes would be considered the Generations toyline upgrade to the classic G1 figures that have inspired them.

Continuing with the idea that Series Two being an upgrade to Series One is that they are just slightly larger. For people wishing to add to their already current collection you might be disappointed in that fact, Having them side by side, I cannot line and say I am not disappointed that Thrust does not match up all that well with Thundercracker and Starscream but yet it is those differences make me glad they selected the Coneheads over Skywarp.

Well I brought it up so why not talk about Thrust?  The first improvement you can see is the weapons. The seekers in Series One have a very generic blaster where as Thrust actually comes with null rays on his arms. The post that holds them into the arms needed a dab of glue to hold them in place but in the end that is a small price to pay for the great improvement in the look. Just like in Series One, the figures in Series Two have very sharp paint apps that just scream back to their traditional counterparts. Now to get to the largest and most appreciated upgrade between the two series and that would be the way the wings attached to the back of the figure. Series One had a very flimsy and very tiny peg system. Both Thundercracker and Starscream had an issue where the two tiny pegs would not or could at all fit into the corresponding holes in the back, causing them to bend or snap off. The wings for Thrust use a larger peg to plug those parts into the back, greatly improving ease of installation and stability as well as adding additional details. 

Moving onto Prowl, where I was fortunate enough to have a couple other version of a seeker to compare Thrust to, I shall use the closest representation in Series One being Jazz. Side by side you can once again see the slight size difference and the socket joints. If you look to the paint job you can clearly see the details that were taken direct from original figures to bring the G1 feel out in these figures. Much like the comparison between the seekers the improvements are the same. The door wings on Prowls back attack the same way as the wings on Thrust connect with even the additional moulded on inside car door panels. Like Thrust there is a great weapons upgrade. With the small blaster Jazz has looking like a deformed look of his original blaster where Prowl is equipped with is an almost exact copy of the original G1 and Masterpiece figures. The next improvement would be the handle of these weapons, with a smaller peg placing them into the figures hand is easier, add to that the additional shoulder and wrist movement the figure can easily aim the blaster.

Two down and six to go in Series Two. Will I get more? Now that is a silly question to ask, of course I will. I enjoyed all heartily Series One and Series Two surpassed everything I was expecting considering I was thinking they would have the same build as the first releases. I have had some awesome luck with the first series of blind packs, and for Series Two I am 2 for 2 with one Autobot and one Decepticon. When I do get more I will be posting those photos on my Facebook page so you to have have a closer look. To keep up with my future purchases click the link below and like my page, as well you can follow me on Twitter.

TheRealRonin
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