Dave's Attacktix Rant: Wave 1 Boosters Latest Update: 8/9/06 - Set completed. Prices: $7.99 at Target, they're probably still using the 3-pack pricing though. I suppose this is balance for the $5 6" Titaniums some are seeing. Should be $4.99, but until the official street date, they'll show as the old price. TRU also has the problem of $4.99 shelf stickers but ringing up for $7.99. See http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Artifacts/AttRules for comments on the rules booklet. http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Artifacts/AttU1 has my review of the Intergalactic Showdown set, in which the molds for TF13 and TF16 can be seen. This file is going to cover the 18 figures available in the boosters, and be updated as I get the figures. Since they're blind-packed in boosters, the recommendation on each one will reflect how hard I think you should trade to get the figure (or search eBay, or whatever). PACKAGING: Unlike the earlier Star Wars Attacktix, these are not triangular prisms of just cardboard, with easy-to-steal-from closings. Instead, these are rectangular boxes 4.5" (11cm) wide, 5" (13cm) tall and 2.25" (5.5cm) deep, enclosed in a plastic clamshell 5.5" (14cm) wide and 8.25" (21cm) tall. Very theft-proof, they require a scissors or knife to get into, as they're heat- sealed closed around all edges (except the bottom, which is the folding line, so it's sealed too). This also makes them somewhat consumer-proof too. [Later note: if you can get a knife into one of the bottom corners, you can crack the heat-sealed sides open, or just slice up the side.] The front of the box shows Optimus Prime blasting Megatron in the same art style as used on the TF vs Star Wars box. The top is black with the words "REAL ATTACK MOVES!" in white, while the bottom has barcode and legal stuff. The right side shows a sample game setup, with TFs facing off against SW figures. The left side has a small visual checklist claiming there are 6 rares and 12 super-rares. The figures are also listed as TRxx instead of TFxx. Early returns, including my own first three boosters, suggest that the booster is correct about rarity (i.e. TF07 and TF08 are super-rare), but the actual toys have TFxx numbering. The back shows Optimus Prime shooting his missile, plus some basic explanatory text (i.e. showing the underside of the base, pointing out things like speed and ID band). The box, by the way, is not an actual box. The back is a separate piece fmor the rest of the sides, and nothing is taped or stapled closed, it's just cardstock folded and held in shape by the clamshell. There are no instructions inside. The figures are loose inside the box in taped-shut baggies, there's no structural tricks to prevent shaking or weighing, although at least it's no longer possible to steal the good figures out of a package and make it look like it's been undisturbed. Definitely a good idea to keep the baggies of figures that fire missiles, so you can keep the missiles with the figures. In addition to the rare and super-rare classifications, there's also chrome-based chase figures. These have no game-mechanical effect, they're just there to make it harder to collect a "full" set for the serious collector types. A chrome-based rare does NOT take up a super-rare slot, it just replaces the rare one-to-one. I can say this with confidence because the first booster I opened had a chrome-based Omnicon and a Scorponok. :) This rarity scheme is pretty simple. On average, if you buy a lot of boosters, for every super-rare you get, you will also have two copies of every rare. At least 12 boosters must be bought to have a chance of getting a complete set, although if you get chrome-based figures and trade them for multiple regular figures you could potentially complete a set with fewer boosters. There is at least one packaging variation. In some of the boosters I got later, there is a small folded packet with a full visual checklist, both TF wave 1 and Star Wars wave 4. It doesn't show the Battle Case, but does show the Galvatron that comes with it (just a repaint, no mold difference that I can see). The ones I got from TRU had the checklist. In case anyone's curious, my first three boosters had: Omnicon (chrome) and Scorponok, Omnicon (regular) and Starscream, Omnicon (regular) and Optimus Prime (robot mode). There will be Omnicon repainting, oh yes. Second batch of five boosters had: Scorponok (chrome) and Decepticlone, Starscream (chrome) and Insecticon, Megatron vehicle and Omnicon, Vector Prime and Battle Ravage, Landmine and Battle Ravage. Third batch of eight (3 from TRU, 5 from Target) had: Scorponok and Mini-Con, Hot Shot and Rodimus, Vector Prime and Omnicon, Landmine and Battle Ravage, Vector Prime and Mini-Con, Scourge and Omnicon, Scorponok (chrome) and Decepticlone, Megatron (vehicle) and Insecticon. Yep, four new figures out of eight boosters...definitely time to stop buying boosters and start trading. Out of 16 boosters, I have all of the commons and 8 of the rares, a bit worse on the rares than I'd hoped. Ended up trading for Excellion, Optimus Prime (Vehicle), Megatron (robot) and Ransack. I seem to have had bad luck, though, as others I've talked to have had fewer doubles among the rare figures. Chromes: Omnicon, Scorponok (x2), Starscream. I ended up trading Starscream and the two Scorponoks to a couple of people to get the four figures I still needed. Chrome Omnicon will now lead the Omnicon Horde. FIGURES The entries will follow the format below: NAME - Recommendation Collector's Number: Rarity: Points: Attacktix Class: Faction Class: Speed: Special: Special Ability: Height: Base: Attack Type: Comments on sculpt, pose, etc. I will not give a recommendation until I have physically inspected the figure, either by dint of owning it, or in the event I can borrow one for a while (which seems unlikely, I don't know anyone locally who'd be buying these). Most of the entries are explained in the "AttRules" file mentioned above. I refuse to use the "Rare/Super Rare" nonsense in the checklist here, though, so "Rarity" will be either Common or Rare. Speed is the range of speed values possible for the figure, with the most common value listed in parentheses. So, for instance, if a figure has two speed 3 tix, 22 speed 4 tix and 2 speed 5 tix, that will be listed as "Speed: 3-5 (4)". Usually there's only one or two tix with speed other than the most common value. In general, if there's speeds above and below average, you get two tix below and two tix above. But if there isn't a speed below average, there's only one tik with the higher value. There are probably exceptions, but this seems to be the way it's going. The Special entry tells how many tix out of 26 show the white space that means the ability is active. Attack type is generally obvious, but to reiterate something from the AttRules file, "Shield Missile" is my term for a projectile with a large warhead, most of which look like shields. "Base" is the diameter of the base. The variation may seem small, but the difference between 4cm and 5cm is the difference between easy to knock over and very hard to knock over with missile fire. I will also present missile performance ratings in terms of physics, with the caveat that there's probably a lot of variation in spring strengths. Each missile will get a "maximum momentum" rating in grams times metes per second, or gm/s. This is a rating of how much oomph it has in terms of being able to knock something over at short range. Here's the math if you want to work this out for your own figures. Measure the maximum firing height in meters, multiply by 19.6, then take the square root. This will give you the launch speed in meters per second. Then use a postal scale or something of equivalent sensitivity to measure the mass of the missile in grams, and multiply that by the speed to get momentum. Mind you, it's not all in the momentum of the missile. The wider shield missiles are less likely to deflect off to the side, so will transfer a greater percentage of their momentum. MINI-CON - Mildly recommended Collector's Number: TF01 Rarity: Common Points: 10 Attacktix Class: Trooper Faction Class: Autobot Speed: 4-6 (4) Special: 4 Special Ability: Attackback (Autobot) - Free move and attack for one of your Autobots. Height: 2.25" (5.5cm) Base: 4cm Attack Type: Ranged This mold is Skyboom, the Sonar remold member of the Energon Saber team, or as close as they can get without having clear plastic. It's kept pretty much in proportion, since there's no built-in weapon element to expand. Instead, the figure holds a big cannon in both hands. The gun is gunmetal plastic with a red trigger, and the missile is also red. The torso is a bright yellow plastic, and the rest of the toy seems to be made of pale gold plastic. There's gunmetal paint on the head, central torso, pelvis and lower legs. The thighs are painted bright yellow, and the shoulder wings a dark blue-gray. The yellow and red plastics glow brightly under UV. Despite the large number of paint apps, it really needs more detail, especially in the face and chest. The mold looks good, though, so customizers will have fun with this one (cut off the canards and make Sonar!). The arms move together, since they're both attached to the gun. The head and waist swivel. The gun can point from about 45 degrees down to 45 degrees up, which is plenty of elevation for this game. Standard 2g missile fires about 2.1m straight up, for a muzzle velocity of 6.4 m/s and a maximum momentum of about 12-13 gm/s. It's an okay figure, worth getting. But since it's a "common", you shouldn't put too much effort into trying to get it solo. OMNICON - Recommended Collector's Number: TF02 Rarity: Common Points: 10 Attacktix Class: Trooper Faction Class: Autobot Speed: 4-5 (4) Special: 6 Special Ability: Battle Cry - Make an additional attack next turn if you have an Autobot in play. Height: 2.5" (6cm) Base: 4cm Attack Type: Ranged This is the Energon Signal Flare/Offshoot mold, but not done in either of their color schemes. It's made from two different plastic colors (and three plastic types or more, as the launcher is rigid while the rest are softer). Torso, legs and launcher are dark gray plastic. Head, left arm and right upper arm are a gold/bronze plastic. The chest and part of the launcher are painted this same gold/bronze color. The thighs and Energon Star post are painted red (and the trigger is red plastic). The face is silver with red visor. Due to Signal Flare's original design, they barely had to distort the cannon arm. The pose is slightly crouched, with cannon arm straight and regular arm bent about 45 degrees. Neck, waist and shoulders are swivels. The missile fires about 2.3 meters high (with significant shot-to-shot variation) for a muzzle velocity of about 6.7 m/s. The missile is abotu 2g, for a maximum momentum of 13-14 gm/s. A good sculpt, decent power, good missile, and an excellent troopbuilder sort of thing. Which is good, because you're likely to get a lot. Worth putting some effort into finding, even as a common. And I have plenty to spare if you need one. DECEPTICLONE - Recommended Collector's Number: TF03 Rarity: Common Points: 10 Attacktix Class: Trooper Faction Class: Decepticon Speed: 4-5 (4) Special: 4 Special Ability: Attackback (Decepticon) - Free move and attack for one of your Decepticons. Height: 2.5" (6.5cm) Base: 4cm Attack Type: Ranged This is actually the Light Unit Decepticlone from the PS2 Armada game, making this the first time a Transformers toy taken from a video game has been made, as far as I know (at least for U.S. release, and not counting recolors exclusive to a game). It's non-transforming in the game, so doesn't really have an altmode, although there's some vaguely jetlike aspects. It kinda feels like the original Battletech interpretation of the Varitech jets. http://www.dvandom.com/images/decepticlone.JPG is a scan from the Prima stratgey guide. The figure is made of a slightly metallic medium gray plastic, with the usual red trigger and (usual for Decepticons) violet missile. There's a sort of periwinkle blue paint on the right and left torso, and metallic violet paint on the pelvis, kneecaps and some on the gun. The optic slit is neon green. The right arm is entirely launcher. The shoulders, neck and waist swivel. The left arm is bent 90 degrees, and the legs are spread and slightly bent. Maximum missile launch height is about 2m, but a somewhat stiff gasket gives a fair amount of variability. Muzzle velocity comes out to about 6m/s, and with the missile mass of 2g gives a momentum of 12 gm/s, give or take. The special ability is very nice, but doesn't come up often enough to count on, even if you play a weenie horde of Decepticlones. INSECTICON - Recommended Collector's Number: TF04 Rarity: Common Points: 10 Attacktix Class: Trooper Faction Class: Decepticon Speed: 4-5 (4) Special: 4 Special Ability: Recruit (Insecticon) - Put one Insecticon into play from your Back-Ups. Height: 2.75" (7cm) Base: 4cm Attack Type: Ranged The Terrorcon Insecticon from Energon, with the proportions changed a LOT, and for the better. It actually has the sort of lanky, big-booted proportions typical of the early Star Wars Attacktix. Rather than balloon up any body parts for the launcher, it just holds a big cannon that's unrelated to the original toy's weapon. The gun is made of rigid gunmetal plastic, while the head and lower body are softer gunmetal plastic. The torso and arms are a dark green plastic. The trigger, as always is red plastic. The face and Energon Star crystal are painted purple, the upper legs and part of the shoulders are yellow, and there's some sky blue on the abdomen. Definitely in a Dreamwave Crouch pose, but it looks okay on this sculpt. Bombshell repaints are practically de rigeur for anyone out there with even a little painting skill. The usual neck/waist/shoulder swivels ar present. The gun looks removable, but is glued into the hand. (Aside: My apartment is really too cluttered for me to be firing these missiles around, but I suppose it gets me some exercise.) The missile fires a little over 2m high, for a muzzle velocity of around 7m/s. It's a standard small 2g missile, so the momentum is about 14 gm/s. The main flaw on the original Energon Insecticon toy was that the robot mode was rather stumpy. This fixes that. :) Worth picking up if you like the character, even if you don't play Attacktix. RODIMUS - Strongly recommended Collector's Number: TF05 Rarity: Common Points: 20 Attacktix Class: Captain Faction Class: Autobot Speed: 6-8 (6) Special: 12 Special Ability: Recruit (Trooper) - Put a Trooper into play from your Back-Ups. Height: 2.5" (6.5cm) Base: 4.5cm Attack Type: Ranged Energon Rodimus, but with yellow replacing the gold paint. He has an odd speed profile, with 2 tix of 7 and one of 8, none of 5 or below. He's also rather fast for a ranged attacker, and his special ability goes off almost half the time. The gun is dark gunmetal plastic with red trigger. The figure is all red plastic, with a very nice set of paint applications. UV-glowy orange paint is on the fists and thighs. Yellow paint is used for the chest and knee flames, but the pelvis and hubcaps see gold paint. A UV-glowy red Autobot symbol is vaguely painted on his chest (making him one of the few with a faction symbol as part of his paint job). The shoulder wheels are dark gray, the toes are gunmetal, and there's light blue paint on the collar and abdomen. The face is silver with blue eyes, yellow crest and blue "tablet". Interestingly, the backs of the thighs are unpainted, as are the insteps of the toes, a nice demonstration of how a single part may require more than one paint application. By leaving those bits unpained, they could afford to add more detail to the front. The figure is well-proportioned, as the separate cannon is all that gets blown up (it doesn't really look like Rodimus's handgun). He's in a bit of a crouch, but not badly. Standard four swivels of articulation. Standard 2g missile fires about 2m up, so muzzle velocity around 6m/s and initial momentum of 12 gm/s. Good sculpt, decent pose, very good paint job, and good game mechanics, definitely worth hunting down, even as a common. After some experience playing with this figure, I can confirm that it's a good one to play with. BATTLE RAVAGE - Mildly recommended Collector's Number: TF06 Rarity: Common Points: 20 Attacktix Class: Specialist Faction Class: Decepticon Speed: 9-11 (10) Special: 8 Special Ability: Rally (Battle Ravage) - Return one of your defeated Battle Ravage figures to play. Height: 2.25" (6cm) Base: 4.5cm Attack Type: Melee Terrorcon Battle Ravage from Energon. His melee weapon is a ball and chain with a spiked energon ball. The overall effective length of this weapon is only about 2" (5cm) out from the edge of his base, somewhat shorter than lightsaber weapons in SW Attacktix, but the flail effect and the fact that the mass is concentrated out in the ball (which is about 7-8 g) may result in a generally more effective melee attack. The figure is made of light metallic gray plastic, an odd choice given that Battle Ravage is mostly black. The silver paint on head, forearms and lower legs barely contrasts. There's also red and purple accents in a few places, and neon green on the eyes, back "vents" and the mace head. The handle of the mace is a light gray tube, and the string is white (although a green highlighter might let you match it to the mace). A very simple mod for this one would be to paint most of the unpainted areas black. The right arm, holding the mace, is in a weird pose that only looks good when the arm is about 45 degrees down from straight back. The left arm is bent 90 degrees, and the legs are in a crouch stance. Standard four points of articulation, although the waist is spring-loaded for the melee attack. It's kinda hard to get it positioned for attack, but it really packs a punch if you can do it correctly. I also found during play that when in close, his non-weapon arm can be used effectively in an attack too. SCOURGE - Mildly recommended (Neutral if play value is important to you) Collector's Number: TF07 Rarity: Rare Points: 20 Attacktix Class: Specialist Faction Class: Decepticon Speed: 7-9 (8) Special: 12 Special Ability: Recruit (Trooper) - Put a Trooper into play from your Back-Ups. Height: 2.75" (7cm) Base: 4cm Attack Type: Melee Cybertron Scourge, oddly enough not a Leader or even a Captain. His axe is his melee weapon, and it's a bit on the short side, only reaching 2" (5cm) past his base. Looks like "standard" spring-action melee attacks are gonna be shorter-ranged in TF Attacktix than in Star Wars Attacktix. The head, torso and axe are very dark gunmetal gray, and the axe piece includes the right hand. The arms (other than right hand), beavis backpack (the two extra heads) and lower body are dark orange plastic. There's orange paint (the only stuff that really UV reacts) on the middle of the backpack, theright hand and the chest, dark gunmetal paint on the upper arms and pelvis. The face is purple, and there's purple on the wingtips and axe blade, plus the dragon forehead on the chest. The feet, wings, axe head, pelvis front and wrist claws are gold. There's a bit of silver on the chest, and neon green eyes. Decent pose, although it leans a bit forward, making it really easy to knock over when attacking from behind. The arms both connect to the axe, so they move together. The head swivels, and the waist is a spring-loaded swivel. It's a bit mushy on mine, there seems to be significant variation in these from totally dead (as with my SvT Luke Skywalker) to rather sprightly (the Battle Ravage I reviewed). It looks decent, but I get the feeling it wouldn't play too well. It's a slowpoke relative to other melee attackers, has a short weapon, and bad balance. Decent special ability and a good chance it'll trigger, but there's probably other Decepticons you'd be better off using. The small base size makes it susceptible to defeat by missile, though. STARSCREAM - Recommended Collector's Number: TF08 Rarity: Rare Points: 30 Attacktix Class: Captain Faction Class: Decepticon Speed: 6-8 (6) Special: 14 Special Ability: Rally (Decepticon) - Return one of your defeated Decepticons to play. Height: 2.5" (6cm) Base: 4.5cm Attack Type: Ranged Cybertron Starscream, his missile fires from his right arm, which goes against both the Voyager and Supreme versions. The launcher is, as standard for this line, a ballooned-up version of the regular design. It accomodates a violet missile. The base plastic is a darkish silver. Dark red and black paint are applied pretty much in the right places for the character, although the back is more black than on the regular toy. The pose is slightly squatty, but not the Dreamwave Crouch. The right arm is straight out, the left arm bent 90 degrees at the elbow. Shoulders, waist and neck turn, although you need really small fingers to get at the head between the shoulderpad things. The missile launches about 2m straight up, for a muzzle velocity of about 6m/s. The missile mass is about 2-3g (my mail scale isn't terribly precise at this level), so the maximum momentum is around 12-18 gm/s. Decent pose, good colors and mold, nice missile speed. One to seek out. HOT SHOT - Mildly recommended Collector's Number: TF09 Rarity: Rare Points: 40 Attacktix Class: Warrior Faction Class: Autobot Speed: 4-5 (4) Special: 10 Special Ability: Rally (Autobot) - Return one of your defeated Autobots to play. Height: 2.25" (5.5cm) Base: 4cm Attack Type: Ranged (Shield Missile) Cybertron Hot Shot. Weird proportions, his "wings" are so small they look more like horns, and his legs are rather far apart at the hips. Instead of giving him a gun, they blew up his right arm so that he's launching his big missile out of his fist, I suppose playing off the blasters molded into the door. On the plus side, he has a molded Autobot symbol on his left shoulder. It's unpainted, but that's easily fixed. The right arm is made of very dark blue plastic, with red trigger and shield missile. The head and torso are made of softer dark blue plastic. The right shoulder, left arm, backpack and lower body are made of lightish blue plastic. The upper arms and thighs are painted in dark red, and there's lighter red (and UV-glowy) paint accents elsewhere on the toy. Plenty of yellow paint in the appropriate places, black on the tires, toes and Key slot. The tires on the arms have metallic light blue hubcaps, but the tires on the boots have black hubcaps. There's also some metallic light blue on the launcher arm's door, the torso and face. He's in a Dreamwave Crouch, with left arm bent 90 degrees. He has the standard four swivel joints, although the wings on his back block movement some. The missile has three-fold symmetry, looking kinda like a propeller in front of a WWII fighter plane engine when viewed from the front. It fires about 75cm high, quite powerful for shield missiles. The muzzle velocity is 3.5 to 4.0 m/s, and this combines with an 8g missile to give a momentum of about 30 gm/s. Decent attacker, so-so sculpt. Small base. EXCELLION - Recommended Collector's Number: TF10 Rarity: Rare Points: 40 Attacktix Class: Warrior Faction Class: Autobot Speed: 4-5 (4) Special: 14 Special Ability: Sacrifice (Trooper) - Replace one of your Troopers with this figure. Height: 2.25" (5.5cm) Base: 4.5cm Attack Type: Ranged (Shield Missile) Same mold as Hot Shot, same missile, but on a slightly larger base. Don't discount an extra half centimeter of base, though, it can really make a difference against ranged attacks. The launcher is dark gray plastic with red button. The head and torso are dark gray plastic, the rest is red plastic. Orange paint is on the upper arms, thighs and some details on the chest. Dark gray paint is on the pelvis, toes, wheels, left forearm and Key slot, it doesn't match the dark gray plastic perfectly, but comes close. There's silver on the face, shoulders, hubcaps, abdomen and details on pelvis and back. The inside of the left door, the eyes and wings are light blue, the door part of the launcher arm is painted red, and there's bits of gold on the helmet and boots. The missile and launcher button glow strongly under UV, and hte orange paint glows moderately. The missile fires straight up about 60cm, for about 3.4 m/s of launch speed. It's 8g, so 27-28 gm/s. Probably just normal spring variation, and not a deliberately weaker launcher than Hot Shot. I like the color scheme better, and combined with the larger base my recommendation is a bit higher than for Hot Shot. VECTOR PRIME - Mildly recommended. Collector's Number: TF11 Rarity: Rare Points: 40 Attacktix Class: Leader Faction Class: Autobot Speed: 4-5 (4) Special: 20 Special Ability: Vengeance (2x Insecticon) - Remove up to two of your opponent's Insecticons if you have another figure in play. Height: 2.5" (6.5cm) Base: 4.5cm Attack Type: Ranged (Shield Missile) You know, if any of the booster packed Autobots merited a simple sword-slash melee attack, it was Vector Prime. Instead, he gets a missile and a rather awkward pose. Of course, he's also the anti-Scorponok, which I suppose is appropriate in some way. By that, I mean that if Scorponok manages to Recruit two Insecticons, Vector Prime is very likely to take 'em out if he goes down. Entirely made of light gray plastic except for the red trigger, with metallic blue, dark bronze, gold and red paint apps that are almost better than those on the real thing. The proportions are good, since the launcher is just a big chunk glued to the right forearm, but the pose almost looks like he's supposed to be a robo-zombie. It's not so bad from behind, but his armor skirt is oddly placed in front. The usual four swivels of articulation, and in mine the head was paintlocked. [Later note: the launcher is a horribly warped and even mistransformed Safeguard.] The big wheel-shaped missile fires about 35cm up, and on mine seems to pull to the right significantly...bad aim. Anyway, that's a muzzle velocity of about 2.5 m/s, and the 7g missile thus means a momentum of about 15-17 gm/s. The missile also makes a most excellent top. I'm kinda mixed on this one. It's a decent game piece in mechanical terms, but looks kinda off, and as mentioned would have felt so much better as a sword-slinger. LANDMINE - Mildly recommended Collector's Number: TF12 Rarity: Rare Points: 30 Attacktix Class: Warrior Faction Class: Autobot Speed: 9-11 (10) Special: 12 Special Ability: Shootback (3x Minicon) - Free attack for up to three of your Mini-Con figures. Height: 3" (7.5cm) Base: 5cm Attack Type: Melee (Jabbing) Energon Landmine in Brute Mode. The entire right arm is just an oversized tread with jabbing claw tip. It only jabs forward 1.5cm, making it inferior to Skyblast's spear, but it does have enough force to knock over an enemy figure if you start with the claw pretty much touching the figure. Also good for precision attacks at Battle Master kneecaps, I suppose. The weapon is very dark gray plastic with red trigger and violet jabbing tip. The head is very dark gray plastic, and the rest of the figure is a yellowish orange. Light blue paint covers the left forearm and much of the torso, very dark gray paint on the upper left arm, left exhaust pipe flare, pelvis, thighs and part of the torso. Silver paint graces the crane, boots, chest and head. The Energon Star mount is red, and there's yellow accents on the head and chest, plus yellow eyes. The figure is very much in a Dreamwave Crouch, and it has the standard four points of articulation. The crane blocks some head movement, though. All in all, unless you plan to use a Mini-Con swarm, you're better off with Skyblast. Same points, better jabbing, and has the useful Transform trick (guaranteed to work since the Starter comes with both modes). SUPER OPTIMUS PRIME - Mildly recommended Collector's Number: TF13 Rarity: Rare Points: 40 Attacktix Class: Leader Faction Class: Autobot Speed: 4-5 (4) Special: 8 Special Ability: Transform (Super Optimus Prime Vehicle) - Put Super Optimus Prime Vehicle mode into play from your Back-Ups. Height: 3" (7.5cm) Base: 5cm Attack Type: Ranged (Shield Missile) This is the robot mode of Cybertron Super Optimus Prime, the same mold as in the Intergalactic Showdown set, same paint job, etc. Mine has an interesting defect...a blank speed value on one click. Does this mean he can never move again? :) I suppose I'll treat it as a 4 if I play this figure. The big missile fires about 30cm straight up, for a muzzle velocity of only about 2.5m/s. The missile has a mass of about 9g, so the maximum momentum is around 20-25 gm/s. If you can get a close-range shot off, it'll pound an opponent, but range kinda sucks. Mildly recommended on its own, especially if you get the versus set. Really only worthwhile if you get TF14 as well. SUPER OPTIMUS PRIME - Recommended Collector's Number: TF14 Rarity: Rare Points: 30 Attacktix Class: Leader Faction Class: Autobot Speed: 7-9 (8) Special: 20 Special Ability: Transform (Super Optimus Prime) Height: 2.75" (7cm), and 2.5" (6.5cm) long Base: 4.5cm Attack Type: Ranged This is the vehicle mode of Cybertron Optimus Prime. The launcher is left (driver's) side gun inflated to hold the missile, and resting on a hinge at the rear of the truck. The launcher doesn't want to stay level on its own, preferring to be angled up a bit...a bad thing for actual play, since you generally want to strike chest or abdomen, not head. It can elevate to almost straight up, but that's not too useful. The vehicle is on a 1" (2.5cm) tall platform that can swivel around. Unlike most of the toys in this line, the figure is all rigid plastic, no soft stuff except for the missile and launcher button (which are the usual red). The launcher is light gray with a faint metallic ast. The vehicle is red plastic on a red plastic base that seems designed to look like an elevator inside the Autobot base. There's white paint on the gridwork of the launcher as well as on the front of the cab. The wheels are painted black, as are the headlights (with orange spots). The lightbar, windows and some other details are dark blue, and there's extensive silver details on the vehicle. The base is unpainted. Standard 2g missile fires about 2.1m high, for a muzzle velocity of 6.4 m/s and a momentum of 12-13 gm/s. The lack of low-aiming is a problem, and the center of mass is kinda high, but its main job is to bring the robot mode out of your Back-Ups anyway, so it's worth getting. SCORPONOK - Recommended Collector's Number: TF15 Rarity: Rare Points: 30 Attacktix Class: Captain Faction Class: Decepticon Speed: 9-11 (10) Special: 10 Special Ability: Recruit (2x Insecticons) - Put up to two Insecticons into play from your Back-Ups. Height: 2.75" (7cm) Base: 5cm Attack Type: Melee (Throwing) More or less the Energon color scheme. The base plastic seems to be a dark olive green. Upper torso and backpack are a metallic green, the head is painted light metallic blue with black accents, a purple face and red eyes. Upper arms, thighs, toes and scoops are painted an orange-ish brown. The thumbs and some other accents are purple, the struts on the right arm are pale gold, and there's metallic blue on the ankles. The right arm is larger and a little more detailed than the left, as it is intended as the weapon arm. However, there's no spring-action or special levers, just a very loose shoulder swivel so you can manually pick up and launch an opposing figure. The left arm will work too, just not as well. The waist and head also turn. The figure is in a crouching pose, appropriate to the scoop-and-toss action. David Willis reports immense satisfaction in using Scorponok to throw opposing figures five feet or so. The fun value in this prompts me to give it a "recommended" rating overall. MEGATRON - Recommended Collector's Number: TF16 Rarity: Rare Points: 40 Attacktix Class: Leader Faction Class: Decepticon Speed: 4-5 (4) Special: 8 Special Ability: Transform (Megatron Vehicle) - Put Megatron Vehicle mode into play from your Back-Ups. Height: 2.75" (7cm) Base: 5cm Attack Type: Ranged (Shield Missile) This is the robot mode of Cybertron Megatron, the same mold as in the Intergalactic Showdown set. Very stable mold, hard to knock over. And his oddly shaped missile acts as sloped armor. Other than base color and special ability, there's no difference between the two versions. The weird-shaped missile fires a good 85-90 cm straight up, for a launch speed of 4.1 m/s or thereabouts. It's only about 7g, lighter than most shield missiles, for a momentum of 28-29 gm/s. Gold-base Megatron's special ability is more generally useful, however, unless you plan to have a large enough force that you can have both modes in your Back-Ups. As it stands, his special ability isn't too useful in regular play, you're much better off getting the gold-base version. MEGATRON - Recommended (mainly on gameplay points) Collector's Number: TF17 Rarity: Rare Points: 30 Attacktix Class: Leader Faction Class: Decepticon Speed: 7-9 (8) Special: 20 Special Ability: Transform (Megatron) - Put Megatron into play from your Back-Ups. Height: 2.25" (6cm) wingspan, 2.75" (7cm) high. Base: 4.5cm Attack Type: Ranged This is the jet mode of Cybertron Megatron. It rests on a pillar of orange thrust flames and has the launcher attached to the tail fins on top. The jet is actually pointed somewhat nose-down. While Megatron has the ability to Transform into this mode, the higher chance of the power working means you're better off starting with this mode. Note also that it doesn't specify which Megatron, so you can put the gold-base version in your Back-Ups instead and have this figure bring it out. The figure seems to be made entirely of black plastic, with the launcher and its mount being gold plastic (with a few swirls that suggest Gold Plastic Syndrome might be possible). The trigger is red and the simple missile is violet. The jet rests on a thrust column that's painted bright orange, and there's also an orange stripe on the top of the launcher and some orange details on the jet. Metallic purple, metallic cyan, metallic light blue, silver, nonmetallic purple, red and white paints further accent the jet mode. It's notable for having a Decepticon symbol (sloppily) applied to the cockpit area, given that most of the figures lack faction symbols on the figure itself. The launcher is stable in positions pointing up about 15 degrees or down around 30 degrees, but can be held straight on. There's no other poseability for this figure. Fires over 2m straight up, although accuracy seems iffy. Call it muzzle velocity of 6.5 m/s, and the standard 2g missile means 12-14 gm/s maximum momentum. Useful as one of the few fast ranged figures, although to be honest, speed doesn't matter a whole lot when you have missiles that can fire across a table without losing much speed. However, the 77% chance of bringing a figure out of Back-Ups makes this practically a free unit, so worth including in a force if you have the robot mode. Also, as I found in play, getting right up on a target turns a simple missile into an effective melee jabber. RANSACK - Mildly recommended. Collector's Number: TF18 Rarity: Rare Points: 20 Attacktix Class: Specialist Faction Class: Decepticon Speed: 7-9 (8) Special: 14 Special Ability: Recover (Crumplezone) - Stand up Ransack if if you have Crumplezone in play. (Yes, "if if".) Height: 2.5" (6cm) at the head, 3.75" (9.5cm) long weapon. Base: 4cm Attack Type: Melee (Claw) Cybertron Ransack, with his blaster weapon changed into a rotatable claw weapon. It's essentially a higher-held jabbing weapon, and if you get lucky and get it to catch onto something, you can turn the knob at the back and twist the target over. But the tines (which are made to look like Ransack's blaster) have only a 1cm gap between them, making it difficult to catch onto something. Standard four swivels of articulation. Right arm holding the weapon straight out, left arm bent and hand open. Weird sort of semi-crouch pose on the legs. The weapon shaft, tines and hexagonal launch button (the only one of that shape, with a Key slot triangle on it) plus the torso are made of a semi-rigid red plastic that glows brightly under UV. The body of the weapon and the knob at the rear are a slightly darker red rigid plastic that also glows fairly brightly. The head, lower body and the bit behind the head are a slightly glowy soft red plastic. The arms are made of a plastic that's totally painted over, but glows blue through some thin spots in the paint, so it's probably white or blue. The arms, helmet crest, pelvis, thighs, toe, heels, wheel holders and tine tips are painted black. The shoulders, chest, tine tops, weapon top and face are painted silver. The abdomen, shins and forearm armor pieces are painted gold. The wheels are painted a sort of maroon (and all made of red plastic as far as I can tell). The weapon jabs out about 13mm (half an inch), making it the weakest of the jabbing weapons. If you get a grip, though, it can topple even Omega Supreme. The special ability requires having Crumplezone in play, and given how crappy that figure is, it's a fairly useless ability. Unless you're determined to play "faction pure", you're better off with Skyblast for jabbing. Or just use Battle Ravage for the same cost. Dave Van Domelen, done for now.