Dave's Kiddie Transformers Rant: Robot Heroes Wave 1 Optimus Prime / Ravage Mirage / Starscream Rodimus / Insecticon Grimlock / Shockwave Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/RH1 In the tradition of Galactic Heroes for Star Wars and the Marvel Heroes line, we get Robot Heroes, chunky little semi-chibi semi-poseable figures. While released on movie-pattern packaging, these are all (so far) G1 designs, so I'm putting them in the 123 directory with Go-Bots and Tonka 1-2-3's. They're sold in two-packs for five to seven bucks a pack, depending on store. CAPSULES Optimus Prime / Ravage: Fairly canonical Prime pose, both cute and imperious. Li'l Prime is a jerk. Ravage doesn't work so well, which is a pity, since it should have been dangerously cute. Mildly recommended. $5.99 at Target. Mirage / Starscream: Mirage is very good, Starscream has a weird molding error in his head sculpt that makes it look like his head is melting sideways or something. Mildly recommended. $5.99 at Target. Rodimus / Insecticon: Neither figure is great, but both are good. A solid set, recommended. $5.99 at Target. Grimlock / Shockwave: Grimlock rules, and Shockwave is pretty good. If you get only one set from this wave, get this set. Strongly recommended. $5.99 at Target. RANTS Packaging: As with the other Heroes lines, these are in carded blisters with two figures. The cards are 6.5" (16.5cm) wide and 5" (13cm) tall. A card insert between the outer and inner blister pieces has art of the two characters included, with their names below, the Robot Heroes logo in the middle, and a 3+ advisory below that. In the lower right of the insert is the disclaimer, "Product does not convert." The main TF logo is on the front of the backing card, with faint Autobot and Decepticon logos (movie style) behind the figures. It seems like Robot Heroes is going with an Autobot and a Decepticon in each pack. All designs in the first two waves are G1 characters, despite the use of the movie logo. On the back at the top is the copy "ROBOT HEROES get ready to roll out!" and the Robot Heroes logo. Below that is the copy, "Race into action with the galaxy's greatest collection of mighty metal warriors! The most powerful heroes from the planet CYBERTRON are here to battle for the fate of the universe. With the incredible ability to change into every day objects and technology beyond your wildest dreams, these ROBOT HEROES are more than meets the eye!" Note that the toys are not made of metal and do not transform. :) Most of the cardback is dominated by pictures of the wave's characters, and a "COLLECT THEM ALL!" admonition. There are no individual bios or anything. The blister is held on in the now-standard movie manner, with side tabs taped to the back, and top and bottom tabs glued. There's no twist-ties or rubber bands, but it can sometimes be hard to get the figure out of the blister tray. Line-wide, all figures are about the same size, meaning that little characters are as big as large characters. The level of sculpted detail and painted detail are both very good, and some even have printed bits based on original toy decals. All are made of rubbery soft plastic, and while I haven't actually TRIED this, I suspect they're reasonably gnaw-resistant. Hey, they're for 3 and up, and when I was 3 I know a lot of my plastic toys had gnawmarks. My Mego Star Trek figures all had chewed hands. AUTOBOT: OPTIMUS PRIME Chest thrust out, looking down his nose at you and pointing accusingly, this is an imperious Optimus. He doesn't quite have a Delbo Point going, but this does seem to be an overly common pose for G1 Prime: rifle in right hand, right arm bent about 90 degrees, left arm straight out and pointing with index finger. It looks like he's chiding Ravage for making a mess on the rug. 6cm tall at the head, this seems to be made entirely of dark blue plastic with somewhat metalflaked red paint on torso and arms, and silver on pelvis, thigs, tanks, etc. The rifle and wheels are black, the chest windows and eyes are metallic blue, and there's yellow details in all the right places. A white Autobot symbol outline is printed on his left shoulder (the right shoulder one is covered up by his gun anyway). The arms and head are pegged on, and can turn. In theory, you could pop off parts and swap them around, but it feels like the chances of snapping the pegs are pretty high, so I'm not gonna risk it. Oh, and he has long stacks, proportionally speaking. :) DECEPTICON: RAVAGE This one didn't translate so well. The oversized head fails to look either cute or menacing, it's in an awkward intermediate state. The figure is sitting back on its haunches, a pose that would seem more appropriate to a dog than a cat. And because of the pose, only the head can turn, that's it. Made all of black plastic with extensive silver paint, plus yellow eyes and a purple Decepticon symbol on the left front shoulder. 4.5cm tall at the head. This really should have been the perfect intersection of LOLcats.com and LOLbots.com, but it doesn't quite manage it. AUTOBOT: MIRAGE This Mirage is posed for roof-riding on your Cyber Slammers or Go-Bots, in a total surfing pose. Right arm back and bent at the elbow, left arm straight out to the side with open palm, feet as far apart as they'll go. Well, surfing or he's got his hand on the head of a much smaller robot and is preparing to punch 'em. Mirage is a bully? Made of bright blue plastic with white, black and silver paint applications. White-bordered red Autobot symbols are printed on both shoulders, rather than the 26's of the original. He does have a 26 on his chest, though. 5cm high at the top of his head, but his stance is 6cm across. :) Head and shoulders move, although his left arm really just spins around its long axis. He's smirking, a lopsided thin smile that just goes so well with his elitist attitude. DECEPTICON: STARSCREAM Alone in this wave, Starscream stands on only one foot, using a cloud of exhaust to widen his footprint enough for stability. His left foot is down, his right leg bent as far up as it'll go. Left arm more or less straight with spread palm, right arm bend with hand in a fist. There's some mold ugliness where the head merges into the intake scoops on his shoulders, resulting in some melty looking bits. The left side of his helmet actually appears to be sliced like cheese by his airscoop, a layer of it going into the scoop. I think he's trying to smile, but it's sort of running off sideways. Made of very light gray plastic, with dark blue, metallic red, silver and black paint apps. The cockpit, eyes (G1 toy accurate) and some thigh details are painted gold, and the thrust cloud is very light metallic blue. Purple Decepticon symbols are printed on the backs of the wings. Ignoring the head, it looks very good. Only the shoulders move, as the head is fused into the airscoops. 6.5cm tall including the small cloud he's standing on. With his left arm down, his open hand is at just the right height to give Ravage skritchies. AUTOBOT: RODIMUS Poor Hot Rod, denied his old name. At least he got a proper name of some sort, though. Pose is your basic "Invisible Motorcycle" variant of the Dreamwave Squat, which is a very common Heroes pose from what I've seen. Both hands are in fists as he aims his forearm pipe blasters. His chin is thrust out a bit too much, and looks weird from below. Squats 5.3cm tall. Made of darkish red plastic. The orange paint on thighs and fists is slightly metallic. Back wing is painted bright yellow, feet and wheels are black, face and pipeguns are silver. Chest flames are metallic orange and bright yellow. He has printed silver and yellow details on shoulders and shins to evoke the original's decals, and a red Autobot symbol printed on his chest. The eye are painted metallic blue. He has a really cheesy grin. DECEPTICON: INSECTICON Shrapnel doesn't even get as much respect as Rodimus, getting stuck with a generic name. Maybe this is supposed to be one of his clones, then. He seems happy enough...of course, they all do. Having a mouth == smiling as far as this line is concerned. Right arm mostly straight and palm open, as if he's about to throw a lightning bolt. Left arm is bent, hand in a fist. Mild squattiness otherwise. Has a wide and slightly crooked grin. 5cm tall at the head, 7cm at the top of the mandibles. Moves at neck and shoulders. Made of black plastic. The toes and arms are painted metallic purple. Thighs, mandibles, face and arm guns are silver. Gold on chest, toe and back details. Light metallic blue details on shoulders and chest, white and purple Decepticon symbol printed on the chest. Also some red printed details on the shins and forearms. AUTOBOT: GRIMLOCK Him, Grimlock, not smile. No mouth. In fact, he looks to be thinking "WTF happened to me?" with one side of his goggles open wider than the other in a raised eyebrow sort of deal. And, even more fun, his dino head is fully molded and painted and staring up at his robot butt. In a striding-forward pose, sword in right hand and left hand in a partially open "grasping" position. Head does not turn, but both shoulders move. 4.7cm tall at the head, 5.5cm at the top of the wings. Made of silver plastic, with black, silver and deep red paint and numerous tampographed decal-like details. Also made of win. DECEPTICON: SHOCKWAVE Shockwave doesn't smile, or have any expression at all. They didn't try to warp his hexagonal head to suggest an expression. 5.3cm tall in a mild squat pose. Right arm is slightly bent with fist clenched in the beginning of a "doing curls" sort of pose. Left arm is mostly straight, ending in the expected gun. Head turns and arms move at the shoulders. Made of slightly metallic purple plastic, with silver on the thighs, toes, ears, groin, boot sides and shoulder joints. The chest, hand and gunbarrel are metallic lavender. Black is used on the arm hose and face, with a gold eye. A purple and white Decepticon symbol is printed on the chest. Dave Van Domelen, expects lolbots.com to be overwhelmed with submissions featuring these guys.