Dave's Kiddie Transformers Rant: Robot Heroes Wave 3 (Movie Wave 1) Bumblebee / Barricade Autobot Jazz / Decepticon Frenzy Autobot Ratchet / Megatron Optimus Prime / Blackout Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/RH3 After eight packs of G1 figures, it's time for the movie ones. I have them in the order of their assortment numbers (83355 through 83358). And there's more to come...we've seen prototypes of a cute little Scorponok, for instance. :) As an interesting aside, the store that got these in locally also finally got the Jazz/TC and Prime/Unicron packs from Wave 2, so they may all be shipping together. Here's some concept art by Marcelo Matere: http://mmatere.deviantart.com/art/Movie-Robot-Heroes-concept-art-62127255 Update 9/29/07: Got a replacement Megatron, added comments. CAPSULES Bumblebee / Barricade: The only pairing that makes sense in the context of the movie. :) Both have some pose limitations, but lots of paint applications and generally good looks. Recommended. $5.88 at Wal-Mart. Autobot Jazz / Decepticon Frenzy: Most oddball pairing. Very nice Jazz, adorably creepy Frenzy. Recommended. $5.88 at Wal-Mart. Autobot Ratchet / Megatron: Well, this pairing makes G1 comics sense, at least. Ratchet's kinda weird, Megatron's okay. A decent set, but only mildly recommended. Unless you really need a sexy hitchhiker Ratchet. $5.88 at Wal-Mart. Optimus Prime / Blackout: A really good one and a rather bad one, kinda balances out to mildly recommended. $5.88 at Wal-Mart RANTS Packaging: Same style as the first two waves, but with two main differences (aside from, you know, having art of the new characters). Under the Robot Heroes logo it says "Movie Series", and on the back are pictures of all eight of the figures in this wave. Pegs: All of these have thin pegs, the sort that feel like they're gonna snap before popping apart. I suspect that the thicker pegged versions were the original batch, and they changed it to reduce the chances of parts coming off and being choked on. AUTOBOT: BUMBLEBEE In a ready crouch, similar to the pose of G1 Bumblebee. Both arms are raised (upper arms nearly horizontal) and have the elbows bent 90 degrees. The left hand is open and ready to catch an incoming fist, the right forearm is in blaster form. No particular expression, he's got the "skinned Furby" head going on. 5cm tall at the head, but seriously crouched, so proportionally he'd be a bit taller. Made entierly of a bright golden yellow plastic with a slight UV glow. The wing windows, eyes and chest headlights are painted bright sky blue. The face, toes, license plate and some of the blaster details are painted silver. A disc on the left forearm and details on the shins are dark gold. There's two small black stripes on the chest. Extensive metallic blue paint is used on the upper arms, blaster main barrel, palm and back of hand, waist, pelvis and thighs, sides of boots, and central backpack. He has a red Autobot symbol printed on the underside of the blaster arm, and a red dot on his forehead. Lots of paint apps. He's pegged at shoulders and neck, and has nearly full range of motion on all three joints (the wings and right knee get in the way a little). DECEPTICON: BARRICADE Striding forward and bent over, left arm reaching out with a claw, right arm cocked in a fist. He looks like he wants to rip someone's chest armor off. He has his wheels up on the shoulderpads, so you can kinda use them as puppeteer tabs to make his arms move. Has a nicely evil grin. 5.5" tall at the head, made of all black plastic. White paint on the upper arm doors and the chest headlights. Red on the eyes and chest turn signals. Pale gold teeth, bicep details and bits on the inside faces of the knees. Lots of metallic purple bits (pelvis, central knee section, calves, near the inside of the elbows), and extensive silver (face, hands, thighs, toes, shoulder details). A dark purple Decepticon symbol is printed on the right arm door, and black and silver "POLICE" on the left arm door. Pegged at head and shoulders. Despite there being panels on either side of the head, it can turn all the way around. The arms are a bit kibble- blocked, mostly the left arm, but even it can be forced around the obstacles. The claw can't quite grab Bumblebee's face, but the right fist can be posed to be smashing him in the head (either roundhouse punch of Stooge-bonk from above). AUTOBOT: AUTOBOT JAZZ This version of the character looks good. Stepping forward, shield at the ready in 90 degree bent left arm, free hand on mostly straightened right arm open to grab, smile on his faceplate. The shield is the one you may have seen in various posters and other merchandising, not the version seen on the original Deluxe toy, a sort of C shape around a central boss. 6cm tall at the head, made of a slightly metallic medium-likght gray plastic. His visor is a bright blue. There's black on his chest grille, waist, shin details, and the wheels on his shoulders and heels. He has red cables on his back and little red dots on his thighs. Pale gold paint is used on his shield boss, the palm of his right hand (but not the closed left hand), and bits on his waist, pelvis and feet. His face is a dark gold, or maybe the pale gold over black. He has some metallic blue bits on his chest headlights and an oval on his right forearm. A small black Autobot symbol is printed at the bottom of the shield, mine is a bit smudged. The arms and head are pegged on and totally free to rotate. You can get a good pose with him looking through the notch at the top of his shield. DECEPTICON: DECEPTICON FRENZY Well, I suppose this pack goes together in terms of both being saddled with the awkward trademarking workarounds. :) One of the less dynamic poses, he's just sort of standing there with arms splayed out and one foot slightly ahead of the other. He has a bit og a hunchback thing going on, much like FAB Frenzy. There's only one eye molded on each of his eyestalks, and he has a very incongruous grin mounted between his spiny mouthparts. 5cm tall at the head, made of a medium-light french gray plastic rather than shooting for an all silver plastic look (maybe, like G1 Megatron, we'll get a metallic silver plastic store exclusive version). He has white teeth with a black line between them, and there's some black bits on his chest. His eyestalks and face details are silver, as are his claws, parts of his pelvis and thighs, a strip down the center of his chest, and some round bits on his ankles. His two molded eyes are painted bright red, and there's some greenish gold paint on his toes. Metallic blue is used on the death-discs molded on his arms, parts of his hips and dots at the roots of his toes. Mine does not have a Decepticon symbol on it anywhere, not that he has lots of open space to put one. There's a black smudge behind his head that is probably just a goof, not an attempt at a faction symbol. The arms are pegged on at the shoulder, although the weird bifurcation at the elbows makes the posing a little iffy. The head is pegged on but can only turn a little bit either way because of the hunchbacking. Still, it's adorably creepy. AUTOBOT: AUTOBOT RATCHET This is one of those figure's that's really designed for only one pose: right hand on hip with arm bent, left arm sticking out and giving a thumbs up while Ratchet smiles lopsidedly (no tusks). However, as David Willis pointed out, if you put the right hand behind the head instead, the hips are positioned in a vaguely sexy way, making Ratchet a hitchhiker who's showing a little leg. 5.5cm tall at the head, but standing straight up unlike most figures, so he actually looks shorter overall. Made of pukey yellow green plastic, a bit more vivid than the Voyager toy, but not really UV-glowy. The face, chest headlights (three of them in a Brainiac triangle), pelvis and tops of the feet are painted silver. The eyes are a dark blue. The shoulder and hip wheels, plus most of the chest are paintd black. There's gold paint on his waist, wrists, and details on the hips and ankles. He has a red spot on the top of his head, red chest turn signals, a red zigzag on his left arm, and a yellow and red hazard bar on his right upper arm. A tiny red Autobot symbol is painted on the back of his right forearm. Pegged at shoulders and neck. There's an antenna sticking up over his left shoulder which blocks head movement a bit, and the seriously bent right arm has to be bent at the joint to get the hand behind the head. DECEPTICON: MEGATRON Sadly, I got a defective Megatron. The wing piece on the back is separate and presumably glued on, but mine was missing, and it's not something that's obvious while it's in the package. Of course, the store only got one set of the new Robot Heroes, so I can't exhange it. I just have a T-shaped slot in the back, but I have been shown pictures of complete ones. 5.5cm tall at the head, but his pose makes him clearly look taller than package-mate Ratchet, stooping to conquer. Striding forward with his right foot in the lead, right arm bent and right hand in an odd pinching position. If you bend the plastic some he can do the Kids In The Hall "I'm Crushing Your Head!" bit. The left arm is straight out with open claw, just at the right height to grab faces. Includin Bumblebee's face, so you can re-enact the Battle of Tyger Pax! Made of a cool light gray plastic with lots of lighter gray paint and metallic blue airbrushing blended together. There's several pale gold and black details scattered about. His eyes are red, his toothy smile is white. Pegged at the head and shoulders. The shoulderspikes block the head some, and the left arm just spins on its long axis, letting you rotate the orientation of his claw but that's about it. The pinching fingers can hold a 5mm six-sided die, might be time to paint one up to look like the AllSpark. :) Update: Okay, I finally found another pack and grabbed it (gonna kitbash the spare Ratchet). The wing piece looks kinda like a robot manta ray with a triple tail is clinging to Megatron's back. It's made of rubbery gray plastic with a dark gray Decepticon symbol printed on the right winglet. AUTOBOT: OPTIMUS PRIME Semi-mirroring G1 Prime's pose, with straight left arm and 90 degree bent left arm. However, his right arm is in cannon mode, so in that respect he's still armed on the right. Inaction pose, just standing there and pointing his gun while holding his left arm bent and fist clenched. His chest is thrust up a bit and he's partially looking over it. His faceplate is closed, so no creepy robot mouth. At 6.5cm tall, he's easily the tallest-standing figure in the wave, although the fact he's not crouching cheats a little. :) Made of dark blue plastic. The wheels on his thighs are painted black but without silver hubs. There's plenty of other silver, though, on the face, chest left fist, blaster, abdomen, pelvis, thighs, bootfronts and toes. His eyes and chest windows are bright blue. Dark red on shoulders, chest and ankle fenders, plus dark red printed flames on abdomen and boots and a printed dark red Autobot symbol on the left upper arm. Bits of gold on the ankle wheels and the abdomen circles. Pegged at head, shoulders AND waist, which is hyper-articulated for a Robot Heroes figure. DECEPTICON: BLACKOUT Of course, to go with such a really well-articulated figure, we get stuck with a loser. Oh, Blackout has the usual three joints, but his backpack kibble keeps him from using them much. He's crouched over, holding both hands out and open as if feeling his way through a darkened room. He has a square mouth wigh visible teeth and a sort of old man with constipation expression. 5.2cm tall at the head, about 5.7cm at the top of his backpack, and made of a slightly darker slate gray plastic than the Voyager version. The pelvis, thighs and entire backpack piece (which is glued on and was NOT lost on mine) are painted glossy black. The shins are painted white with a black Decepticon symbol printed on the left one. A sort of greenish gold is used on the tips of the shoulder pods, discs on either side of each knee and each ankle, plus the teeth. The face, center chest, hands and toes are silver. He has red eyes. Between the backpack, the spread knees and the big pods on the shoulders, the arms can move up and down with a range of about 45 degrees. The head can turn all the way around, although for half the range it's looking at the backpack. Dave Van Domelen, might buy a spare Megatron/Ratchet set if he can find one, to have a complete Megatron and then repaint Ratchet in G1 scheme.