Dave's Kiddie Transformers Rant: Robot Heroes Wave 9

     Autobot Blaster & Thrust (G1, reshipped)
     Snarl & Sharkticon (G1)
     Perceptor & Hardshell (G1)
     Cheetor & Tankor (BMac)

     Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/RH9

     Well, once again HasbroToyShop sent me Star Wars figures instead of some
of the Robot Heroes I ordered, I only got the Snarl set in the mail.  Given
how long it took to get Megatron/Silverbolt replaced, I just sent the Clone
Troopers back for a refund, hopefully I'll see the other sets in store soon. 
     This wave is fraught with name changes.  "Snarl" is really Slag, but
they have permanently reassigned the name so that triceratops will be Snarl
now.  (I've heard it was because someone pointed out "slag" is a moderately
naughty word in England, but it might just be because "slag" has become an
insult in Transformers canon.)  Also, Hardshell is really Bombshell, the
third of the original Insecticons, and I can only make unsupported guesses as
to why that was (and note, Kickback's the only one of the original
Insecticons who got to keep his name...clearly he bribed someone, as per his
name).  Finally "Sharkticon" is Gnaw, but I guess they couldn't trademark
that anymore and wanted to keep Sharkticon.

     http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/RH8 has Blaster & Thrust.

CAPSULES

     Snarl & Sharkticon: AKA G1 Slag and Gnaw.  Snarl has some color issues,
especially since he doesn't match up with Grimlock.  Sharkticon's pretty
good, although could have stood a little more paint.  Both molds look good in
terms of shape, though.  Recommended.  $7.99 at HasbroToyShop.com.
     Perceptor & Hardshell: Perceptor is a bit bland, but that's probably
apt, and he has no glaring flaws.  Hardshell (AKA Bombshell) needs better
paint and is something of a perv.  Mildly recommended.  $7.99 at HTS.
     Cheetor & Tankor: Cheetor has a nice static sculpt, but moving him from
a single pose is not a rewarding activity, thanks to a lack of thought given
to how he might move.  Tankor looks okay but doesn't seem to know what to do
with his arms and his cannon is inexplicably wrong.  Neutral.  $7.99 at HTS.


RANT

     Packaging: Same as Wave 8, but with the addition of a silver foil 25th
Anniversary banner at the upper right of the card front.  Co-sells are the
four sets listed up top.  The blisters have G1 Autobot/Decepticon symbols on
all but the last set, which has the Beast Wars Maximal and Predacon symbols.
They decided not to make a new blister mold for Beast Machines, although they
do use the correct Maximal and Vehicon symbols on the card and the toys.


DINOBOT: SNARL

     I may slip up and call this Slag occasionally.  Cope.
     One of the problems with releasing members of a subgroup over the course
of several widely-separated waves is that it can be tricky to keep the paint
schemes unified, as designers may come and go and cost considerations may
change.  That's definitely the case here, as Snarl really doesn't match up
with Grimlock (in part because Grimlock is mostly black plastic painted
silver, where Slag is mostly metallic plastic and it's harder to get the same
shine that way without spending a lot).  Unfortunately, enough bits rub
against each other that simply taking silver paints to the toy won't work.
     Made entirely of a slightly metallic gunmetal gray plastic, making him
look kinda tarnished next to Grimlock.  The sword is painted silver rather
than metallic red, making it mismatch with Grimlock.  The rear dino legs on
the boots are also silver (the face is unpainted).  The fists, thighs,
shoulder circles and helmet are glossy black.  A sort of garnet metallic red
is used on the torso sides, pelvis, thigh accents and spine...but not on the
horns, which are red on the G1 toy (and the Robot Hero doesn't match up with
the animation color scheme either).  A sort of sickly greenish gold paint is
used on the toes, the forearm dino toes and the roof of the dino mouth behind
the robot head.  The goggles are light blue, and a red Autobot symbol is
printed on the center of the chest.  
     Snarl is in your basic Dreamwave Crouch, both arms bent between 45 and
90 degrees at the elbows, both knees bent, a generally hunched-over pose with
his left foot a bit forward.  The left hand is a in a fist.  He's holding a
simple sword in his right hand, although it's got a diamond cross-section
rather than the flatter shape of Grimlock's.  He is, of course, smiling.
There's the usual three points of articulation, and the dino head's frill
tends to rub on the shoulders when the head turns but doesn't really block
arm movement significantly.
     It does generally look like they were trying to do the toy's color
scheme rather than the cartoon, but there's a lack of paint on the head that
hurts this (and outright errors like blue goggles instead of red, or the
unpainted face rather than black), as does the bad gold paint.  I fixed mine
up a bit: http://www.dvandom.com/kitbash/rhslag.JPG


DECEPTICON: SHARKTICON

     Your basic pudgy servitor of the Quintessons, done up in the gray/teal/
purple sort of color scheme that would mark later G1, this is one of the
chunkier Robot Heroes figures.  He's holding his tail-mace, and for once you
can be sure Gnaw won't lose his mace!  (There's a LOT of tail-less G1 Gnaw
toys out there, as kids lost the mace.)  Unlike "Snarl", the color scheme is
pretty close to the G1 toy.
     Made of metallic gunmetal plastic that's the same shade as Snarl's, but
at least on mine the metal flakes are more swirly.  The legs, collar and
fists are a slightly reddish violet paint.  The face, belly and the shark
teeth at the front of the collar are painted silver.  Teal paint is used on
the mace, tiny beast arms on the backpack, feet, upper arm vent details and
the bits on the chest that come from the beast mode's jaw spines.  The robot
eyes are red while the beast eyes are chartreuse.  A tiny purple Decepticon
symbol is printed on the belly.
     Stepping forward with the right leg, while the right arm is reaching out
and the left arm is holding the mace weapon.  Sort of a lurching pose, not
that Sharkticons are built for grace.  The facial expression reinforces a
sort of "Frankenstein playfully lunging for something he will then break by
accident" look to the overall pose.  The usual three joints, but the right
shoulder is more of a swivel with its axis along the upper arm, so it's
functionally just the forearm pivoting around.
     Blue-purple paint on the beast upper "lip" and the pelvis, silver on the
beast upper teeth, lack of silver paint on the face, and a few more bits of
teal would bring this fully in line with a simplified version of the G1 toy
color scheme.


AUTOBOT: PERCEPTOR

     The Jaime Hyneman of Transformers to Wheeljack's Adam Savage, Perceptor
is uncharacteristically cheerful and demonstrative in this toy.  He's smiling
and pointing at something while in the obligatory Dreamwave Crouch.  He's
mainly based on the animation model, but he has the yellow eyes of the toy.
This is a bad choice, considering how the yellow eyes sort of blend into the
silver of the face.
     Made entirely of dark red plastic.  Gloss teal paint is found on his
forearms, thighs, "belt buckle" and a bit on his abdomen.  Gloss black is
used on the helmet, front and back of the microscope barrel, hands, pelvis
and toes.  Silver is painted on the face, chest and the dials on his
forearms.  The eyes are yellow, and there's a red Autobot symbol at the
center of his chest.  It could stand a couple more apps (the dial on the
microscope, the microscope lens, maybe the shins) but is generally a decent
job.  
     Crouched, leaning with his left shoulder forward.  The left arm is
straight and extended at a 45 degree angle, with the hand in a finger-
pointing pose.  The right arm is slightly bent at the elbow, positioned
forward, with open hand.  The usual three joints are used, neck and
shoulders.  The microscope on the right shoulder doesn't block the head as
much as you'd think it would.  In fact, there's only a little scraping from a
full turn of the head.  The microscope does, however, block the right arm,
but the soft plastic lets you get around this.
     He's not so much smiling as smirking.  In fact, he may be pointing and
laughing.  Probably at Hardshell's paint job.


DECEPTICON: HARDSHELL

     Speaking of bad matching within a subgroup...the purple is darker than
on Insecticon and Kickback (who match each other pretty well despite being
from waves 1 and 8 respectively), the gold is replaced by a icky tan-green.
At least the plastic is still black, and they couldn't screw THAT up by using
the wrong shade.  I think mine's getting some repainting. 
     As mentioned, made of black plastic.  There's a dull dark metallic
purple on the torso and toes, with yellow stripes to approximate the yellow
ball shoulders of the toy.  Silver is used on the head cannon, face, thighs
and wrist cannons (which are black on the G1 toy).  The center torso is icky
green-tan with some gunmetal bits or maybe just a thin enough layer of silver
to let the green-tan show through some.  The eyes are red and there's thin
red stripes around the forearms.  A purplish blue Decepticon symbol is
printed on the center of the chest.
     Crouched, of course.  Both arms are bent a bit and pointed forward, with
the left hand in a fist and the right hand, um, groping.  Seriously.  Between
the pose of his hand and the way one eye is bigger (suggesting a raised
eyebrow, if he had eyebrows), it's almost like he's saying, "Boooooobies."
Arms swivel at the shoulders, but the head is fused into the shoulderpads, so
he only has two points of articulation.
     Hardshell is totally a perv.


MAXIMAL: CHEETOR

     At first glance, this one looks pretty good.  Until you realize that it
was probably designed to be a statue and the shoulder joints do more harm
than good.  This is the Beast Machines Cheetor, with a cocky wink and grin
that is far more in character with the original Beast Wars Cheetor than with
the Angst Cat of BMac.  He's carrying one of his swords, and I think he's a
cutter.  That would be fitting for Angst Cat, at elast.
     Made of golden yellow plastic.  There's some nice metallic green paint
on the chinstrap, thigh sides and the undersides of his pecs.  There's a lot
of less nice orange paint on shoulders, forearms, pelvis and "spats".  Black
spots are all over in generally the right places.  His eyes are bright green
with black outlines.  The sword is painted silver (not exactly show-accurate)
and he has a red BMac Maximal symbol on his right kneecap.
     Both arms are bent and he's a little hunched over.  The digitigrade legs
probably qualify as a crouch, but it looks better on him than most.  The axes
of the shoulder joints are slightly raised, meaning his arms come together as
they raise over his head...which makes it look like he's trying to sniff his
armpits.  Also, the sword is held across his body so that he cuts his own
head off when he raises his arm.  Raise just the free arm (which has an open
grasping claw so he can join Hardshell in being pervy) and he's slitting his
wrist with the sword.  Basically, both upper arms straight down is the only
pose that works.  The head turns, but it'd have been better to use his third
joint to give him a left wrist so that the sword could be moved around.  Not
to mention, turning the head more than a little bit makes the neck gap, since
the beard runs into the collar.
     While I appreciate Beast Machines getting a shout-out in Robot Heroes,
this is a bad way of going about it.  Plus, just about everyone else got a
workable transforming toy that looked like the show version except Rattrap,
he would have been a much better candidate.  :)


VEHICON: TANKOR

     The mold is pretty close to the show animation model, but with four
tines on the shoulder cannon instead of the three seen on the show (and on
the Tank Drone toy), but with the Tank Drone color scheme.  The cannon is
almost a "why bother" accessory, though, given how small they made it and the
fact that the tines all end up being warped in the package.  And I have no
idea why the sculptor picked the arm positions he did, as they don't really
look good no matter how they're posed.
     Made of very light cool gray plastic.  The torso and faceplate are
silver, while a darker gunmetal metallic is used on the forearms and helmet.
The treads on the feet are gloss black, as is the eye slit.  Black lines are
printed on the pelvis.  The shoulderpads are metallic light blue with red
squares, and there's red chest details.  At the center of the chest is
printed a blue Vehicon symbol.
     Legs more or less straight, arms kinda hanging to the sides weirdly.
The three usual joints, but the cannon blocks the head from turning to the
right.  The claws are large enough to be placed on a finger and strong enough
to not let go.  Kinda hurts after a while, actually, making Tankor one of the
few Robot Heroes that can inflict pain in a way other than being stepped on
or being thrown.  :)
     If only Robot Heroes hadn't bumped up to $7-8 I'd be tempted to go for
army building on this figure, despite its flaws.  Of course, that'd also get
me multiples of Cheetor, another disincentive.

     Dave Van Domelen, watched a bunch of Happy Tree Friends before reviewing
most of these.