Dave's Transformers Rant: Heroes of Cybertron Wave 1 Starscream Skywarp Apex Armor Optimus Prime Optimus Prime Megatron Arcee Several of these reviews were previously posted separately. I got all six figures at various Walgreens branches for $3.99 each. CAPSULES Starscream: A bit softer than the original PVCs, and the entire body is painted because of the plastic it's made of, making it look shinier. It's not bad for the price, though. Mildly recommended. Skywarp: It's the same mold as Starscream, and even the same lineart for the techspec card (albeit mirror-reversed). A slightly higher interest level because the Japanese version is so rare. Recommended. Powermaster Optimus Prime Apex Armor: Looks dubious in the package, but is good once you get it out. It's God Ginrai, the fusion of Super Ginrai (Powermaster Prime) and God Bomber. But, of course, they can't call it that. Recommended. Optimus Prime: The use of paint for pretty much all colors helps make this look more metallic. The white shoulder smokestacks look a bit off, though. If they couldn't do silver, they should've done gray. Mildly recommended. Megatron: Could stand to have a few more details painted on. A good source of materials if you have an old Actionmaster Megatron you want to add more accessories to, though. Mildly recommended. Arcee: One of the least poseable of the PVCs, and her left arm looks weird. Fugly card art. But, hey, she finally has a mass-market techspec. Very mildly recommended. RANTS First off, comments on the packaging. They're on bubble cards, with the card being 9" (23cm) tall and 6" (15cm) wide. While the cards are not unique to each character, the Decepticons are on purple-background cards and I seem to recall the Autobots are on red-background. The backs have the original mural art from the first year G1 TFs and tiny reproductions of the card art for all the characters in the first two waves. The art style is what I call "big boot" art, where worms-eye perspective is faked by drawing really big feet. And really bad lens flares in the art end up looking like just dots in the tiny repros. The fronts of the cards have some interesting text, including the "making official" of a number of previously fan-based terms. -- HEROES OF CYBERTRON GENERATION ONE COLLECTION Action figures do not convert. * Poseable parts are interchangeable! * Classic Characters! * Tech Specs on card! -- Looks like they're taking a liability (the fact that the figures can come apart) and making it a feature (interchangeability...and I don't think I'm alone in having had Arcee's head on Ultra Magnus's body for at least a few days on the desktop). Anyway, the figures are in "legged" bubbles that let the cards stand up on a shelf. The figure is on the left side of the bubble, while their trading card with techspecs is on the right. Unlike the Japanese versions, there are no stands. Most of the figures are fully assembled in package, but Apex Armor Prime has several pieces detached and placed behind the figure, and is weirdly posed inside, since he's so big. The trading cards are a fairly thin cardstock, and a bit warped by their time in the package. The notes are generally close to the original versions, although with some elaboration or even mixing G1 and G2 notes. The stats, however, are new, and seem intended to better reflect how the characters were shown in the cartoon (i.e. Starscream's Courage is dropped to 4). Arcee, of course, does not have techspecs based on G1, since she didn't have 'em then. Each character has the G1 mural from the appropriate year (Arcee has 1986, Apex Armor Prime has the Powermasters mural, etc). And a variant carded Starscream has been spotted on a red card. Otherwise, Autobots are on red cards and Decepticons on purple cards. Some general color comments before I look at the individual figures. The paints used in the HoC versions are glossier than those used on the early Super Collector Figure PVCs. The paint masking is a bit sloppy, as well. DECEPTICON: STARSCREAM Function: Air Commander Motto: "Conquest is made of the ashes of one's enemies." STARSCREAM seeks to replace MEGATRON as leader of the DECEPTICONS. Ruthless, cold-blooded, cruel and power-hungry, considers himself the most sophisticated and handsome of the DECEPTICONS and, therefore, a better choice as leader. Believes that guile and speed, not brute force, will defeat the AUTOBOTS. Fastest flyer in the group, reaching Mach 2.8 and an altitude of 52 miles. Shoots cluster bombs and null-rays that can disrupt the flow of electricity. Very good at what he does, but overrates himself, which can jeopardize missions. STR 7 INT 7 SPD 9 END 7 RNK 8 COUR 4 FRP 7 SKL 7 Avg 7 Yes, it's Firepower for these guys, not Fireblast. The numbers have colored backgrounds, with light blue at low numbers and going towards dark purple for high numbers. While the notes are in all capitals, the trademarked words are in larger capitals. Starscream's card art is kinda blah. The line art has little dynamism, and I could probably do a better coloring job the first time I decide to pick up phtooshop. I get the feeling that some art drone in Hasbro was given a set of the toys and told to draw cards for them, despite having never done any Transformers stuff before. Or, really, any work at all...as if this was the person's first assignment. On to the figure. 3" (8cm) tall, and made completely of transparent red plastic...which has then been almost totally painted over, leaving just a little bit on the back of the head and the eyes so you get the nice G2 glowing eyes effect. Unfortunately, the light-up eyes trick exposes any flaws in the painting of the head, of which there are several on mine. The paint job is pretty much the animated version of the character, in light blue, very light ghost gray and red, with dark gray helmet and chest intakes, and yellow cockpit. Purple Decepticon symbols grace the wings. I do not have a color version of the Act 1 PVC Starscream, so I can't directly compare the two. But the fact that everything is painted does make a difference (the original would have light gray plastic as the base). As for posing, the shoulder and neck pegs allow movement. The knee pegs let you rotate the boots, although the figure's feet are flat in only one configuration. The fists also rotate. Overall: Eh, for $4 it's not bad, consider it a mega-Decoy, already painted. It's not as sharp as the original PVCs were, but on the other hand it's not random. Too bad Hasbro only wants to sell these through drugstores and the like (plus Meijer). DECEPTICON: SKYWARP Function: Warrior Motto: "Strike when the enemy isn't looking." SKYWARP is the sneakiest of the DECEPTICONS. Enjoys playing cruel pranks on fellow DECEPTICONS. Likes to suddenly appear out of nowhere to attack AUTOBOTS through his ability to instantaneously teleport up to 2.5 miles. Not very smart and sometimes sarcastic, misguided without the supervision of MEGATRON. Switches allegiances quickly, following whichever DECEPTICON is in control. Carries heat-seeking missiles and variable-caliber machine guns. High-speed flier, reaching 1500 MPH as he searches for unsuspecting prey on the ground below. STR 7 INT 5 SPD 10 END 7 RNK 6 COUR 9 FRP 8 SKL 8 Avg 7.5 Another cruel Decepticon, whee. And it's interesting that Starscream is a flyer, while Skywarp is a flier. Bad redactor! And note that Skywarp is tougher (in techspec terms) than Starscream, hmmm. The figure is the same as Starscream, but with different paints. I suppose one big advantage of all the figures being made of translucent plastic is that since they all need paints, it's trivial to make all three Seekers right away (in Japan, they needed to do different mold colors for the different characters). Mostly black and violet, with very light ghost gray torso and orange-yellow cockpit. Anyway, as mentioned above, Skywarp was a rare figure in Japan, so he's likely to sell a little better here to fans who already have Starscream and Thundercracker from the Japanese versions, but didn't want to drop $30 or so on Skywarp. Overall: Same deal as Starscream, but long-time PVC buyers may be more interested in this one. AUTOBOT: Powermaster OPTIMUS PRIME Apex Armor Function: Autobot Defense Commander Motto: "Fight for the good of all." POWERMASTER OPTIMUS PRIME is a gentle intellectual and a quiet commander until the DECEPTICONS attack. He then becomes a fierce warrior whose bravery is second to none. Well-versed in various Cybertronian martial arts. Willing to stand fast as the ultimate defender against destruction and invasion. Extremely dexterous [sic] in battle. Brandishes a Super Rifle and particle beam cannon. APEX ARMOR is formed by combining binary-bonded OPTIMUS PRIME with his trailer and armored roller drone. STR 10 INT 10 SPD 9 END 10 RNK 10 COUR 10 FRP 10 SKL 10 Avg 9.875 So, I guess God Bomber is the new Roller? Heh. The card art follows the trend of the other HoC's I've gotten, in that it's pretty dull and uninspiring, with bad lens flare effects. In the package, Prime's backpack wings and shoulder cannon are detached and on the tray behind him, and his right arm is also detached. The base color of this toy is light transparent blue, with everything painted to cover this except for on the eyes and the back of the head. Looking at a picture of God Ginrai, I can see that all the elements are preserved in the PVC, but the proportions are radically different. God Ginrai is a brick with tiny arms, stubby wings and a big head. Apex Prime has much better proportions, big boots and gauntlets, and long slender wings. Oddly, they chose to make the Autobot symbol with black lines on the red shoulders, rather than white lines. There's also a red Autobot symbol on the chest. The light gray used on the chest in place of God Ginrai's chrome is a bit dull, but nothing that can't be easily fixed. }-> Poseability is, as one would expect, fairly limited. It's also not symmetric, oddly. The right shoulder is part of the torso mold, and does not move. Nor does the right elbow move in a meaningful way (it spins along its long axis), although it does let you fiddle with the position of the right forearm wing. The right shoulder moves, both wrists spin, and the left elbow moves in the same way as the right elbow. The head turns and the knees spin so you can point the feet in different directions. The ankle guns are positionable, and the shoulder cannon can be moved a bit (although the head gets in the way). And, as with the others, there's no stand. But Apex Prime has big feet and a wide stance, and really does better without a stand. He's 3" (8cm) tall at the head, with a 3.5" (9cm) wingspan. This makes him look just a little smaller than Liokaiser from Act 7. AUTOBOT: OPTIMUS PRIME Function: Autobot Leader Motto: "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings." OPTIMUS PRIME is the strong, wise and compassionate leader of the AUTOBOTS. Dedicated to protecting all life, he fights unceasingly to defeat the DECEPTICONS. Firmly believes in the ultimate righteousness of his mission, so he will willingly sacrifice himself to save the lives of others. Carries a blaster rifle as well as the AUTOBOT Matrix of Leadership, an honor bestowed millions of years nefore his awakening on Earth. A seasoned veteran and scholar, OPTIMUS PRIME is respected throughout the universe as a champion of peace. STR 10 INT 10 SPD 10 END 10 RNK 10 COUR 10 FRP 10 SKL 10 Avg 10 Odd that the Apex Armor upgrade is actually weaker than the base version (well, slower). The card art is okay, but suffers from excessive use of bad lens flares like the rest of the card art. Prime stands 3" (8cm) tall in red, white and blue. While there is a very little bit of gray (neck, faceplate and flanks), most of the areas that are traditionally either gray or silver on Prime are white here. Plus there's yellow bits on the pelvis and light blue windshield panels. The Autobot symbol is a white outline on the left shoulder, marred a bit by the mold misalignment on both arms. The core plastic is transparent light blue, so Prime's eyes light-pipe that color. There is articulation at the shoulders, neck and wrists. Prime's right hand holds his blaster rifle, while the left one is in what I call a "Delbo Point" (although it can be rotated into a "Bang, you're dead" gesture). The boots rotate at the knees, but really only work well in one position. There is a hole in his back for plugging in backpack accessories from other PVCs. Overall: The recoloring is a bit odd, but works most of the time. It's an okay figure, although the mold mismatch on the arms hurts it some. DECEPTICON: MEGATRON Function: Decepticon Commander Motto: "Peace through tyranny." MEGATRON combines brute strength, military cunning, ruthlessness and terror. Despires to return to Cybertron to complete the DECEPTICON conquest, but only after destroying all AUTOBOTS. Though he carries the respect of many of his troops, he keeps a watchful eye over those who seek to usurp his power. Has been overthrown by his own subordinates but always regains power. Plans to conquer Earth and take control of the planet's resources. Incredibly powerful and intelligent. Fires a particle beam cannon, can link up interdimensionally to a black hole and draw antimatter from it for use as a weapon. No known weaknesses. STR 10 INT 10 SPD 10 END 10 RNK 10 COUR 10 FRP 10 SKL 10 Avg 10 For once, Megatron has parity with Optimus Prime. The card art is about the middle of the pack for quality, and Megatron looks a tad constipated. 3" (8cm) tall, the mold is very show-accurate and includes all the doodads. Unfortunately, the back-mounted barrel gets in the way of the arm cannon if you try to lift the arm to fire. Fortunately, the barrel can be rotated to point down and out of the way. Also, the head is all one color over the transparent red plastic, and could stand to have some more detail on the face. Nothing a 005 nib pen can't fix. The Decepticon symbol is in purple on the chest, and the abdominal lights and dials are painted. Articulation is at the shoulders, neck and wrists, plus the cannon can be removed. The right hand is in a fist, and the left in an open grasping hand that holds a detached Prime head nicely. Overall: The posing choices could have been better, to avoid the figure getting in its own way. Otherwise it's a decent figure. AUTOBOT: ARCEE Function: Autobot Warrior Motto: "Looks are always deceiving." ARCEE is intelligent, quick-witted and cool under fire. Sweet, kind and loyal to her fellow AUTOBOTS, but merciless to DECEPTICON enemies. Attractive appearance leads DECEPTICONS to dismiss her as a serious threat, but they painfully learn otherwise when they discover her deadly efficiency in battle. Very protective of her friends, including Earth-life companions, which sometimes can work to her disadvantage. STR 5 INT 7 SPD 7 END 7 RNK 6 COUR 9 FRP 5 SKL 7 Avg 6.625 Well, she has a good techspec note, but horrible card art. The "artist" trying to give a fake worm's-eye perspective simply gave her thunderthighs, and it's not clear the artist even realized Arcee is female. Quite ugly. I wasn't originally going to bother with this one, since I already have two Arcee PVCs (ACT 1 and ACT 4, using ACT 4 for direct comparisons). But between getting a techspec and someone's assurance that the fact that it was all painted would eliminate the fall-apart-backpack problems of the original, I picked it up. Well, the backpack pieces keep falling off anyway. Sigh. 3" (8cm) tall, the colors are a little different from the original. The lighter pink is a bit darker here, as are the grays. The abdominal panel is painted red instead of white, and she has red lips in this version. Also, since the white is painted over transparent blue plastic, it's glossier than on the ACT 4 version. The left leg is not in quite the same position as on ACT 4 Arcee, but I'm not about to dig out my ACT 1 right now to see if it's the same there. }-> Red Autobot symbol on the chest. Articulation at the shoulders and neck, that's it. And the left arm is posed weirdly so that it really looks back anywhere but down at Arcee's side. Despite the smaller feet, it can stand stably without a stand. It does have holes in the feet to accomodate a stand if you have spares, though. Overall: The only real reason to get this one is for the collectible aspect (either to complete the set, or to get the first US release toy of the G1 version of the character). The backpack needs to be glued on, and only one arm moves in a meaningful way. Dave Van Domelen, almost morally required to kitbash one of the Arcees now that he has three....