Dave's BotBots Rant: Single-Packs Wave 1 Sergeant Scrubadub (Soapbar) Sippy Slurps (Slushie) Slobber Rock (Rock) Kidd Klobber (Boxing Glove) S'Up Dawg (Corndog) Fomo (not-GoPro) Cocoa Crazy (Mug of Cocoa) Spud Muffin (French Fries) Twerple Burple (Soda) Rootwing (Houseplant) Fun Gus (Mushroom) Totes Magotes (Messenger Bag) S.A. Cheez (Camera) Snippy Snappy (Scissors) Remorsel (Chocolate Bar) Nobeeoh (Deodorant) Frostferatu (Cupcake) Professor Wellread (Book) Cranks (Pencil Sharpener) Stinkosaurus Rex (Potted Plant) Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/BotBot/Single1 This will only be the ones that don't appear in multipacks. The first 9 I grabbed at random did contain one I already owned (Skillz Punk), but once I used the codes I managed to avoid other BotBots that are in multipacks. This is going to be a long review full of short reviews, as I didn't get the first 8 reviewed before finding a whole bunch more. I won't be copying the omitted multipack duplicates over into this file, so for the following figures check my root page for the review of their appearances in the multipacks: Skillz Punk (7), Venus Frogtrap (14), Dimlit (18), Batsby (23). I'll leave in the rest of the duplicated ones, though, and just cut and paste their reviews into the relevant multipack reviews once I get to them. CAPSULES $3 each. Just listing them in the order I opened them. Since there's an awful lot of capsules here, the following ones got "Recommended" from me: S'up Dawg, Cocoa Crazy, SA Cheez, Nobeeoh, and Stinkosaurus. Keep in mind, a lot of what is going to make any of these stand out is idiosyncratic and based on taste, but all of these at least are decent as-is. A few others become better with some repainting. I'd say SA Cheez is my favorite of all of these, though. Sergeant Scrubadub: Simple but looks decent. Mildly recommended. Sippy Slurps: Same basic scheme as Nrjeez, but not as well executed. Neutral. Also in two multi-packs (Sugar Shocks and Greaser Gang), so try to avoid getting this one in the blind singles. Slobber Rock: Cute pet rock, mildly recommended. Kidd Klobber: The bot mode is only so-so, the altmode could've been quite good but they decided to get cute with it and put a second boxing glove on the thumb of the boxing glove. Very mildly recommended. Also in one of the Jock Squad multipacks, another one to avoid as a single. S'Up Dawg: A bit off-color for a corndog, but good mold. Recommended. Also in a Greaser Gang multipack, but I don't mind having a second one, maybe I'll dye it darker. Fomo: Tied to a somewhat ephemeral product, but decently executed. Has trouble standing in bot mode. Mildly recommended. Cocoa Crazy: Nice solid mug with a gap in one side, really really happy botmode. Recommended. Spud Muffin: Notable for having two colors of plastic, but while the botmode is good, the altmode doesn't really have a good "front" where the bot parts are hidden. Mildly recommended. I think he's supposed to be the IDW Rodimus of the line. Also in one of the Greaser Gang multipacks. Twerple Burple: Simplistic transformation made frustrating by loads of friction, gappy paint job easily fixed with a red marker. About the only thing it really has in its favor is the "non-standard female character" part. Very mildly recommended. Rootwing: Altmode isn't very stable, but it's a fairly clever idea for a non-humanoid botmode. Mildly recommended, would be recommended if they'd just added a decent peg to hold the main halves of the altmode together. Fun Gus: Decent in both modes, nothing special. Mildly recommended. Totes Magotes: Decent beefy bot, more of a toolbox than a messenger bag. Mildly recommended. S.A. Cheez: Cool transformation, interesting bot mode, and no one at Hasbro besides the designer seems to have noticed the last step in the intended transformation. Recommended. Snippy Snappy: Well, they tried. Scissors don't lend themselves to transformation, but it was a noble effort. Very mildly recommended. Remorsel: Somewhat rubbery compared to most of the line, and this both helps and hurts his transformation. Otherwise decent. Mildly recommended. Nobeeoh: Decent in both modes except for some panel kibble, but I found something to do with it. Recommended. Frostferatu: Nice, if kinda small and stumpy. Mildly recommended. Professor Wellread: I like the way he looks in the art a lot better than the actual toy, repainting mine to match. Otherwise, somewhat lazy transformation. Very mildly recommended. Cranks: I'd have made different color choices, but there's otherwise not much more you can do with the idea of a hand-cranked sharpener turning into a bot with the face being the part pencils go into. Mildly recommended. Stinkosaurus Rex: Decent "cassettebot" sort of dinosaur mode, and while it turns into a pretty sad-looking potted plant, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to look like a pretty sad-looking potted plant. Recommended. RANTS See http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/BotBot/Packaging for notes on the packaging and the general characteristics of the BotBots. This file also has the package codes if you're seeking just a few of the singles, or want to avoid doubles. I also list the package number in parentheses on the "Available In" line, but not all packages will have visible numbers. Wave 1 is assortment #E 3487, and all the figures do seem to have this stamp, although it's not always in an easy-to-find place. This is a way to tell if a figure came from the single-packs or a multi-pack, as the multi-pack ones have either no assortment stamp, or their set's assortment. For instance, Skillz Punk from singles has #E 3487, but the one in the Techie Team 5-pack has no stamp at all. All of these also have C-2528A on them somewhere, usually the bottom of the foot, but not always. I'm guessing that's a generic BotBots code, as it's molded rather than stamped. NAME: SERGEANT SCRUBADUB Tribe: Toilet Troop Altmode: Bar of Soap Role: Clean-up Platoon Leader Level: 1 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (2) Sergeant Scrubadub is the first line of defense when it comes to fighting grime. No dirt is too dirty to scare him away. Sergeant Scrubadub bubbles up and leads his troop on a mission to get the bathroom shining. Scrub-a-dub-dub! Note that while the bio note implies he leads the Toilet Troop, his role suggests he only leads those who are part of the clean-up subset. Right now, that looks to be everyone except Frohawk, whose graffiti artist role suggests that the tribes may have some internal divisions. Altmode: A seafoam green bar of soap with some molded suds bubbles and a printed Autobot symbol (in white). Maybe this is the Autobot Mall, so the soap and toilet paper and so forth have Autobrands? Nice rounded shape, although the hinges and seams do mar the illusion. 1.5" (4cm) long and made entirely os seafoam green plastic. The suds are painted more of a robin's egg blue or powder blue. Transformation: About a third of the soap shell folds back 180 degrees to become a backpack and reveal the feet. Then pull the arms out to the sides, which can be a bit difficult for someone with short fingernails, but working the joints forwards and backwards slightly helps. Botmode: The rounded soap shape on the head looks vaguely like a military helmet, and he has a rectangular visor and a lopsided grin. The body and limbs are mostly rectangular solids, with the feet being more trapezoidal. One of the shorties at only 3.1cm tall (about 1.25") including the soap suds on his helmet. No new plastic colors. The face is very light gray with a printed black smile. Very light gray paint is used on the arms and on details on the chest and toes. The belt buckle is and visor are the same light blue as the suds, and there's red triangles on the belt. The assortment and manufacture date stamps are on the underside of the right foot. Swivel shoulders are the only articulation. The hands can hold the usual BotBot size of peg, and while there's no "alt mode appearance" reason to not let the holes go all the way through, they're made as cups anyway. Probably for strength. Overall: An okay BotBot. NAME: SIPPY SLURPS Tribe: Sugar Shocks Altmode: Slushie Role: Super-Chill Slush Level: 1 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (5), Sugar Shocks 1, Greaser Gang 1 Sippy Slurps is unbelievably chill, probably because she's taken too much ice to the brain. She always moves at the same mellow speed and helps other bots chill out: they get brain freeze from touching her! Altmode: A slurpee cup with a straw, suitable for repainting into Master Shake. Unfortunately, part of the lid is unpainted, and it's a spot where there's joint scraping during transformation, so hand-painting it won't work well unless you can carve out part of the lid to give more clearance. The cup itself doesn't even try to have its own pattern, it's just the robot coloration. 1.75" (4.3cm) tall including the straw, in a mix of bright blue, white, and medium gray. All of the plastic is bright blue, but the lid is mostly painted white, and there's medium gray paint around where an insulated sleeve would go. Transformation: Basically the same as Nrjeez's. In fact, I think they might have just applied a skew to his model in the computer to turn a straight-sided can into a slope-sided cup, she even has the same chest detailing. The different shape of the head makes it easier for the top part to tip back part of the way, though, and it's on the floppy side. The arms are the opposite, with the heavier use of paint making them almost locked in place. Botmode: She looks not so much mellow as in pain from her own brain freeze, to be honest. Or even angry. Similar general shape and appearance to Nrjeez, including the fairly useless wobbly arms and legs. In fact, trying to lift the arms up too much just makes them pop off. About 1.5" (4cm) tall, with legs that have a tendency to collapse back down. Same colors as altmode, with the addition of black ink for printed face detail (white eyes and teeth). The helmet border is also painted white, if not very well. The assortment and production date stamps are on the bottom of the right foot. Overall: Kinda disappointing, but it might just be a QC issue, given how tight it is where it should be loose and vice versa. NAME: SLOBBER ROCK Tribe: Shed Heads Altmode: Mossy Rock Role: Drooling Pebble Pup Level: 1 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (16) Slobber Rock is hyper, drooly, and very loyal...just like a puppy! Sometimes he gets too excited to see the other bots and accidentally knocks them over, but overall, he pretty much rocks. Except at rock/paper/scissors, which he always loses. The Shed Heads do seem to have a split between tools and stuff you put or find in your yard (rocks, plants, fungi). Slobber Rock is probably meant to be one of those fake rocks you hide keys in or something, though. Altmode: A rock with moss and a seedling growing on the back. There's a bit of the Botmode head visible, with teeth. The mold is appropriately textured for the moss, but the rock parts are full of cracks that make it look more like a rubble pile than a single rock. 1.5" (3.7cm) long, 1" (2.5cm) wide, and basically just light gray with green and yellow-green on top. All light gray plastic, the plant matter on top is painted a bright green with a bit of yellow shading on the very top. Transformation: The legs fold out from underside, the head can be pushed out once the front legs are folded out, and the seedling on top folds back to become a tail. Botmode: While described as dog-like in personality, the look is definitely rock tortoise, including the stumpy pillar-like legs. There's rectangular teeth in the mouth, so maybe they were going for more of a dinosaur thing? Anyway, it's cute, and one of the uncommon non-humanoid bot modes. A little over 1.5" (about 4cm) long and just under an inch (2.3cm) tall, it adds white teeth, bright blue eyes, and green toes to the ensemble. The assortment and datestamp numbers are on the underside of the torso, ahead of the forelegs. No real articulation, but the tail sort of wags, and you can partially transform it to represent a tortoise just its head out, or just its legs out. Overall: Decent cute little beastformer rock, if not terribly interesting. NAME: KIDD KLOBBER Tribe: Jock Squad Altmode: Boxing Glove Role: Bruising Boxing Glove Level: 2 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (24), Jock Squad 2 Kidd Clobber is the king of the ring. No matter how many lumps he takes, he battles back and keeps fighting. When you add it up, he's lost more teeth than he's lost fights. What can you say? The kid's got heart. The website lists him as Kidd Clobber, his instructions sheet has him as Kidd Klobber. Altmode: Um, it's a boxing glove wearing a boxing glove on its thumb? I think they might have been gilding the lily on this one, so that he could be weating a single boxing glove in Botmode. If they'd just given this mode a regular thumb, it would have been one of the more convincing ones, as the seams and hinges don't really mess it up otherwise. Without the mutant thumb, it's a boxing glove with a tape X on it, about the right size to attach to the forearm stump of a Voyager figure. 1.25" (3.0cm) tall, mostly red with black around the wrist and white for that taped X. There's also some dark blue on the heel of the hand, easy to mistake for more black under room lighting. It's all made of bright red plastic. No articulation. Transformation: Lift up the "fingers" part of the glove to reveal the face, pull the thumb and a bit of wrist-strap out to get the arms, and then find a knife to pry the feet down. Botmode: Weirdly, the boxing glove on the thumb doesn't even look like the bot is wearing it, more like it's hanging off the back of his wrist. The left arm has a small molded hand inside the panel, but the right arm just has a flat black-painted bit with the mini-glove bent back away from that. The face is smiling broadly, despite a black eye, showing off a mouth that's only missing one visible tooth. The glove fingers piece looks like either a pompadour haircut (with a bandage on it), or maybe a weird hat (with a bandage on it). The blue part on the glove is now more of a blue shirt or oversized belt buckle. 1.5" (3.7cm) tall, still all red plastic. The face and left hand are painted light gray, the teeth are white, the black eye is purple, and the facial details are done in black printed ink. The shoulders are restricted ball joints, the feet barely even come down from inside the torso (maybe 2mm) and definitely don't have articulation. Neither hand can hold pegs. The assortment and date stamps are on the underside of the right foot. Overall: So-so bot mode, the altmode could've been very good if they hadn't gone with the weird fractal glove trick. NAME: S'UP DAWG Tribe: Greaser Gang Altmode: Corndog Role: Corny Corn Dog Level: 1 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (10), Greaser Gang 2 S'Up Dawg is always there to pump up his team or a crowd - even if he can be a little corny. He throws really big parties, and wants every bot to have an a-maize-ing time. Altmode: A chibi corndog with a squiggle of ketchup. The backside has lots of obvious robot bits, but they do at least hide the face. The stick is short and fat, since it has to split into bot feet. The corndog does not seem to be properly cooked, though, as it's a rather lighter tan than any corndog I can recall seeing. More like the color of the corn coating under the fried surface. 1.5" (4.1cm) long and just under an inch (2.3cm) wide at the thickest point, mostly very light tan with a medium brown stick and red ketchup. All of the plastic appears to be very light tan, with paint on the stick and ketchup. The assortment number et al are on the ketchup-side of the stick (back of left leg in bot mode). Transformation: Flip up the visor to reveal the face, pull the arms out to the sides (reminiscent of how Eve from WALL-E deploys her arms), separate the stick halves as legs. Botmode: There's a very faintly Kirbian influence here, especially on the nosepiece/brow of the helmet. Very good chibi proportions, and even the stick halves as legs work pretty well. 1.75" (4.3cm) tall, with a lot more red in this mode, plus some blue, white, and yellow. The chest, face, and molded upper legs are painted red. The hands are also painted red, albeit a bit sloppily. The eyes are medium blue, the teeth are white, and facial details printed in black. The chest has mustard yellow details, while the belt is left unpainted. The shoulders are swivels and the visor can be lowered if he's watching a scary movie or something. The hands can hold rods and the opening goes all the way through. (Seriously, hoping they release official accessories these guys can hold.) Overall: A bit weird in altmode (a pale chibi corndog?), but a decent bot. NAME: FOMO Tribe: Techie Team Altmode: Sports Camera (GoPro-type) Role: Daredevil Sports Camera Level: 3 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (8) Fomo is an action junkie. She never stops looking for an opportunity to perform another daredevil stunt. She records and shares every one of her jaw-dropping feats. What till you see what she does next! Cute double reference in her name. Fomo from FOMO, Fear Of Missing Out. But also sounds like GoPro, the main brand of her sort of camera. Note, the altmode won't clip securely into the Hot Wheels car designed to hold a GoPro, but Botmode can be wedged in somewhat securely. Altmode: So, as noted, this is a GoPro style of camera, with a handle-like bit for attaching a lanyard and a (non-functional) clamp base. The upper right corner has a big lens section with a shutter and a bumper around it. 1.5" (3.5cm) wide, 1.25" (3.2cm) tall including the clamp base. Mostly silvery light gray with a slight metalswirl, with a black clamp, very dark blue lens shutter and bumper with silver around the shutter, plus green and red details in the lower left (a red circle and a green rectangle). All made from light silvery gray plastic, the other colors are painted. Transformation: Pull the arms out to the sides (the clamp is attached to one), fold the feet down behind the lanyard handle. If you stop here, it's sort of a Shockwave variant, but to finish transformation you rotate the lens section 180 degrees to bring the face and an alternative opened shutter lens to the front. Note, the left arm being pushed in keeps the head from turning, so loosely locks the facing lens in position. Botmode: The lens section is basically her oversized left eye, she has her right eye closed and is grinning lopsidedly. The clamp looks like an arm cannon. 1.5" (3.6cm) tall, the legs add almost nothing to the height, they are very sthort. The face and the area around the lens are painted a slightly darker gray than the plastic, the bumper is still very dark blue, but the lens is now bright blue. The facial details are printed in black, with a white mouth. The shoulders are swivels, and the neck can turn. No gripping ability on the hands, though. The assortment stamp is inside the torso, in the gap where the feet are stowed for altmode. A bit difficult to keep standing, due to the tiny feet. Overall: Altmode does suffer a bit from being a bit too timely...10 years from now, GoPro probably won't look the same, but a corndog will still be a corndog...but decent execution. NAME: COCOA CRAZY Tribe: Sugar Shocks Altmode: Mug of cocoa Role: Heartwarming Hot Chocolate Level: 3 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (4) Cocoa Crazy is a marshmellow-head who can be goofy at times. No one's sure if he's crazy for cocoa or he's marshmallow mad, but he has a way of warming your heart. (Maybe it's those yummy marshmallows he shares!) Came partially mistransformed, with the face not hidden in mug mode. Like Nrjeez, he seems to really just be the container, rather than being made out of food like some of the Sugar Shocks and Greaser Gang. Otherwise, sharing marshmallows just took a rather nasty turn. Altmode: A pale concrete-ish colored mug full of cocoa and a lot of marshmallows. The handle is a little smaller than 3mm in diameter, and some BotBots can hold it. The opposite side from the handle has a big divot in it, since the face goes there in botmode. Just over an inch tall (2.7cm), so about 1:4 scale as mugs go. The mug itself is concrete-colored, the cocoa is dark brown and the marshmallows are white. Entirely concrete-colored plastic. The assortment stamp is on the underside. Transformation: Lift up the arms, this unlocks the rotation of the lower part. Turn that 180 degrees to bring the face into view, and fold down the feet to reveal the torso detailing. Note, the "neck" isn't really a botmode joint, as turning it makes the face go behind the helmet part. Botmode: Basically looks like a little bot wearing a mug mascot costume. Or GIR wearing a mug mascot costume, I guess. His brains are marshmallows? Either way, he's very very happy to be here. His happy expression verges on disturbingly happy. Probably more caffeine in that cocoa than usual.... 1.25" (3.3cm) tall, adding more brown and some orange to the color scheme. The face is printed black with white teeth and white eye glisten, and the forehead is an orange trapezoid (smaller at the bottom) with four black lines printed horizontally on it. The torso is painted brown with orange paint on the chest vent details, and the toe tips are painted orange. The arms lift up to the sides, and have clip-holding hands. Overall: Altmode has a large but forgivable flaw, disturbingly cute and happy botmode. Definitely worth seeking out, though. NAME: SPUD MUFFIN Tribe: Greaser Gang Altmode: French Fries Role: Popular French Fry Guy Level: 2 Transformation Steps: 4 Available In: Single (12), Greaser Gang 3 Spud Muffin is the king of the food court. He was voted Prom King, Most Popular Bot in the Kitchen, and MVP of the Deep Fryer Games. He's proud of all his achievements and lieks to celebrate by crushing a few sets in the gym. Oddly, this was halfway transformed in-package. Probably just got dislodged being put into the bubble. Based on his bio, I guess he's the leader of the Greaser Gang? Of course, he could just be most popular but have no desire to boss anyone around. Altmode: A small container with a lot of fries, but both sides of the container have obvious bot bits. One side has the chest details and visible arms, but the other has robot shins and a lot of gaps. 1.25" (3cm) tall, with yellow fries and a white congainer with red and gray bot details. Unlike most BotBots, this is made from two different plastic colors. The fries part is bright yellow plastic, the rest is white plastic. All the paint is really meant for botmode, so I'll cover it there. Transformation: Pull the fries up, pull up a panel in back, and tilt back to reveal the head. Pull the arms out to the sides, fold the legs down from behind and snap in place. You might need to shove the fries forwards, depending on how you turned them. Botmode: Dude's got a mullet made of french fries, and a sort of flame pattern on his chest reminiscent of Hot Rod/Rodimus. While the white and red body colors are more reminiscent of Ratchet, he's definitely not a Ratchet sorta guy. 1.5" (3.8cm) tall with yellow "hair", blue visor, gray face and arms, red pelvis and chest flames. The yellow plastic makes up the hair, long tail in back included, and the rest of the toy is white. Only the non-panel parts of the arms are painted gray, and the hands are not molded to hold anything. The face is painted gray with a black and white cocky smirk printed on it. The visor is painted blue, both it and the face painting go around to back of the head core, so I guess they just dipped it in paint as part of the process, before snapping the hair on. The chest flames are molded, then painted red. The front and sides of the pelvis are painted red. Overall: I like the botmode, but the altmode feels like they had to eliminate an originally planned way to cover bot bits up and couldn't come up with a cheap replacement. NAME: TWERPLE BURPLE Tribe: Greaser Gang Altmode: Soda Cup Role: Soda Cup Class Clown Level: 1 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (11) Twerple Burple is a highly carbonated class clown who brings the bubbles and the troubles. She can burp louder and longer than any bot, and her burps send every bot around her into a fit of bubbly laughter. BWWWAAAAARPPPPP! Why are energy drinks and slurpies Sugar Shocks while soda is Greaser Gang? Maybe there's some split loyalties going on.... Also, while the group poster pic shows her using a detached lid and straw as a weapon, it is not removable on the actual toy. Altmode: A soda cup with a bent straw sticking out the top, and some horizontal stripes around the cup. Unfortunately, the stripes don't continue onto the transformation panels, but it's a deliberately sloppy line and I was able to fix it with the Bic not-Sharpie I had at my desk. (Pull the arms out and fold the face panel down a bit first, to avoid slop onto unwanted areas.) A little under 1.5" (3.4cm) tall, mostly white with red stripes and straw. All white plastic, the straw and the gappy stripes are done in bright red paint. The assortment number is on the underside. If I wanted to do more than the quick marker work filling in the stripes, I'd probably paint the lid to look more like there's a drink inside. Oh, there's one point of articulation, the straw can be turned. Transformation: Pull the arms out from the sides, flip down the panel that covers the face, and then get some sort of tool to pull the feet out by a few millimeters. I'm inclined to ignore the feet, as with a few others they just don't add enough to the height to be worth the hassle...and I've literally shredded the toes in the process of trying to get the feet out. (I also needed a pry tool to get the arms out, but I suspect that kid-sized hands would have less trouble with those.) Botmode: A sunglasses-wearing cup with arms and stubby legs, plus an apron or something. Oddly, they DID paint a stripe continuation on the inside of the "apron" panel, although it doesn't 100% line up with the bottom cup stripe. 1.5" (3.7cm) tall with the feet out, 3.4cm tall without. The extra stripe is red, the mouth and shades are printed in black. The molded arms on the insides of the side panels are painted light gray. The shoulders are swivels, the hands are just molded and in fairly low relief, no grip ability. Straw still turns. Overall: A lot of hassle to transform, and not really worth it. One of the less imaginative designs. NAME: ROOTWING Tribe: Shed Heads Altmode: Houseplant Role: Wise Dragon Oracle Level: 1 Transformation Steps: 4 Available In: Single (13) Rootwing always knows what's going to happen next, making him one of the wisest bots around. It's just hard for him to tell the other bots because he always shoots fire out of his mouth when he tries to talk. Altmode: It's a potted plant, looks like a shrub or a very small (but not bonsai) tree with big leaves, in a somewhat cracked pot. (Maybe no one listens to Rootwing because they think he's a crackpot?) Unfortunately, the three pieces that make up the leafy part don't peg together, it's more a case of a very loose guide tab. They really needed to put a proper peg in place between the two main pieces, it relies too much on shoulder joint friction to hold everything together. 1.75" (4.3cm) tall, in green and brown with a tan pot. The leaves are bright green plastic, the rest is warm brown plastic, making this one of the uncommon BotBots to use more than one shade of plastic. Unfortunately, the tan paint on the pot does not extend to the parts that go on the botmode feet, so the pot looks at first glance like it's missing big chunks out of the sides. The assortment number is stamped on the bottom of the pot, cutting through the paint. Transformation: Shown in four steps, but really the last two are just "pull the feet out and rotate them," something that could've been shown as a single step. The first step is to pull the smallest of the leaf sections back to make the tail, and the second is to pull the other two halves aside to be wings. Botmode: An adorable little tree dragon wearing part of a pot as a diaper. Unlike most BotBots, which would have techie greebles molded on the interior of shell pieces, the wings have more leaves and the tail has branch detailing. The other plant-based BotBots all seem to have some concession in botmode to their mechanical nature, but not Rootwing. There's a sort of scute pattern on the belly, but that too looks more like it grew in the living wood than something carved. It's hard to get good measurements on this, because the wings are difficult to keep symmetrically posed, and the feet are only big enough to keep it standing in a somewhat unnatural vertical-torso pose. It's only a little taller than in plant mode, though. The torso and lower "arms" are brown plastic, the branch detail on the tail is painted brown in a decent match to the plastic, and the eyes are blue. Shoulders, "elbows," and hips are all ball joints, the tail is on a hinge. For all that, there's not a lot of meaningful articulation, as the shoulders are very restricted joints, as are where the branches meet the leaves. The figure can be posed with the tail acting as a third leg, but the weird root-like feet do a good enough job on their own to avoid tail-dragon. Overall: This would be one of my favorites if not for the lack of a secure way to keep it together in altmode...the lack of paint on the pot sides is forgivable. NAME: FUN GUS Tribe: Shed Heads Altmode: Mushroom Role: Fun-Loving Mushroom Level: 1 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (15) Fun Gus is one fun guy. He brings so much life to the party that no one cares if he's a little stinky! He'll also do anything on a dare, even if it's a little reckless, and have the other Shed Heads cheering him on. Based on the group shot, hugging Cuddletooth may go beyond his tolerance for recklessness. His face also looks more worried than partying, making me wonder if he had a different name in planning. Altmode: So, this is a fungus. It has the stem of a more traditional mushroom, but the top is a cluster of fruiting bodies on stalks like some sort of slime mold. While it's immediately recognizable as a fungus, I spent way too much time looking through fungus identification guides and not finding anything that looks like it. In any case, it doesn't look like the sort of thing you'd grow on purpose. A bit under 1.5" (3.4cm), light yellowy tan on the stalk and bright red on most of the fruiting bodies. Really just a spray-down on the top of the cap piece than an attempt to just paint the round parts, though. And the few that are attached to the stem aren't painted at all (the same marker I used on Twerple Burple made short work of helping them fit in). The assortment number is stamped at the bottom of the stem side. Transformation: Lift the cap and tilt back to reveal the face, use the two unpainted bits of fruiting body to pull stem shell pieces apart to reveal the bot body. The arms are molded inside those pieces. Botmode: A sort of monitor screen face and a traditional robotic body are concealed within the fungus bits. As noted above, the expression is the sort of wavy line frown that usually indicates worry would seem to contradict the "life of the party" personality they assigned him. 1.5" (3.7cm) tall, adding a few shades of gray plus blue eyes to the mix. The shoulders, torso center, and pelvis are painted red, and some zit-like fruiting body details on the face are also painted red. I wonder if his original schtick was going to involve pimples? The forearms and clip-type hands are painted light gray, the face is almost white, with blue eyes and black printed details. The shoulders are restricted ball joints, no other articulation. Overall: Decent if somewhat chimerical altmode, botmode is nothing special but also has no significant flaws. NAME: TOTES MAGOTES Tribe: Backpack Bunch Altmode: Messenger Bag Role: Hipster messenger bag Level: 1 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (21) Totes Magotes wants everyone to know that he's hand-stitched, locally sourced, and made out of organic materials. He's rated 100% adorbs, and the amount of stuff he can hold in his pockets is completely amazeballs. On the group shot, he appears to be using a non-transforming version of his messenger bag form as a parachute. (Slappy is also hitting stuff with a non-transforming version of herself, so this may just be a thing for the Bunch.) Altmode: More shaped like a toolbox than a messenger bag, but the various straps and pockets do mark it as a softsided bag. The handle on top can be held by figures with open GIJoe-style hands, provided they're narrow enough to fit inside (no more than 8mm wide). While the individual art next to the instructions show him with a shoulder strap attached to his left arm like a whip weapon, there's no shoulder strap for the toy. A bit under 1.5" wide (3.6cm) and a little over an inch tall (2.7cm), it's mostly very light and very dark gray with some bright blue, orange, and silver. The plastic is all very light gray. There's very dark gray paint on most of the top flap as well as on the straps holding it closed. The buckles are silver, and there's some bright blue and orange botmode bits visible on one side. So, if you want it to look mostly like a bag, face the robot front to the back. Transformation: Grab the handle and pull the head up, but it won't go up far enough to really feel like you're done, and it doesn't snap in place. Pull the sides out to become arms, and then fold the feet down. Another case of too much friction, I've already scraped paint off the heels with my fingernails trying to get the feet down. I think in a lot of these cases they're working out the fit for unpainted rigid plastic, and then use soft painted plastic. Botmode: Definitely shooting for the Big Brawny Dude idea here, although one who skips leg day. The side panels have molding inside them to make them into giant (if flattened) fists on a par with those on a Voyager. The top flap becomes a sort of football pads look, with the straps becoming suspenders. The very small unpainted mouth molded under the goggles looks more like a nose, hence my trouble in figuring out if I'd pulled the head up enough. The orange detail on the chest makes it look like he's wearing a crop-top under the pads. 3.5cm tall (between 1.25" and 1.5"), and even wider than in altmode. The blue detail under the handle is revealed in this mode to be the top of a set of big blue goggles. In addition to parts already described, the feet are painted dark gray. The shoulders are swivel joints, the hands can hold appropriate sized pegs (about 0.1", according to the old decimal inches vernier caliper I removed from lab so that students wouldn't use it). Overall: A beefy brawler of a mold, and an excuse to work "amazeballs" into official Transformers lore. NAME: S.A. CHEEZ Tribe: Techie Team Altmode: Camera Role: Artistic Digital Camera Level: 2 Transformation Steps: 4 Available In: Single (9) S.A. Cheez likes telling other bots what to do. Scrunch together. Okay now smile. Okay now make a weird face. Hold. Right. There. It's not really giving orders. He says he just wants to make them look good, filter or not. The group shot gives him the wrong color of eye, but maybe it's supposed to change with his mood. Altmode: A professional style camera with viewfinder, adjustable lens, and so forth. While there's a molded screen on back, it's broken up by various transformation joints and it's not very obvious. I'm tempted to drill a small hole in the underside and make a tripod attachment. 1.25" (3.2cm) wide, making it about 1:6 scale. Mostly black (and made of all black plastic) with bright blue paint on the lens and viewfinder front; silver on the lens barrel, flash, and one of the top buttons; red detail on the front left side. Reasonably solid. Transformation: The grip side (right side if you're holding the camera pointed away from you) peels off a shell that becomes the right arm, the lens assembly folds out to be the left arm, and the non-grip side pulls out in two pieces as the legs. Behind the lens assembly is a printed face. The instructions are missing a step. The feet need to be rotated so that the molded shins/toes are facing forwards, a detail the instructions- maker seems to have missed. Heck, the artist for the packaging missed it too. Looks like the sculptor never got a chance to tell everyone that they had the thing transformed wrong. Botmode: There's actually an obvious spot under the grip where a face could have been printed, making me wonder if putting the face in the center of the torso (Arnim Zola style) was a last minute decision. It certainly gives him more character, and has his eye (mono-ocular face) behind his camera lens in altmode. There's a lot of thought put into molded details here, such as those shin and toe details mentioned above, and a shallow relief arm inside the grip shell. Oddly, the back face of the lens assembly just has random circuit diagram lines rather than a hand...given how the joints bend, I'd have figured that side to be the hand. 1.5" (3.5cm) tall, still mostly black. The face is printed silver with a blue single eye, white teeth and eye highlights, and black line details. The shoulders are restricted ball joints, but the right shoulder is above face level while the left shoulder is at eye level. The knees are restricted ball joints, and the figure can stand fairly stably with the feet in either instructions-mode or what I think was the intended pose. Overall: An interesting design that seems to have passed through multiple hands with multiple ideas for how it worked. I may try to grab a second one just to see how it looks with a higher up face. NAME: SNIPPY SNAPPY Tribe: Backpack Bunch Altmode: Scissors Role: Fast-Moving Scissors Jokester Level: 1 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (20) Snippy Snappy moves at top speed all the time. No one really knows where he's going, only that he needs to get there really fast. The only thing he has time for is making jokes. He's a real cut-up. The group shot has him taped to the wall, apparently Sticky McGee has had enough of this scissors running with himself. Altmode: Well, credit for trying, anyway. It looks like a pair of scissors from certain angles, but there's a big chunk in the middle that looks very wrong from any other angles. 2" (5cm) long, with black handles and silver blades, they're made entirely of black plastic. Not very stable, the ankle joint halfway down the blades doesn't want to stay in place. Transformation: Separate the handles into arms, flip back the panel that covers the face, bend the blade at the ankles. The instructions show the face-cover flap only flipped partway back, in contradiction with the art (and with aesthetics, as the inner face just has the various manufacturing stamps and no bot details). Botmode: Very stumpy bot with huge shoulderpads and proportionally large feet, they definitely took liberties with the proportions for the character art. 1" (2.5cm) tall at the head, with the scissor handles sticking up significantly above that. Silver paint is on the face, hands, and everything from the waist down. The visor is bright red. The shoulders are ball joints, but lifting the arms up too much makes it impossible for the figure to stand without tipping over backwards, due to the lack of heel spurs. The hands can hold 0.1" pegs. Overall: Definitely one of those "don't ask how WELL the bear rides the bicycle" deals. Impressive that they went through with such a transformation hostile design, but they didn't manage the miracle of getting a good botmode or altmode out of it. NAME: REMORSEL Tribe: Sugar Shocks Altmode: Chocolate Bar Role: Grouchy Dark Chocolate Bar Level: 3 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (6) Some bots look on the bright side. Remorsel is the opposite. He expects everything to go wrong. He's always moping around, waiting for things to get worse. When they do, he celebrates with a hearty, "harrumph." Altmode: A chocolate bar with the wrapper peeled back and a bite taken out of it...which begs the question: when was the bite taken? Did someone take a bite and abandon it as too bitter, only to have the energon cloud bring it to life in a rubbish bin? Did he come to life while being bitten? Did someone try to eat him after his awakening? Not a lot of great origins here, his bad attitude is certainly understandable. 2.9cm (between 1" and 1.25") tall, in a mix of chocolate brown, medium blue, and gold. Entirely made of blue plastic, the chocolate part is painted brown, and there's gold details on the wrapper. Oddly, while the peeled back foil bit of the wrapper is gold all the way around, the pattern painted on the front side is molded but not painted on the back. The assortment number is stamped on the back, near the feet end. Transformation: Pull the top of the wrapper up to reveal the face. This is a very rubbery piece, and it's easy to just remove it entirely by mistake. The arms can be pulled off if you have long enough nails or a tool, they don't stick they're just deep in there. The legs, however, I had to use a knife to pull down. If you have longer nails than I do, the legs are flexible enough that if you just push one in towards the middle enough will be grabbable to pull the whole assembly out. Of all the "annoyingly hard to get the feet out" transformations I've seen from the line so far, this is the least annoyingly hard. Botmode: A suitably dour-looking bot with a bite taken out of his head. Definitely made of softer plastic than most of the other BotBots. The top of the wrapper ends up looking kind of like a sweatband. 1.5" (3.7cm) tall, adding some very light gray and bright blue to the mix. The face and hands are very light gray, the eyes are bright blue, and facial details are printed in black. The shoulders are ball joints, but if you try to make the arms move forwards you're going to be hunting for them on the floor. Oddly, probably as a side effect of using a round shaft for transformation, the waist turns. Overall: A bit on the rubbery side, but mostly good. NAME: NOBEEOH Tribe: Toilet Troop Altmode: Deodorant Role: Super-Sniffing Deodorant Bloodhound Level: 3 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (3) Nobeeoh can sniff out a stink from miles away. He leaves no odor unturned and won't rest until he has sniffed out the root of all stinkdom. Nobeeoh is a very loyal companion to the pirate soap, Sudsbeard. Altmode: A deodorant stick with a dial for raising the active bit up, but for some reason the dial is a third of the way up rather than at the base (sample size package with less product, perhaps). I am reminded of how a friend of mine in college made Eldar hovertanks out of deodorants like this (back in the wild and woolly early days of Warhammer when scratchbuilds were allowed and everyone recognized that the Imperium was a parody of evil fascist governments). No lid, so the product itself is exposed at the business end. 1.25" (3.2cm) long, a mostly powder blue applicator with white deodorant and a medium blue dial. All made of powder blue plastic, the white paint on the end is applied a little sloppily. The dial is painted medium blue, and there's a light pink stripe at the back end. No, the dial does not move. the assortment stamp is on the back side (the side without the dial and with the visible bot bits). Transformation: The instructions have the legs folded down last, but the wing panels can get in the way of that, so it's best to do the legs first. Then crack the panels in front of the face apart (I do have enough fingernail to accomplish that), and flip the arms out. Botmode: Another Bot with sorta-wings resulting from peeling back panels to reveal the face but not knowing what to do with them afterwards. I found that I could rotate them up to partly cover the top of the head, looking like floppy dog ears...fitting for a "bloodhound" character. The facial expression (well, the eyes...it's a faceplate bot) is definitely on the angry/determined side, at odds with the carefree toilet diver in the group shot. 1.75" (4cm) tall, a tiny bit taller if you do the dog-ear trick, in the same colors are altmode, but with the addition of angry red eyes. The face is white, the eye details lined in black. The faceplate and chest dial are medium blue, the toes and hands are white, the pink line at the belt is joined by pink cuffs. The shoulders are ball joints, the hands can hold 0.1" pegs. The transformation hinge for the hips isn't really useful for posing. Overall: The only thing that really bugged me was the wingflap bits, but once I figured out the dog-ear trick that was solved. A good BotBot. NAME: FROSTFERATU Tribe: Lost Bots Altmode: Cupcake Role: Mystical Cupcake Vampire Level: 3 Transformation Steps: 2 (and that's being generous) Available In: Single (17) One bite from Frostferatu sends other bots into overdrive. The sorveror of sweet hypnotizes them, then bites them to share his magic Energon and give them a super-charged sugar rush. Isn't giving them energy kinda the opposite of being a vampire? Anyway, this is the "star" of the singles packaging, and he does seem to get a lot of love from fans so far as I've seen. Altmode: A red velvet cupcake with a dollop of white frosting on top, in a deep pink ruffled cup. Aside from the panel lines and a couple of sockets in back, it's a nice tight altmode. 1.25" (3.0cm) tall, one of the few to have multiple plastic colors. Most of the cup is made of deep pink plastic, the rest of the toy is bright red plastic with a very good match on the deep pink paint for the parts that are cup. The frosting blob is painted white. There are molded sprinkles on the cake and the frosting blob, but they're not individually painted light blue to match the artwork. Both the molded assortment and stamped assortment are on the underside. Transformation: Split open the cup into wings, lift the arms up. It's really just a single step, posing the arms isn't required. Botmode: A very small Bot with wings made from parts of the cupcake paper. It really looks more like a Bot hiding inside a cupcake shell, to be honest. The part of the cup that isn't wings becomes a high collar. Same height as in altmode, with a wingspan of about 2" (5cm) depending on how you pose the wings. The face and hands are painted white, and there's bright blue details painted on the chest. The eyes are printed with hypnosis swirls, and the fanged mouth is partially open to reveal red inside. The shoulders are swivels, and the hands can hold short 0.1" pegs. The wings are on ball joints, but kinda restricted. Overall: Neat idea, at least, if somewhat restricted in execution. NAME: PROFESSOR WELLREAD Tribe: Backpack Bunch Altmode: Book Role: Super-Intelligent Bookworm Level: 1 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (19) Professor Wellread has read more books than any other bot. OK, technically he's only read one book (himself), and none of the other bots know how to read, but he still thinks it counts and no one is going to argue with him. Altmode: This is more of a diary than a regular book, as it has a molded clasp to hold it shut. Unfortunately, this detail is obscured by the lack of proper colors...there's a black painted part that becomes the bot's hair, but it has pages and part of the strap molded into it. Maybe just making the rest of the strap black would be enough. (Pulls out black Sharpie...yeah, a bit better, although the Sharpie can't get into the edge around the snap. Will need to redo with paint later.) 1.25" (3.3cm) tall, about an inch (2.4cm) wide, 5/8" (1.4cm) thick. Light blue cover, white pages, black strap...mostly. All made of light blue plastic, with white paint on the page edges and black on the bit mentioned earlier. The back cover has the various seams and joints, as well as the assortment stamp. Unfortunately, the book doesn't really lock together, so it's easy to accidentally crack it open...and not in the direction one should open a book. Transformation: The majority of the book splits open to reveal the bot head, and then pull the body down from inside. By rocking back and forth patiently, I was able to get the body out without using a tool. While the official mode just turns the book cover halves into wings, if you're willing to sacrifice the ability to stand up in botmode, the halves can be reconnected to have it look like he's carrying a book on his back. And it's not like he has far to tip over. Botmode: Square-headed nerdbot with big glasses and a wobbly frown, plus a suit and tie-inspired design. By default he has random book wings, but I prefer the "book on the back" look. They went to a lot of effort to make him as stereotypically nerdy as possible. More like a student than a professor, though...giving him white hair with a gray streak down the middle for the strap might have worked better, although they'd have needed to give him a different face color as well in that case. Interestingly, the art in the group shot and the role note DOES give him white hair, along with white paint on molded page details on the forearms and shins. The art also gives him blue lenses in his glasses and a less "please don't hurt me" expression. Definitely repainting this one. About 1.5" (3.6cm) tall in mostly the same colors as the book. The face and suit lapels are white. Black paint or printing are used for the glasses, face details, and hair. The tie and belt are painted very dark blue. The pelvis and thighs are light gray, oddly. The shoulders are ball joints, although the arms can't lift up much before running into the underside of the head. No clip hands. Overall: Hiding the entire body inside the head is a little cheaty IMO, and the instructions should've included the book-on-the-back step. But otherwise not too bad. NAME: CRANKS Tribe: Backpack Bunch Altmode: Sharpener Role: Cranky Pencil Sharpener Level: 1 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (22) Cranks has a limitless appetite for pencils. The more he eats, the hungrier he gets and the faster he chews. But when he doesn't have enough to eat, he can get a little hangry. Altmode: Well, it's a pencil sharpener with an obvious visor, plus the handle got broken off at some point (the crank is still there, but the handle part of it is just a nub...amusingly, Fire Blasts from Siege will fit onto that nub). In order to make the front end work as a face, they also shifted the pencil-insertion holes to the bottom end rather than the usual top. Just over 1" tall (2.8cm), almost 1.5" long (3.5cm), 7/8" (2.2cm) wide. Mostly light slightly silvery gray and bright green, with a bright yellow visor. It's all made of light gray plastic with a very slight metal swirl. The base is covered in bright green paint, and a wide band of bright green is painted around the barrel...except on the parts that become arms. The nub on the handle is painted gloos black, and the visor is painted yellow. The assortment stamp is on the underside of the base, between the feet. The crank can be turned. Transformation: It's a lot easier to get the arms out if you switch steps 1 and 2 of the instructions. Pull up the top first, then use the extra space to get a grip on the arms and pull them out. Step 3 is just rotating the feet around to face front. Botmode: Well, it's a sharpener with short arms and legs now, and a sort of suggestion of a torso under the sharpener barrel. Now 1.25" (3.2cm) tall, with more green paint on the molded arms inside the side panels, and black details on the sorta-chest. The shoulders are swivels, but the roots are flexible enough to overcome the serious restriction in range of motion. The waist turns. The hands can hold 0.1" pegs in principle, but it's hard to get the into a position to do so. Overall: I suppose if you're committed to the "pencils go in the face" style of bot design, there's not much else that could have done with this design. Maybe make the arms fold down rather than pull out? Should've gone with silver paint rather than green, though, as most hand-cranked pencil sharpeners are chromed steel. Not a toy to be enthusiastic about, in any case. NAME: STINKOSAURUS REX Tribe: Toilet Troop Altmode: Potted Plant Role: Lookout T-rex Plant Level: 3 Transformation Steps: 3 Available In: Single (1) Stinkosaurus Rex takes his job as a bathroom lookout very seriously, even if it makes him smelly. Since he sits on the toilet, his leaves soak up a lot of the stink. He scopes out potential threats and roars when he sees trouble. Altmode: It's a square-ish pot with a somewhat iffy plant in it. A third of the pot is just dirt, and most of the plant matter is pretty short, there's just a few stalks that look even remotely healthy. In short, the kind of plant you might expect to be in a mall bathroom, stunted and more than a little abused. From three sides, the pot looks more or less unified, but the front has a patch of green from botmode that kinda stands out. Some of the pot details look more like a wicker basket than a clay pot. The pot itself is 0.75" (2.0cm) tall, the whole thing is just under 1.5" (3.6cm) tall. The pot and dirt are a terra cotta warm brown, which is the plastic color for the whole toy, and the plant matter and that one bit in front of the pot are painted bright green. The assortment stamp is on the underside. Transformation: If you're dextrous enough, you can get it to all unfold in a single motion. Going back to altmode in a single step is relatively easy. In order, you lift up a part of the pot rim, then push down on the plant bits while holding onto the rest of the pot. Finally, some bits of the pot sides lift up as forelimbs, although that's optional. Botmode: The forelimbs are rather big for a T.rex, it looks more like a quadrupedal dinosaur rearing up a bit. Between the shorter plant bits and some molding inside the rim panel, there's a suggestion of Godzilla-like back spines. A very squared off snout is opened up to show rounded teeth, and blunt claws are molded into the forelimbs and hindlimbs. 1.75" (4.3cm) from snout to tail tip, around 1.25" (3.5cm) tall. The top of the head and the bit behind it are painted bright green, and it wraps around the front of the snout but not the sides. The eyes are blue, and the teeth are painted white. There's a molded detail on the chest that looks like it should also be painted green to continue the pattern, but it's unpainted. Note, the art has a third color, a lighter brown shade, on the chest and the stalks of the plant bits, plus gray on the forelimbs. It also has the green on the head be in more of a leaf pattern. There's really no way to just paint this toy to look like the art, the mold is significantly different. The forelimbs are on hinges with a decent range of motion, and the transformation joint can be used to let the head dip down. No 0.1" peg grips on the forelimbs, but I wouldn't really expect that from one of the beast bots. Overall: Yeah, it doesn't match the art, but it's fine as it is (unlike Professor Goodreads). Definitely one of the more solid designs, worth seeking out. Dave Van Domelen, thinks this may be his longest review by linecount other than MAYBE some of the Masterpiece stuff...and even those might only be longer in wordcount and not linecount, due to all the blank lines in this review.