Dave's Transformers Rant: Deluxe Wave 3 Snarl Sideways Actually got these at two different stores on the same day, oddly enough. Strictly speaking, they're part of wave 3.5, as they have the DVDs, but I'm going to keep them separate as wave 3 because they did ship to Canada and online retailers on their own, at least. CAPSULES Snarl: Okay in both modes, decent transformation (if badly explained in the instructions), so-so gimmick, really bad color choices. Aside from colors, nothing really bad, but nothing really good, either. An inoffensive middle of the road toy. Mildly recommended. $9.87 at Wal-Mart. Sideways: Nice vehicle mode, Cyberjet-meets-Squidhead transformation, somewhat ungainly robot mode (and more bad instructions for transformation). Gimmick is okay, and I'm not sure if the fact that it can launch its Key across the room is a bug or a feature. Mildly recommended, but better than Snarl. $9.99 at Target. Yes, this is the Wave That Underwhelmed Me. I bought it alongside REMOLDS that I was generally more excited by. RANTS Packaging: See http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Cybertron/Deluxe3A for notes on the DVD and Earth Map that comes with these. There's some variations, though. Snarl's DVD is mounted near the bottom of the cart, rather than up towards the top as with the other toys in this shipment. Snarl is otherwise in standard packaging, with co-sells on the back of Sideways, Red Alert and Override (suggesting that there may have once been plans to ship the four together). Earth Map is folded with no bag, but folded differently than the ones in the Armada remolds. Sideways's package tries to split the difference between Autobot and Decepticon, but in cases where a split isn't feasible (shape of the card top, "handedness" of the blister), he's Decepticon. Most instances of faction symbols on the packaging are split down the middle, Autobot on the left and Decepticon on the right. His Key is red but with a Decepticon symbol, another difference splitting. The package claims he's from Planet X, but the hook has the yellow background and quartet of planet symbols otherwise used for Cybertrons. Co-sells are Dnarl, Leobreaker and Mudflap. His map is folded the same way as Snarl's, and his instructions are purple, yet another "He's both, but he's REALLY a Decepticon" thing. Storyline mess note: the "Ask Vector Prime" column on transformers.com suggests that Sideways is the same character as Armada Sideways. That should prove interesting if they try to actually make it work in the cartoon, since in Galaxy Force the guy is Noisemaze and is unrelated to Armada. AUTOBOT: SNARL Planet: Jungle Altmode: Mecha-Wolf Planet Key Code: d43j SNARL is master of the darkest, most wild places on the Jungle Planet, and it is through his cunning that the Jungle Planet rebels have survived long enough to team up with their new AUTOBOT allies. He is a robot of few words, preferring constant action to hiding and resting. Despite this, he is a clever fighter and a careful planner, never putting his soldiers at unnecessary risk, and never leaving a 'bot behind to be tortured by his sworn enemy SCOURGE. STR 8 INT 7 SPD 8.5 END 7.5 RNK 7 COUR 9 FRB 7.5 SKL 9 Avg 7.94 Key Code Info: If Scourge is the 'dark side' of Jungle Planet, than Snarl is definitely the 'light side'. Trained by Armorhide to respect life, use force only when needed and to be one with nature, Snarl is a peaceful and thoughtful warrior. If he is not looking out for Scourge and one of his tantrums, Snarl can be found racing through the darkest woods of Jungle Planet -- observing the trees and the light pouring through the leaves. He usually makes his way in the dead of night to his favorite spot - the top of Lookout Mountain. This is where he meditates, wonders about what is beyond his own home and of course, where he howls at the moon. (Looks like this wasn't rewritten after they gave the Armorhide name to the new mold truck, and were gonna call the Saidos import (Backstop) Armorhide instead. Also shows concept art of a purple and gray more organic looking wolf mode.) 6 twist-ties hold the main toy into the bubble, plus one more for the tail weapon that is separate for reasons of trying to fit the toy into the bubble. One rubber band holds a plastic shield over the left rear hip. The single missile and the Planet Key are simply held in by the blister. Planet Key: Standard Jungle Planet Key. Beast Mode: This is a Transmetal in molding, mostly robotic but with bits of fur and other organic-ness poking out. Unfortunately, the choice of colors does a really good job of HIDING that point. All the fur is such a dark blue that you can't really see details (I plan to do some drybrushing on the fur and ink wash on the white parts to bring out details, which should help some). It doesn't help that the proportions are a bit off...legs are too spindly and body too bulky. It's not quite G1 Pounce, but it's in that neighborhood. With the missile installed in the tail, the toy is 8.5" (22cm) long in wolf mode, and depending on leg position, about 3.5" (9cm) tall at the Key slot. Most of the head and forward body, plus the upper forelegs, are a slightly translucent white plastic. The paws, hindquarters and tail are a light blue plastic. The lower legs, throat and weird sideburns are dark blue plastic. There's also a lot of dark blue paint details, some yellow highlights, and very light gray paint. His missile is clear yellow. A small Autobot symbol is printed on a yellow disc on his left rear hip. The hips are restricted ball joints, while the knees and ankles (and an extra true ankle joint in each rear leg) are hinges. The tail can be posed as well, due to its attachment peg having a hinge that lets it become either a sword or a gun in robot mode. There's a clip on the right rear hip for holding the Planet Key when it's not in use. Inserting the key and pushing in makes his mouth open to reveal clear yellow fangs. It does not stay open on its own, however. At least on mine, the Key will stay inserted and not launch across the room when released. Unfortunately, not only is this not a very impressive gimmick, the fangs look like they're jutting out of his soft palate rather than coming out of his upper jaw. It's really kinda goofy-looking. Transformation: The rear legs become robot legs, but literally with a twist: they twist above the knees rather than having the waist twist to swap back and front. There's also the inevitable heel spurs. The forelegs feel like they should stow completely, but they don't. The torso turns inside out, which is interesting, but the instructions are really vague on how the forelegs should be positioned inside, and the whole thing doesn't hold together as firmly as I suspect it could. I'll give them credit for finding a moderately new quadruped to robot transformation, it's probably the best thing about the toy. Robot Mode: 5.5" (14cm) tall, with a wolf head for a right forearm. There's a lot of BW Silverbolt in his appearance, especially the head and the "skirt", although that may just be my overactive pattern-recognition skills. The chest is dark blue with yellow and red paint, the upper arms are translucent white with yellow paint on the shoulders, and the head is translucent white with some blue paint but not as much as on the prototype pic on the package. It also has yellow lightpiped eyes. The shoulders are universal joints, as are the elbows (although the bulk of each forearm blocks the elbows somewhat). The head swivels, and the legs are pretty much as in wolf mode, although one of the joints is suppressed. The Key gimmick works the same in this mode, and the hip clip for the Key is also usable, but you'll want to flip the Key to face down so it doesn't get in the way of hip movement. The tail weapon has its handle peg on a hinge, as earlier mentioned. Straight out, it makes the tail a sword of sorts. Bent 90 degrees, it becomes a rifle. Unlike Jawbreaker/Frostbite, Snarl cannot hold his weapon in his head-hand. Overall: As mentioned in the Capsule, there's no HUGE problems with this, the worst being the choice of plastic colors (and that can be ameliorated with paint). And there's a lot of places where a few small changes might have helped things. But nothing really grabs me either. DECEPTICON/AUTOBOT: SIDEWAYS Planet: X Altmode: Spaceplane Planet Key Code: dj51 A con man from the day he first came online, SIDEWAYS is a master of deception, mixing just enough truth into his lies to keep both his enemies and his allies off guard. His tongue is as sharp as his sword, always ready with another trick of language to keep his marks guessing at his true intentions; at least long enough to jam a hidden blade through their anterior power units. STR 8 INT 6 SPD 6.5 END 9 RNK ? COUR 10 FRB 8 SKL 8 Avg ? Key Code Info: Sideways is probably one of the most horrible Transformers ever! Not only does he come from a mysterious unknown planet, but he also pretends to be an Autobot to gain Optimus Prime and his teams's trust! Then, when the heroes least expect it -- BOOM -- Sideways will turn around and join up with the Decepticons! What a scoundrel! (Geez, this one sounds like it was written for the Go-Bots line. The bonus picture is of Sideways in both modes as simple CG art, with both the actual color scheme and an alternate one.) 3 twist-ties hold the spaceplane into the blister. There are no separate accessories aside from the Key, which is just held in by the blister. No rubber bands, either, although some of the pegs came undone in transit, so maybe it could have stood to have a couple bands. Planet Key: The Planet X Key is a new mold. It has some similarities to the Cybertron Key, especially at the top, but instead of being a roughly football shape, it has a trio of spikes on either side and generally looks more "armored". Sideways's key is made of clear orange plastic and has a Decepticon symbol molded into the center on the back side as an inverse, with no paint or chrome on it. Vehicle Mode: Hard to really describe it. Most of it is a sort of delta-shaped spaceplane, but with swept-forward blade wings attached at the rear. Front to back it's 5.5" (14cm) long, and the wingspan is 7" (17.5cm). The main color is black, with silver and dark gold paint in many places. At the top of the cockpit is a clear orange trapezoid with a sort of gold chrome windowpane pattern. The "eyes" of the cockpit are also clear orange. There's a few bits of orange and neon green paint. The wings have a sort of techno-antfarm look, with black at the front, silver at back, and neon green bits on the border. The underside has a lot of opaque orange plastic and three tiny orange wheels that don't really roll very well. A small Autobot symbol is visible through a window between the tail blades. Stability is...okay. There's a lot of pegs holding things together, but there's some wiggle room on the wings. There's no real poseability, naturally, but the Displacement Cannon can rise up on a hinged orange rod. While the cannon is not deployed, inserting the Key just causes the Autobot symbol to slide forward and be replaced by a Decepticon symbol. It can take a few tries and some wiggling to get the Key to stay in, and it's liable to pop out and fly a couple inches. If the cannon is deployed, then inserting the Key also makes the Combat Blades pop out, two curved clear orange blades on either side and make the cannon look more like a sort of crossbow. And yes, Displacement Cannon and Combat Blades are what the packaging calls his weapons. Transformation: The legs unfold off the sides a lot like Armada Thrust's, the arms are stored in a manner similar to Cyberjets, but the torso works out without being an obvious (to me) direct lift. Getting the cockpit open to pull out the head can require a bit of effort. The legs are liable to pop off at the hips if you're not careful, and the instructions aren't too helpful in showing what to do with the wings (nor is the package photo). They should be top-out and point-up, with the base ends nearly at the level of the bottom fo the feet. The shoulders don't really lock into place, making for problems in robot mode. Robot Mode: 5.5" (14cm) tall with a LOT of bright orange now visible. It's like he's the Halloween Transformer, complete with silver skull motif on his chest and devilish horns. Sideways has very long legs and big feet, which combine with a long pointy chest to give him very weird proportions. The head has orange lightpiping through black plastic, with a visor that looks like a stylized bird shape, or fangs around an open mouth. There's dark gold paint accents all over the head. The head is on a swivel, but there's no waist joint. The shoulders are universal joints very much like G2 Smokescreen or Energon Starscream's. There's upper arm swivels, hinge elbows, and swivel wrists (which are part of the transformation, creating the main thruster by having the backs of the hands facing each other...you really have to scrutinize the instructions to see that). The hips are ball joints, and there's a swivel right below each hip. The knees and ankles are hinges, and rather stiff compared to the somewhat loose hips, which can make getting poses a bit frustrating at times. The cannon unit is mounted on the left forearm, and can be swiveled around to act as gun, shield, or even Key-launcher. Additionally, the wings are only held on by pegs, and can be removed for use as swords. Both can be put in one hand to form a sort of Klingon sword whose name I don't care to look up the ap'os'trop'hes for. Overall: Making a few of the connections stronger/stiffer and a few of them looser would have helped a lot, and it's possible someone out there got the magic combination of quality control variation that left them with the ideal levels. But I didn't. My opinion of the toy has gone up since I started writing the review (as I found a few more bits to it), but I'll stand by the Mildly Recommended rating. Dave Van Domelen, now has to get his Voyager Starscream/VP set out of the clutches of UPS, which is requiring a signature and won't send the truck when he's actually home.