Dave's Transformers Rant: Deluxe Wave 4 Brimstone Thunderblast Crosswise Updated February 15, 2006 with Key Code info. CAPSULES Brimstone: Good mecha-beast mode, good robot mode. Transformation is simplistic, but has a few clever bits. Recommended. $9.87 at Wal-Mart. Thunderblast: Okay, it's a shellmaster. But it's a pretty good shellmaster. Solid vehicle mode, incredibly simple transformation, okay robot mode. Recommended. $9.87 at Wal-Mart. Crosswise: Maybe I got a good one and others have gotten bad ones, but I really don't have the complaints I've heard from others. Very nice vehicle mode, good robot mode, and the transformation is a bit on the tricky side, but not horribly so (not as bad as Speedbreaker, for instance). Recommended. $9.87 at Wal-Mart. RANTS Packaging: Back to the standard Deluxe, no DVDs with these. DECEPTICON: BRIMSTONE Planet: Jungle Altmode: Mecha-Pteranodon Planet Key Code: d0h3 Previous Name Use: None (in TFs, anyway...it was a Go-Bot Rock Lord) BRIMSTONE likes the simple things - food, flying, trashing AUTOBOTS. He leaves stuff like thinking, planning and noticing what's going on to his pal UNDERMINE, which is just as well because that tiny, little head of his contains a badly undersized CPU. Still, being dumb doesn't make BRIMSTONE any less dangerous. In flight, he is totally silent, and his diamond-edged vanadium wing blades can pierce even the toughest armor. STR 5 INT 5 SPD 9.5 END 10 RNK 6 COUR 9 FRB 6 SKL 8 Avg 7.31 I guess INT 5 *is* dumber than a sack of hammers in the stat inflation world. Given the writeup, though, I'd suggest INT 2 and RNK 3. :) Key Code Info: Brimstone and Undermine are, when not being pushed around by Scourge and bullying all the other inhabitants of Jungle Planet, insane Praxus Fold Em' data card players! At night in the Jungle Temple, the two of them can be found playing this addictive chip and card game for Energon goodies and swapping chores. At one time, Brimstone had Undermine cleaning all the waste depositories with his tail until he lost it all on a bad hand! (Also shows color guide to the toy.) Packaging: Earth map. In Beast mode with one wingblade extended. Three twist-ties hold it in, with a plastic shield over the head crest to keep it from being squooshed. Planet Key: Standard Jungle Key. Beast Mode: A Pteranodon, the same basic species as Terrorsaur, with the crest on the head and the really short tail. Total length is 6.5" (16.5cm), with a wingspan of 9" (23cm). The torso and head are a warm gray plastic, the wings are smoky clear plastic (as are the spring-out blades). The beak, robot head, lower beast legs, neck and part of the underbody are neon yellow plastic. The lower jaw, upper beast legs and the rest of the underbody are very dark gray. There's metallic purple paint on the crest and the spars of the wings, copper on the forehead and some of the underbody, and chartreuse on the leading edges of the wings. The eyes are red with vertical black slits. The front two claws on each foot are painted to match the torso plastic. A Decepticon symbol is prined on the right wing. The general look is very Transmetal in nature, much like the other Jungle Planet beasts. There's F-22-looking jet intakes on the torso flanking the neck, for instance. Poseability is good. The wings flap, although with the legs attached outside the hinge points you need to reposition them after moving the wings. The legs have ball joint hips and "knees", and there's three hinges per claw. The neck bends in two places and swivels above the base joint. The jaw opens. Inserting the Key into its slot over the tail causes blades to spring out of the leading edges of the wings, smoky clear plastic with chartreuse paint on the blade parts. The Key cannot be stored stably without the blades popping out. The Key is also not necessary, as there's a disc at each wing joint that, when pushed forward, releases the blade on that side. Transformation: Really simple, but clever despite that. The beast legs become robot arms, and the robot head pops up from center of the torso. The clever bit comes in how the robot legs are made. The beast head is the boot part of the right leg (maybe that's why he's so stupid, he steps on his brains). The package picture shows the wings remaining horizontal, but the instructions have you tilt them up about 30 degrees. Robot Mode: 5" (13cm) tall at the head, it can get extra height depending on how you position the wings. The colors are mostly symmetric, save for the boots: one is the beast head with the beak forming a neon yellow foot, the other is neon yellow with copper paint near the knee and a charcoal gray foot. The pelvis and hips are charcoal, the abdomen is neon yellow, and the head is neon yellow plastic with a charcoal face, purple central crest and painted red eyes. Other colors are as in beast mode. The head and waist both turn, and the abdomen can bend sideways on a transformation joint (just bending to the right). The arms are the beast legs, see above. The legs have ball hips, a swivel just below each hip, hinge knees and ankles. One nifty detail is that the peg hole on the left calf that connects to a peg on the underside of the beast torso is molded to look like a jet nozzle. The claws are pretty poseable, and can hold his Key, but not very firmly. Overall: Simple in transformation, and a lot of beast mode remains as-is in robot mode, but it's a decent toy. Worth picking up. DECEPTICON: THUNDERBLAST Planet: Earth Altmode: Attack Boat Planet Key Code: dh62 Previous Name Use: None (but there's a Mini-Con with the name released at about the same time) THUNDERBLAST knows that the weakest part of any AUTOBOT is his obnoxious sense of nobility. They're constantly rushing to the rescue, and every last one of them would sooner scrap a basket of Antilian bumble-puppies than blast a female as pretty as she is. She uses that fact to her full advantage; more than one AUTOBOT has fallen first for her charms, and then to her plasma torpedoes. As an agent working on earth [sic] for STARSCREAM, she knows better than to trust any DECEPTICON, but she finds a kindred spirit in the con-man SIDEWAYS. STR 7 INT 6.5 SPD 9 END 6 RNK 5 COUR 5 FRB 6.5 SKL 6 Avg 6.625 [Later comment: I've been reminded that bumble-puppies are from Huxley's _A Brave New World_. One of the many products for mandatory outdoors fun.] Key Code Info: Little does anyone know but Thunderblast is actually one of the released ancient Decepticon monsters that Starscream freed from the North Pole. When she was cruising the waterways in the ancient days of mankind she was mistaken for the Sirens of myth and legend. Luring sailors to their deaths on the rocks, the playful (yet evil) Thunderblast would sing out in the ancient Cybertronian tongue to tempt the human sailors. She's rotten that way.... (Also shows basic concept sketch, which has smaller wings and a "Cannonball" sort of flight where her lower body is sheathed in energy.) Packaging: Co-sells of Sideways, Crosswise and Brimstone. Comes with the Earth map. One twist-tie around the boat, one around the missile launcher (which is separate). Missiles just held in by the bubble. Planet Key: Standard Earth Key. Vehicle Mode: Well, I tried to find out if this is based on a specific model of speed boat, but my Googling was in vain. Suffice to say, this is a sort of impeller-driven patrol speedboat with a machinegun on the front deck and a pair of torpedoes hanging from the sides...oh, and a big honkin' box missile launcher attached at the rear (in the cartoon, the launcher is Thunderblast's unique addition, the boats she scans lack it). 5.5" (14cm) long with a dark purple hull, purplish gray stern and silver-painted top. The two trios of impeller nozzles at the back, the seats in the open cockpit, the holder for the missile launcher (plus it's fake missiles and trigger) and the deck gun are dark charcoal gray plastic. The missile launcher is made of light purplish gray plastic with purple paint. The windshield, torpedos and torpedo racks are clear orange-yellow. There's silver trim along the sides, gold trim at the tip of the bow, and hot pink circles behind the seats. There's a purple and white Decepticon symbol printed on the deck in front of the windshield and behind the deck gun. The truncated triangle symbol over the Key slot on the missile launcher is painted silver with a red triangle inside. Does it float? Well, it's plastic, so yes. But there's enough seams in the hull that it's not going to float in a waterproof manner. It does stay stable on a table, though, since the ridges along the hull keep it from rolling over to the side. Inserting the Planet Key into the back of the missile box causes the false front to flip down and the main body to spring up, revealing a working missile launcher that uses the clear yellow torpedoes. Yes, the gimmick is that the missile launcher becomes a different missile launcher, but it looks nifty. It's not possible to store the key just partially in, it's all or nothing (and kinda hard to remove). However, there's room inside the hull to store the Key between Thunderblast's legs, if you want. There isn't quite enough room to just flip up the stern and put it in that way, though. The missile launcher will elevate to 30 degrees and can depress to as low as negative 25 degrees when pointing backwards (only about negative 10 degrees or so when shooting at her own front deck). It can spin around 360 degrees horizontally. Transformation: If you just open up the stern panel, it looks like someone kidnapped a femmebot and shoved her inside the hull. :) And that's pretty much the transformation. You open up the hull pieces (carefully, or the torpedoes will pop off), pull the hull away from the back on a joint that some have sliced through to let them remove the boat shell, unfold the arms and legs, and you're done. There's a clever mid-thigh angle-cut joint that lets the legs form part of the prow, though, so it's not a total Pretender Shell strapped to her back. The missile launcher detaches for use in robot mode, but the deck gun is riveted in place. Robot Mode: 4.75" (12cm) tall, it's a definitely female figure with impossibly long legs...and a huge boat shell on her back. It looks kinda like wings, but they totally missed out on this by just molding generic mechanical patterns on the inside. Mechanical feather patterns on the inside would have made her into some sort of death angel. If you bring the backpack all the way down on its joint, it gives her lots of extra stability as extra legs, but generally means she leans forward too (there's a few poses that don't force this). Her chest has a sort of Matrix-of-Leadership pattern on it. The torso, head and forearms are the light purple-gray plastic seen on her missile launcher. The thighs are also this color plastic, but totally covered in orange-gold paint. The upper arms, elbows and pelvis are charcoal gray, and the lower legs and feet are dark purple (being the only parts visible in boat mode). The chest is heavily painted with silver as the main color, and accents of orange-gold, dark blue and red. The dark blue and orange-gold paint dominate the abdomen. The face is painted silver, and the eyes are clear yellow-orange light piping. There's orange-gold paint on the helmet "tablet". Poseability is good, if inhibited by the backpack. Neck and waist swivel, although the head can only turn about 40 degrees either way. The shoulders and hips are ball joints. There's a swivel right below each shoulder joint, and the elbows are double hinges so that the arms can fold 180 degrees. The transformation swivel joint in the hip is of some use in posing. The knees are hinges, as are the ankles (sort of...only the toe part of the high heels moves, the heel spike itself is fixed). The hands are in an open pose, and the gun pegs into holes in her forearms (with a secondary grip that goes into the hand to give the illusion of it being held in her hand). Kitbashing Note: If you cut the joint holding the boat shell to her body, you can still attach it via the stabilizing pegs. I've seen pictures of the detached shell being used as a sort of Goblin Glider, too. The pin can probably be knocked out too to avoid cutting, but I haven't tried it myself yet. [Later note: it's easy enough to knock the pin out that attaches the joint to Thunderblast's back. The pegs aren't necessarily tight enough to keep the shell on her back, though, and leaving the shell up in boat position does make it a little harder to pose her standing.] [Another later note: http://www.dvandom.com/kitbash/wingedtb.JPG is a simple attempt to make the shell bits look more like wings and tail of a robot bird.] Overall: Not as bad as I'd feared. Yes, it's very much a shellmaster. But it holds together very well in vehicle mode, and the robot is fairly poseable. And, if you want, you can separate the shell. If they'd only put feather patterns inside the shell, I'd have almost no complaints. AUTOBOT: CROSSWISE Planet: Earth Altmode: Bugatti Veyron sportscar Planet Key Code: d9f2 Previous Name Use: RiD Spychanger CROSSWISE is an ancient bounty hunter tricked centuries ago into following a target to Earth, where he was captured and sealed into the side of a glacier in the Alaskan wilderness. Gruff, sarcastic, and always spoiling for a fight, he isn't above resorting to dirty tricks to take down an enemy. Though he rarely works without getting paid, he also has a strong sense of right and wrong, and when he hears about the danger to CYBERTRON, he is only too glad to sign on with OPTIMUS PRIME and the AUTOBOTS. STR 6.5 INT 7 SPD 8.5 END 8 RNK 6 COUR 7 FRB 7.5 SKL 5 Avg 6.94 You know, this gives him more personality than we've seen from him in several eps of the cartoon. Where he was called Smokescreen, although I'm told they're going back and fixing that. Oh, and a comment on the cartoon while I'm at it: he scanned his vehicle mode from a car belonging to a scientist at the glacial dig site. While I can certainly believe that a reseach archaeologist owns a Bugatti (they still get paid while in the field, and a lot of academic types blow some of their pay on nice cars), I can't see anyone taking one into a glacier zone. Totally pitted out! And as long as I'm taking up space here with comments, I'll note that this toy has been called an Alternator Junior, as well as a Fourth Car Brother (due to the shellformery transformation). We shall see.... Key Code Info: Like the noble and vampire vanquishing Van Helsing, Crosswise is a Decepticon monster hunter. A true Autobot through and through, Crosswise was one of the original Autobots sent to Earth along with Evac to protect the Earth Cyber Planet Key. When the rogue Decepticons began to make their appearances all over the Earth, his bounty hunter's background kicked in and he went into full-on monster hunter mode. It was actually in 1897 when an Irish man named Bram Stoker saw a shadowy figure destroy what appeared to be a Vampire creature in the streets of London did he begin to write his most famous novel...Dracula. (No visual extras.) Packaging: Co-sells of Brimstone, Thunderblast and Longrack. Comes with the Earth Map. Two twist-ties hold the car in, one holds the spoiler/gun, and another holds the flaming green missile. A rubber band also holds the car together. Planet Key: Standard Earth key. Vehicle Mode: 5.25" (13cm) long Bugatti Veyron sportscar. Possibly with influence from other Bugatti models, I don't claim to be an expert. :) The body is black plastic, with dull silver paint on the "grille", hubcaps, spoiler and a stripe along the roof. The headlights are orange-gold, as is a stripe along the trailing edge of the spoiler. The taillights and some accents on the missile launcher core of the spoiler piece are red. The windows are clear blue-green plastic (and much of the body is black painted over this color). There's an Autobot symbol printed on the center of the hood. The wheels roll independently and smoothly. The Key slot in the back is subtle, with just the slot itself and an unpainted black triangle above it. Through the front window you can see the robot's head and forearms, it looks kinda like he's trapped inside and trying to pound his way out. The spoiler is part of a removable gun piece, and I've heard that one Bugatti model has a retractable spoiler, so this works. The missile that goes into the gun is molded to look like blue-green flame, and the core of the gun looks like a jet engine added onto the car. When all the bits are in the right places, the car mode is VERY stable. Inserting the Planet Key causes two black missile launchers that flank the spoiler gun core to pop up and rest on the roof. They each have four gold-painted missle warheads molded onto them. It's not a big gimmick, but it looks nice. And it's possible to insert the Key far enough to stay in without popping out the launchers. Transformation: Going to robot mode isn't too hard, like a lot of toys it's simply a matter of moving everything that can move and then trying to peg things down into a vaguely humanoid position. The rear fenders and the running board bits attached to them form the biggest kibble bits and are reminiscent of the same trick on Alternators Tracks (and his mold-kin). The legs come out in a way reminiscent of a lot of the deluxe Go-Bot cars. There are certainly Car Brothers reminders as well. But I'd have to say that it's not really an Alternator Junior, a Car Brother OR a Go-Bot entirely. Going back to car mode is a little trickier, because the front end parts all have to tab together just right. However, the key to this is to get most of the panels in roughly the right places, then peg the legs back into place under the hood. This stabilizes things enough that you can just massage the panels into place pretty easily. If you try to align all the panels before locking in the legs, it's an exercise in futility...putting one together will derange two. But the legs hold everything together nicely. The rear fender pieces are supposed to stick up behind him like flags or something, but you can also swing them around to be under-arm cannons or something, for a Massive Damage Mode. Oh, and on the subject of weapons, getting his gun into his fist is REALLY hard. The tolerances are very tight, and the thumb sticking up on one side makes it hard to align things for insertion. [Later note: it's been pointed out to me that there are gun barrels molded into the running boards, a detail I missed. So the Massive Damage Mode is even better.] Robot Mode: 5.5" (14cm) tall at the head. Still mostly black plastic, but the upper arms, thighs and some of the connecting bits are light gray. The head is mostly black with a gold painted forehead, silver face, and clear blue-green plastic for the visor (over sculpted eyes) and some helmet details. He does not have lightpiping, however. Kibble isn't too terrible, most of it being in his backpack. His car doors are attached to his shoulders by ball joints, and the hood/front window piece is attached to a hinge on his left forearm as a shield. The hood of the car forms his chest, and his front wheels are attached just above his ankles. There's several gold accents on his robot bits, and a little bit of red at the waist. Overall a very pieasing color balance. Shoulders, elbows, hips and knees are ball joints. The head swivels, but the waist doesn't. The toes and heels are on semi-ratcheting transformation hinges that give a good range of motion. Triggering the Key gimmick makes the missile launchers pop out and flank his head, another nice G1 styling thing (in addition to the hood-chest). Overall: A few frustrables, although the gun-in-fist is a lot more hassle than any of the transformation bits. Is this a lost Car Brother? Eh, sort of. Not really an Alternator Junior, though, despite the superficial similarity to Alt.Tracks. And the legs are very Go-Bot. A mixed bag of homages, and a generally decent toy that looks very slick in vehicle mode. Dave Van Domelen, will re-post once he gets Brimstone.