Dave's Mini-Con Two-Pack Rant: Shockwave vs. Tankor Sky Lynx vs. Thunderblast Razorclaw vs. Steamhammer These are the new $5 price point for regular stores like Wal-Mart or TRU. At least the first two waves are simply recolors of previous teams, but new Mini-Con molds have been seen in prototype form, so we may get some all new packs if these sell well. BTW, the P/N numbers on the package tell me that the order listed above is the "correct" one. :) It's worth noting that, as recolors with no remolding, these strike some as bad deals. It costs $15 plus tax to get what amounts to two Mini-Con teams, which would cost $14 as Scout three-packs (most places, anyway, it'd be $16-20 some places). Where does the extra buck go? Inflation, packaging and distributor costs, pretty much. Three two-packs use up more packaging and space (on trucks and on shelves) than two three-packs, and there's extra costs all the way from producer to retailer. Finally, they do seem to want to price things near the whole dollar mark, and at $4 ($3.99, #3.96, etc) per two-pack, they'd probably be coming out behind, even with the savings on mold development. Anyway, that's all I'm gonna say about the price issue. :) Besides, they were on sale at TRU, so I spent $3.74 for each set. http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Armada/MiniCon1 http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Armada/MiniCon5 The originals of these molds are reviewed above. Oddly, the Autobots in this version are called the Air Defense Team...which is the name of the Sky Saber team of jets in the MiniCon1 review. :) Anyway, the Autobots are recolors of the Land Military Team, and the Decepticons are recolors of the Air Military Team. Or you could consider the Autobots to be recolors of the Night Attack Team, which can be found in MiniCon4. When I refer to color swaps, I will be comparing to the originals in MiniCon1 and MiniCon5. [Later note: Except I goofed and pulled out the Universe recolors of the Air Military Team. Added mappings from original to Universe. I've also tweaked my capsules when it comes to comparing to the originals. ] CAPSULES Shockwave vs. Tankor: Recolors of Terradive and Wreckage. Shockwave is slightly better than the original, Tankor about as good. Recommended. $4.99 at TRU (regular price). Sky Lynx vs. Thunderblast: Recolors of Gunbarrel and Bonecrusher. Sky Lynx is not as good as the original, nor is Thunderblast. But Bonecrusher is one of the best Mini-Con molds, so I'm giving the pack a Recommended. $4.99 at TRU. Razorclaw vs. Steamhammer: Recolors of Thunderwing and Knock Out. Razorclaw is better than the original, Steamhammer is a weak mold and looks worse. Balances out, Recommended. $4.99 at TRU. Wondering why I'm giving such high marks to recolors? Well, the effort put into the techspecs is part of it. And I'm presuming that anyone who's been collecting long enough to have the originals isn't going to mind picking up cheap recolors like these as much as, say, a recolor of an Ultra. RANTS Packaging: blister cards in the Cybertron style, 7.5" (19cm) wide and 6.25" (16cm) tall. The cardback and nameplate in front are purple on the left and red on the right. The cardback has a white Mini-Con symbol, but the nameplate has the Decepticon and Autobot symbols. The upper right labels this the Mini-Con Class. On the back, we get pictures of both toys in both modes, plus full techspec and notes for each, a first for Mini-Cons (Cybertron Mini-Cons have gotten their own techspecs, but shared a note). The toys are in vehicle mode, held in by a single twist-tie each. Instructions are folded up behind the nameplate. There is no Planet Key, and no co-sells. Theme note: while there isn't a unified color scheme for either Team as there was with the Night Attack Team or the Air Military Team, there is some unity. All of the Autobots have warm colors (yellow, orange, brown, tan) except for a few cool gray parts. The Decepticons have cool colors (blue, gray, seafoam green) except for a little bit of warm gray on one. Nice touch. Set 1: Shockwave vs. Tankor DECEPTICON: SHOCKWAVE Altmode: SR-71-ish stealth jet Weapon Mode: Claws Previous Mold Use: Terradive (Armada and Universe) Previous Name Use: G1 (was lost for a while, so we got Shockblast a few times) Team: Sky Attack Position: Tactical Bombing, Recon (note: this entry is of my own devising, and not on the packaging. Same for the rest of the figures.) With the departure from Earth of the AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS, SHOCKWAVE and the Sky Attack Team found themselves free to pursue their own interests. SHOCKWAVE has spent the last decade hiding among hte armed forces of dictators and tyrants around the world, signing on with whoever is most likely to give him the opportunity to rain fire down on helpless soldiers and civilians. There's nothing SHOCKWAVE loves more than to see a huge column of oily black smoke rising from the center of a populated area, and know that it was his bombs that set the fires. STR 6 INT 8 SPD 9.5 END 5 RNK 6 COUR 7 FRB 5 SKL 8.5 Avg 6.875 Interesting to note that the toys are still trying to tie Armada to Cybertron, even though it's blatantly obvious that the cartoons are NOT in the same setting. Once again, we get a separate toy continuity, nice grist for fanfic mills. Color Swaps: This one's tricky, as it turns out that there must have been two mold trays for this one that were both white. Terradive's black plastic is replaced with a cool gray. The white on Terradive's front end (claws) and the bits on his right torso and left torso (but not center torso) are a dark blue-gray. The remaining white bits are replaced with dark charcoal gray. [Yep, there were two mold trays turned white on the Universe version. The original's pearly blue became dark blue-gray. Light gray became darker cool gray. Black became charcoal.] Paint Apps: The port-side tailfin has a silver Decepticon symbol printed on it (the Mini-Con symbol is still present, but unpainted...this is true for all six figures). Some of the panel lines in jet mode are painted red, reminiscent of Nightcruz. In robot mode, the face and fists are painted a bluish silver. The eyes and the raised square rim on the chest are painted red. Other Comments: In the instructions, his claw mode is shown attaching to the leg of Buzzsaw. In addition to the one twist-tie keeping it in the bubble, there's a rubber band around the front end. Overall, the color scheme is MUCH more suitable for a stealth jet like the Blackbird this is inspired by. It generally looks more painted than Terradive, in part because of the third plastic color. Also, unpainted white always looks rawer than unpainted darker plastic. AUTOBOT: TANKOR Altmode: Missile Tank Previous Mold Use: Wreckage, Fetch Previous Name Use: Beast Machines, Universe Team: Air Defense Position: Leader After the UNICRON Battles, many MINI-CON robots chose to remain on Earth, in hiding and separate from the ongoing conflict between the AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS. TANKOR, with his teammates on the Air Defense Team, hid among the armed forces of Earth so that they could protect the humans from SHOCKWAVE and his Sky Attack Team. The desire to protect human life is nearly an obsession for TANKOR; he exists solely to prevent the damage inflicted by SHOCKWAVE and his aerial companions. The return of the TRANSFORMERS to Earth has forced them once again to take sides in a larger conflict. STR 7 INT 5 SPD 4.5 END 6 RNK 4 COUR 9 FRB 9 SKL 7 Avg 6.44 While there's no obvious leader of the team, despite his lowest Rank score, Tankor seems to be the spiritual heart of the team, so I gave him the position of leader anyway. Color swaps: The dark green of Wreckage becomes a dark tan on Tankor. Light blue-gray becomes a medium cool gray, and the red missiles become orange. Paint apps: The robot face, chest and pelvis are light tan. The treads are a dark charcoal gray. There are black camo blotches on the vehicle shell. The visor slot is neon green. There is a tiny Autobot symbol printed over the rear of the port-side track, or over the robot's right shoulder. It's in red and white, as is the case with the symbols of the other three. Not sure why Autobots got two-color symbols, and the Decepticons got single color. Other comments: Looks a little better than Wreckage, and at least with mine, the vehicle mode fits together a little better (I have a slight discontinuity in the treads on my Wreckage). Set 2: Sky Lynx vs. Thunderblast DECEPTICON: SKY LYNX Altmode: Cargo jet Weapon Mode: six-barrel cannon Previous Mold Use: Gunbarrel (Armada and Universe) Previous Name Use: G1 Team: Sky Attack Position: Strategic Bombing SKY LYNX prides himself on his ability to evade enemy defenses and drop his payload with pinpoint accuracy from amazing altitudes. The only one among all TRANSFORMERS to ever offer him a challenge is THUNDERBLAST, and for that he grants his rival respect and admiration. Given the distance involved in their battles the two have met face to face only rarely, but SKY LYNX considers THUDNERBLAST a friend, despite their differing philosophies. STR 7 INT 6 SPD 5 END 10 RNK 4.5 COUR 6 FRB 3 SKL 7.5 Avg 6.125 They seem to be making an effort to give each pair a different reason to be opposing each other. Shockwave and Tankor are philosophical enemies, but Sky Lynx and Thunderblast are friendly rivals (and Razorclaw and Steamhammer are bitter personal foes). Color swaps: The pale gold of Gunbarrel is a sort of seafoam green, like regular green with a fair amount of white added. White becomes black, black becomes the same cool gray as on Shockwave. [The original Gunbarrel's warm medium gray becomes seafoam green, the light gray becomes cool gray, black becomes charcoal.] Paint apps: There is extensive light warm gray on the toy: trailing edges of the wings, underside of the plane (chest and leg-fronts of robot). The nose and cockpit windows are painted to match the cool gray plastic. A solid black Decepticon symbol is printed (sloppily) on the port-side tail. The robot eyes are painted red. Other comments: Has a rubber band around the tail/legs. Also shown attached to Buzzsaw's leg in weapon mode in the instructions. Overall, I'd call it a tie between this and Gunbarrel. The seafoam green isn't as good as pale gold, but the painted cockpit windows go a long way towards making the vehicle mode look good. AUTOBOT: THUNDERBLAST Altmode: Missile truck Previous Mold Use: Bonecrusher, Scattor Previous Name Use: Cybertron (more of a simultaneous use) Team: Air Defense Position: High Altitude Defense These two aggressive robots have been rivals for centuries. Over the years THUNDERBLAST has specialized in long-range defense against high altitude attacks specifically for the purpose of defeating SKY LYNX. The two robots treat this rivalry as a game, ultimately caring little for victory, as long as they can offer each other a challenge. THUNDERBLAST shares a rough sort of respect with SKY LYNX, and wishes that circumstances were different so that htey might be friends in peace as well as war. STR 8 INT 10 SPD 6.5 END 8 RNK 7 COUR 8 FRB 7.5 SKL 8 Avg 7.875 Whoops, stat inflation kicks in. Color swaps: This one's kinda weird, suggesting to me that maybe it was split across multiple trays like Terradive originally. The black of the head is replaced by the tan used on Tankor. The other black parts, including the wheels, are now brown. Red becomes orange, and as with Tankor, the light blue-gray parts are now a cool medium gray. Paint apps: Some of Bonecrusher's paint masks were reused. The green paint on BC's optic is now silver, but the red eye is the same. The gold on BC's chest is now medium cool gray. The gold on BC's driver's window and the diamondplate bit at the rear are now silver. The face and fist are unpainted, but there's some splashes of black camo splotch on the vehicle. The bumper paint is reduced to a bit of silver on the right side. The fake pins/hubcaps on the second from the front wheels are still silver. There is a small Autobot symbol printed on the rear of the truck, to the left of the gas can (head). Amusingly, this ends up on the bottom of his foot in robot mode. Other comments: I'd say Bonecrusher looks better than Thunderblast. But this is one of the best Mini-Con molds out there, so if you don't have either of the previous iterations, it's worth picking up the pack for it. Set 3: Razorclaw vs. Steamhammer DECEPTICON: RAZORCLAW Altmode: Stealth Fighter/Bomber Previous Mold Use: Thunderwing (Armada and Universe) Previous Name Use: G1, BW Team: Sky Attack Position: Ground Attack RAZORCLAW has such a passion for destruction that he prefers strafing ground targets with his powerful machienguns rather than bombing them from high altitude. Anarchy is his bread and butter; he lives to crush his enemies, drive them before him, and hear the lamentation of the survivors. Nothing gives him as much pleasure as destroying a great city and razing its cultural institutions - libraries, museums, schools - for he knows that ignorance is the seed of chaos, and it is in chaos that he feels most comfortable. STR 5 INT 7 SPD 6 END 7 RNK 7 COUR 10 FRB 7 SKL 8.5 Avg 7.19 Thulsa Doom reincarnated as a Mini-Con. Too bad the "steel is not strong, flesh is strong" bit is hard to rework for a robot. Color swaps: Pale gold becomes black, white becomes the same bluish gray as on Shockwave, black (the head) becomes dark charcoal gray. The reddish rubbery plastic on Thunderwing's nose is now black. [The original's warm medium gray becomes black, the soft gold plastic becomes black, pearly blue became dark blue-gray.] Paint apps: The cockpit is silver (or maybe bluish-silver, it's hard to tell), as is the printed Decepticon symbol on the port-side tailfin. The robot face is bluish silver with red eyes. Some of the panel lines on the wings are painted white, a nice effect. Other comments: Continues the pattern of having his weapon mode shown in the instructions as attached to Buzzsaw's leg. No rubber bands. The spinny port for weapon mode is a little more frictiony than on my Thunderwing, but that's probably just regular production variation. All the joints are stiffer, though, so it might be a result of the plastics being a little different physically. Definitely looks a LOT better than Thunderwing. The only way in which Thunderwing is better is that his shoulder missile pods are painted. AUTOBOT: STEAMHAMMER Altmode: Missile truck Previous Mold Use: Knock Out, Broadside Previous Name Use: Energon Team: Air Defense Position: Protective Fire Few enemies are as bitter as STEAMHAMMER and RAZORCLAW. STEAMHAMMER took his vehicle form because of a deep love of life and order. He believes that war is an unnatural disruption of the organized advance of culture, and does everything he can to limit combat and defend vulnerable targets. He looks at warfare as a necessary evil, but one that does only damage to the civilizations that wage it. Despite his own heroism, he never sees anything but the terrible cost of war at the conclusion of any battle. STR 9 INT 7.5 SPD 4.5 END 7 RNK 6 COUR 8.5 FRB 7 SKL 7 Avg 6.94 Okay, that's a confused bio note. Weak one of the batch. Color swaps: Tan becomes bright yellow, red becomes orange, black becomes brown (wheels too) and the light blue-gray used on the trigger becomes cool medium gray. Paint apps: There's a black camo splotch pattern on the vehicle shell, which stands out quite a bit on the yellow plastic. The head nub is painted black with a light blue visor slit, which is about the only improvement over Knock Out. The windows are silver. The tiny Autobot symbol is on the left rear of the vehicle, ending up on the top of the left boot and rather hard to see. (So, yes, all six toys have their faction symbol at the left rear of the vehicle mode.) Other comments: Packaged with missile loaded. On the other two, it's no big deal, since they're marble-shooter style missiles. But this one has a spring, which spends a long time in package compressed. My least favorite of the molds, and the colors are generally worse (except for the head). A pity it's paired with the great-looking Razorclaw. Although I guess if they paired it with the green Sky Lynx, no one would buy that pack at all. Dave Van Domelen, now to open Crosswise and Thunderblast (and hope I can find Brimstone before the end of the week).