Dave's Mini-Con Two-Pack Rant: Wave 2 Scattorbrain vs. Monocle Payload vs. Ascentor Kobushi vs. Landslide This is the "Reason to own Buzzsaw" wave, although the packaging doesn't publicize the fact. All of these Mini-Cons can attach to Buzzsaw's underside (or the original Armada Cyclonus or any of its recolors) to activate a feature when you pull Buzzsaw's trigger (the remolding on Buzzsaw does not prevent this). They were originally the Destruction Team (Autobots) and the Adventure Team (Decepticons). Reviews of the original molds can be found at: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Armada/MiniCon2 (Destruction, Strongly recommended) http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Armada/MiniCon3 (Adventure, Mildly recommended) The new teams are the Lunar Assault Team (Decepticons) and the Exploration Team (Autobots). When I refer to color swaps, I'm comparing to the originals of the molds, not to any later versions. The Destruction Team has been released in an alternate color version as part of the sixth wave of Mini-Cons in Armada, and also in the Wal-Mart exclusive six-packs. The Adventure Team figures were recolored for inclusion with the Transmetal Rhinox, Terrorsaur and Cheetor recolors that came out late in Armada. And, of course, all of them were recolored at least one in Japan, probably several times. CAPSULES Scattorbrain vs. Monocle: Improved weak toy plus weakened decent toy. Eh, mildly recommended. $4.76 at Wal-Mart. Payload vs. Ascentor: Weakened weak toy plus about-the-same good toy. Mildly recommended. $4.76 at Wal-Mart. Kobushi vs. Landslide: Improved weak toy and improved good toy. Best of the lot. Recommended. $4.76 at Wal-Mart. Okay, so I'm not as enthused as I was by wave 1. RANTS Packaging: Same sort of packaging as the first wave, and the P/N's advance in series with those (ending in 300, 400, 500). There is no mention of the Buzzsaw attachment gimmick in the instructions, or even pictures showing htem attached to his robot mode as there was with the weapon modes of wave 1. They instead show just the rolling action part of the gimmicks. Scattorbrain is held in with two twist-ties, the rest get one each. Kobushi has one rubber band holding his front end together. Theme: These are all Mini-Cons who stayed behind on the Moon after Armada, further tying the Cybertron toy continuity into the Armada show, despite a lack of connection in the Cybertron show. The Decepticon Lunar Assault Team stayed behind to cause trouble, while the Autobot Exploration Team stayed behind to contemplate and stuff. Fratboys versus nerds, basically. Visually, the Lunar Assault Team is unified by dark main colors and an accent of neon green. The Exploration Team is unified by a lot of yellow, dark gray, and one or both of the colors light gray or golden brown. As with wave 1, they have Autobot or Decepticon factions displayed prominently in addition to their molded Mini-Con symbols. There is no remolding, although some of the pictures on the packaging suggest minor remolds may have been considered initially. There are other differences between the package and reality, which will be covered in the individual reviews. Set 1: Scattorbrain vs. Monocle DECEPTICON: SCATTORBRAIN Altmode: Snowplow Previous Mold Use: Iceberg, Armorhide (both Armada) Previous Name Use: None Team: Lunar Assault Position: Ghost Warrior (note: again, I'm making the positions up.) There are legends on the Moon among human colonists of ghost vehicles - autos and aircraft without drivers - that sometimes charge in from the barren, lunar desert to destroy a settlement or a vital terraforming project. The vicious ghosts then disappear into the depths of the lunar night, leaving few survivors. SCATTORBRAIN for his part relishes his status as a elgend, and plays up the ghost angle at every opportunity, appearing for a few moments on the horizon near a human outpost, and then disappearing before he can be identified; occasionally attacking smaller outposts to wreak a little havoc and keep the rumors going. STR 9.5 INT 7 SPD 4 END 5.5 RNK 5 COUR 8 FRB 6 SKL 8.5 Avg 6.69 Packaging note: "Moving plow and crane arm!" Color swaps: Orange becomes charcoal gray, black becomes a medium gray, medium gray becomes neon green. Paint apps: the face is painted neon green. There's silver on the sides of the treads and on the turbine engines. The windows are bluish silver. There's a silver Decepticon symbol printed over the Mini-Con symbol. Other comments: The prototype on the package has more of a dark purple look, like the plastic used on Kobushi. It also lacks a visible Decepticon symbol. Overall: Definitely looks better than the orange monstrosity of the original. The neon bits are surprisingly non-jarring. AUTOBOT: MONOCLE Altmode: Drill Truck Previous Mold Use: Drill Bit (two Armada versions) Previous Name Use: None Team: Exploration Position: Philosopher MONOCLE could be considered one of the mysterious ghost vehicles, but for a different reason. He and his companions on the Exploration Team stayed on the Moon after most of the other MINI-CON robots left because they wanted solitude and quiet contemplation. They spend most of their time on the dark side of the Moon, where few humans go, and are occasionally spotted by explorers driving across the empty landscape, or meditating on the floor of an old crater. Their peace is disturbed only by the disruptive aggression of SCATTORBRAIN and the other members of the Lunar Assault Team. STR 8 INT 8.5 SPD 8 END 9 RNK 5 COUR 7.5 FRB 8 SKL 9 Avg 7.875 Twinky stats for a total cipher. Notice how there really isn't anything about Monocle himself, just about the Exploration Team in general? Packaging note: None. I guess they figured the drill was obvious enough. Color swaps: Dark gray becomes yellow, yellow becomes dark gray, orange becomes light gray. Paint apps: Sloppy black visor, plus black on the tops of the feet and on the side windows. The front and front-corner windows are gunmetal, with a dark red Autobot symbol apparently printed UNDER the gunmetal paint on the front window. Other comments: The prototype photos suggest a molded Autobot symbol on the front window, although the photo is so heavily retouched that this could simply be an artifact of that. Overall: Yellow in general just looks back without extensive paint, something you'd think they'd have learned from Hot Shot. There seems to be less paint in general on this one, and it looks the worse for it. Definitely weaker than the original. Set 2: Payload vs. Ascentor DECEPTICON: PAYLOAD Altmode: 4WD Truck Previous Mold Use: Ransack, Cliffjumper (both Armada) Previous Name Use: Armada (Space Team) Team: Lunar Assault Position: Asymmetric Warfare You'd expect anyone as big and tough as PAYLOAD to be pretty dumb, or at least used to relying on his natural strength and endurance to get him through life. Many have made the same mistake, but you underestimate the intelligence of this MINI-CON at your peril. PAYLOAD would rather outwit his opposition than destroy them in a straight fight. He therefore spends his time setting traps and pitfalls for ASCENTOR, who - while smart - is often destracted by his own thoughts. STR 8 INT 8.5 SPD 5 END 7 RNK 6 COUR 8 FRB 8 SKL 8.5 Avg 7.375 Packaging note: "Working winch!" Color swaps: Dark green becomes bright blue, black becomes light gray (so the tires are light gray, whee), light gray becomes neon green. The winch cable string is still red. Paint apps: Sloppy yellow visor, yellow headlights. The windshields are painted silver, and a silver Decepticon symbol is printed over the Mini-Con symbol on the hood. The pickup bed is light brownish gray. Other comments: The winch hook doesn't stay as firmly on the front end bar as with Ransack. This is probably just batch variation, though. No better luck on the wheels rolling properly than on my Ransack, though. The clever shock absorber mechanism doesn't let the front wheels down quite far enough to roll freely without engaging the winch wheel. Definitely the weakest of the Cyclonus-attachment gimmicks. The prototype has the winch hook painted silver or gray (or they just used a Ransack winch, which is already gray). Overall: A bit garish, the blue is too bright to provide contrast for the neon green. A paint app on the spare tire would have been really nice. Definitely the weakest of the Lunar Assault Team. AUTOBOT: ASCENTOR Altmode: Anti-Aircraft Tank Previous Mold Use: Dualor (two versions) Previous Name Use: None Team: Exploration Position: Debater (alternately, "at the bottom of one of Payload's traps") Unlike MONOCLE and LANDSLIE, ASCENTOR maintained contact with the MINI-CON robots that returned to CYBERTRON after the Armada Battles. Over the years, he has developed a philosophical give-and-take with the MINI-CON Council of Sages. This ongoing discussion occupies much of his core processor time, causing him to be distracted, and vulnerable to the traps set by PAYLOAD. However, his years of deep thought have also caused his sensory and motor-control systems to rewrite themselves, giving him what appears to nearly be a sixth sense when it comes to avoiding pitfalls and sneak attacks. STR 9 INT 7.5 SPD 8.5 END 8 RNK 6 COUR 7.5 FRB 4 SKL 9 Avg 7.19 Oooookay. He's a TANK, and his Fireblast is 4? More "does the person who writes the numbers even look at the toy?" stuff there. I suppose the EM-pulses are supposed to be "nonlethal" in nature. Packaging note: "Reciprocating EM-pulse cannons!" Color swaps: Charcoal gray and yellow swap places...except for the feet and front wheels, which become golden brown on Ascentor. If only these pieces were gray, you could call him Professor Ascentor, the Reverse-Dualor. Paint apps: Black on the visor and on the front deck of the tank. The tread wheels and top hatch are gunmetal. A red Autobot symbol with white border is printed on the rear right of the turret. Other comments: They continue to go with the Mini-Con port being on the front of the pelvis. Ascentor does not have the gear stripping issues of my Dualor. The prototype is really weird. They assembled the guns on the turrets backwards, which is not something you can do without having the entire thing disasembled. Overall: About the same as Dualor, as far as I'm concerned. There's less paint, but the extra blue paint mask on Dualor looks bad anyway. And neither is flattered by its bright yellow parts. Set 3: Kobushi vs. Landslide DECEPTICON: KOBUSHI ("Fist" in Japanese) Altmode: Desert assault buggy Previous Mold Use: Dune Runner, Ironhide (Armada) Previous Name Use: None (discounting a bazillion Karate dojos) Team: Lunar Assault Position: Master of Metallikato, Agent of CHAOS! During the long years of relative solitude before and since their discovery on the Moon by the larger TRANSFORMERS, KOBUSHI came to the conclusion that personal perfection could be attained through challenging combat. Every enemy destroyed, he believes, adds to his own power as a warrior. He has devoted his life to improving his martial skill, adapting the ancient art of Metallikato to most effectively use his diamond tipped drill arm. LANDSLIDE, the toughest individual on the Exploration Team, has been his frequent opponent, and KOBUSHI challenges him at every opportunity. STR 9 INT 6 SPD 4 END 9 RNK 5 COUR 8 FRB 4 SKL 9.5 Avg 6.94 Um, what drill arm? I wonder if they swapped names between this and Monocle, but didn't fix the bio notes completely. Hm, maybe they swapped sides entirely...if Kobushi is the Drill Bit mold, then Payload would be the Buzzsaw mold and Scattorbrain would be the Dualor mold (Scattorshot, Scattorbrain). Landslide would be Iceberg, Monocle would be Dune Runner, and Ascentor would be Ransack. :) Packaging note: "Rotating, reciprocating laser cannon turret!" I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think you need multiple guns to have reciprocating action. This one just traverses. Color swaps: Pale green becomes a sort of dark mulberry reddish purple. Except on the arms, which become light cool gray. Odd, given that there's no pale green bits on any other member of the original Adventure Team. Black becomes light warm gray, just noticeably different from the arms. Gray becomes neon green. Paint apps: White seats and face, with red visor. Silver on the turret sides and kneecaps/front bumper. Silver Decepticon symbol printed on the turret over the Mini-Con symbol. Other comments: The prototype seems to be a brighter mulberry, but that may be an artifact of the massive digital touchup process employed on these cardbacks. The color scheme is clearly meant to evoke G1 Bludgeon, maybe Kobushi is his little brother. :) Overall: I like the colors a little better, and I definitely like the Bludgeon homage. AUTOBOT: LANDSLIDE Altmode: Bucket Wheel Excavator Previous Mold Use: Buzzsaw (two versions, Armada) Previous Name Use: None Team: Exploration Position: Mystic LANDSLIDE is at peace always. His long contemplation has taught him the path to inner stillness. He has let go of the physical world, and embraced the world beyond. Recently, he has discovered how to project his core programming out of his robotic body for a limited time and into astral space. There, he has encountered other, powerful beings, and learned many truths. Though KOBUSHI attempts to interrupt his meditation at every opportunity with petty challenges, LANDSLIE has yet to fall before the aggressive robot's attacks, using his inner strength and passive nature to create the ultimate martial defense. SR 7 INT 8.5 SPD 4.5 END 9 RNK 6 COUR 8.5 FRB 5 SKL 8.5 Avg 7.125 You get the impression that the Lunar Assault Team merely annoys the Exploration Team. "Go away, punk, I'm in tune with the cosmos." (At which point Cosmos shows up, accompanied by rimshot.) Packaging note: "Spinning saw blade!" No, it's a bucket scoop. Color swaps: This one's complicated. The yellow of the OUTSIDE of the bucket wheel, robot head and chestplate become golden brown. The yellow of the shoulder connectors, drive gears, left "fist plug", INSIDE of the bucket wheel and pelvis becomes charcoal. The right arm of Buzzsaw, which I think is orange plastic COMPLETELY covered in paint, becomes light gray. The charcoal of the chest and left arm becomes yellow, while the charcoal of the legs becomes light gray. Man, this is a complex mold. And no, the bucket wheel isn't partly painted gray or brown, it's two pieces cunningly joined together. Paint apps: A lot of black paint - face, windows on left arm, tech greeble on right arm, tops of feet, chest details. The central circle of the bucket wheel is gunmetal. A red and white Autobot symbol is printed at the ear of the conveyor (back of the right fist). There is no paint on the fist itself, but that was kinda awkward on Buzzsaw. Other comments: The prototype is slightly mistransformed in vehicle mode. It also has a big Autobot symbol on the bucket wheel, but it's an obvious (and bad) photomanipulation, not something that was ever painted on the toy. Overall: The color scheme is a bit less unified than on Buzzsaw, but I still like it better. Also, having less yellow than the other two Exploration Team members helps (if it were the same yellow as Cybetron Buzzsaw, I wouldn't mind so much, because they'd match him...but it's a canaray yellow while he's highlighter yellow). Dave Van Domelen, looking back can see some photomanip on the toy pics on the wave 1 cardbacks, but only for adding contrast, and it's nowhere near as blatant as on the wave 2. Some of these new ones look like digibashes based on pictures of the original toys. And may well be. But I've seen significantly better digibashes.