Dave's Basic Energon Rant: Insecticon Arcee A sort of half-sized wave, with no Mini-Cons. Looks like this will be it for wave three, but if more come out soon enough to feel like they're still part of this assortment, I'll amend the review. At the moment, they're shipping one each per case along with wave 2 figures. CAPSULES Insecticon: Chunky in both modes, more clever and interesting than successful in design. But that counts for something. Recommended. $5.94 at Wal-Mart. Arcee: First new female mold since Beast Machines. Very good motorcycle mode with okay stability and remarkable lack of robot kibble, good transformation, good robot mode. And what seems to be a certain amount of kinkiness in the design. Strongly recommended. $5.94 at Wal-Mart. RANTS Packaging: Standard Energon Basic bubbles. First comic came with mine. Insecticon's package art is based on the prototype colors, not the final toy colors. Both are remarkably light on confinement, with only two twist-ties and a rubberband on Insecticon, and only one twist-tie on Arcee. All Energon bits are just held into the bubble without ties or tape. Arcee only barely needs the one twist-tie, in fact, as it was a bit of a struggle to get her out of the bubble! (As previously, I'm filling in Function info, all else from Transformers.com bio pages.) TERRORCON: INSECTICON Function: Barrage Specialist Altmode: Mecha Rhinoceros Beetle Motto: "I have an appetite for your destruction." INSECTICON is a merciless TERRORCON who declares allegiance only to himself. He possesses a powerful arsenal of energon weapons in both robot and insect mode. His infamous battle tactics are feared by both AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS alike, though few of his opponents have survived to speak of them. His enemies are advised to avoid the swarm of INSECTICON. STR 9 INT 4 SPD 4 END 8 RNK 4 COUR 5 FRB 8 SKL 6 Avg 6 Insect Mode: Dark green on top, a sort of mustard yellow on bottom and with chocolate brown legs, plus some purple and silver paint accents, this rhinoceros beetle is pretty clearly an homage to G1's Barrage. The prototype colors shown on the cardback make the homage even clearer, with the legs and horn being more of a golden yellow-orange. About 5" (13cm) long and with a legspan of almost as much, Insecticon is the biggest and bulkiest Basic so far in Energon. He's even longer when you attach his energon horn, converting him into more of a hercules beetle. Note that BW Insecticon was more of a stag beetle of the scarab group. Very sturdy once you get all the pegs firmly into their holes, a chunky G1 feel without the G1 fragility or unposeability. There's no joints in the legs, just where they connect, but that's okay...previous insect-mode TFs that tried to have jointed legs almost always ended up having to sit on their bellies. The rear two pairs only move forward and back, but the front pair is on ball joints. The horn can move up and down through a total range of about 70 degrees. Small light blue triangular eyes help define the head, which can waggle a little. Not really a joint so much as play in the central shaft of the toy. The spark crystal is atop the thoracic chunk just behind the head, and is notched three times at 120 degree intervals. A Decepticon symbol is tampographed right next to the crystal. A nice visual detail is the array of vents all over the wing covers. It gives the impression that the wings have been replaced by powerful thrusters. The Energon bits are the same yellow-green as Battle Ravage's parts. The weapon comes in two pieces, intended to be joined in insect mode. One piece is a sort of head shield with four barrel rotating cannon that spins freely. It has a hardpoint on the underside which acts as connecting peg for a hole on the insect mode's head. It also has a Powerlinx connector on top, and it looks like you might be able to stack arbitrarily many copies of this atop each other for a megaweapon. The second piece is a horn/sword that's two long isoceles triangles crossed at right angles along their long axes, with various technobits reinforcing and filling this out. The sword has a basic 5mm peg at its base, but connects to the headgear by wedging its blades between the four barrels. Completely assembled, the weapon is 4" (10.5cm) long. Putting on the headgear piece is kinda difficult, but not impossible, if done while the energon star is in place. With the full weapon installed, the toy's length jumps to 7" (18cm). Transformation: The rear two pairs of insect legs fold all the way back to form robot boots. Then unpeg the abdomen pieces and pull the halves to the sides to form the arms. Now here's the cool bit...rotate the entire torso around a central shaft by 180 degrees. Fold down the fists, tilt back the horn and position the front insect legs as shoulder cannons, and you're done. The central shaft reminds me of a Gundam Maxter toy I got a while back (from an importer, before G-Gundam hit the US) which used a similar trick to run a boxing punch gimmick. Robot Mode: Really squat and chunky. Ignoring the horn sticking way up, it's only 4" (10cm) tall at the head, but 3.25" (8cm) wide at the shoulders. One new color comes into view, with a black pelvis now visible. The head is yellow with metallic purple face and silver eyes. The upper body is mostly dark green with the spark crystal in the center of the chest. The fists are dark green with silver paint, some of the vents now forming fingers in fists. The upper legs are yellow with dark green paint details, and the lower legs are brown. Poseability is kinda limited. The legs only have their ball joint hips because of the way the boots are formed. The head can wiggle a little, but not actually turn. The waist doesn't move, but you can move the entire torso around on the transformation joint. The shoulders are hinge/swivel combination universal joints, but the upper arms are pretty much nonexistent and the "elbows" are pegs that let the big forearms spin around and wiggle around by about 10-15 degrees. Or pop off. Thunderball fists! Ahem. There are 5mm peg holes in each fist that can hold his weapons. Really the only other thing to do with the energon weapons is leave them on the insect head, making for a really big hat. Wearing his hat, he's a total of 7.5" (19cm) tall, "matching" some Megas! Well, not really. Between the shoulder cannons, rotary gun, sword and huge fists that scream "I will turn you into pate'," Insecticon is clearly a mean customer for a Basic. Overall: Normally, lack of poseability bothers me, but it doesn't in this case. This is a clever design that really couldn't be much improved in mechanics (although I prefer the prototype colors). Worth picking up. OMNICON: ARCEE Function: Rapid Attack Altmode: Racing Motorcycle Motto: "I know only two speeds...fast and faster!" ARCEE is a fast and feisty young OMNICON. She is a dedicated warrior who has proven, time and again, that she can fight alongside the best of her AUTOBOT teammates. Her skills with an energon bow are unmatched. In vehicle moed, ARCEE becomes a super fast sport bike and can outrun anyone who dares to challenge. Her loyalty to the AUTOBOT cause is unquestionable, making her one of OPTIMUS PRIME'S greatest warriors. STR 6 INT 5 SPD 8 END 7 RNK 5 COUR 7 FRB 8 SKL 7 Avg 6.625 Bio note lays it on a bit thick, yes? Techspecs don't really back it up, either. Sounds like datatrax from someone who has a crush on Arcee and isn't being particularly objective. :) Vehicle Mode: 4" (10cm) long, mostly black and white and gray with some clear red and metallic red accents, metallic blue stripes on the black fuel tank, yellow headlamp and a touch of pink around the seat. All energon bits are a bright red, like Signal Flare's. It's pretty darn close to 1/24 scale, letting it hang around with Alternators. The robot kibble is very well disguised, with some really clever little flips and folds to break up lines and make things look not-robot-like. About the only flaws are the long hardpoint sticking out the left side (for connecting the energon stuff) and the robot chest and spark crystal jutting up between seat and handlebars. Yes, this means anyone riding Arcee has to lean tight against her chest. Doesn't look to be terribly comfortable, though. I await the Brothers Grinn picture of this, though. :) The wheels roll freely, and if you're not using the energon weapons, you can drop the robot toes to act as a kickstand. Pegs hold the rear parts together, but it's just friction that holds the robot legs in position and the front wheel and windshield in place. So you have to be a little careful. Putting on the energon bits can result in having the front end fall apart some. The energon weapon comes in four pieces, which combine into two chunks for mounting on the vehicle mode. Each side gets a sort of booster unit with an exhaust pipe sticking out of it (note that the cycle has exhaust pipes of its own under the back of the seat, these energon ones are bonus). The peg hole on the left side thruster is too shallow, so it doesn't stay on very firmly and sticks out to the side a little more than the right side one. The right one pegs onto a hole in the robot leg. Each has another peg, meant for holding the combined weapon, that acts as an outrigger so the cycle doesn't need a kickstand. The right pontoon has a missile launcher, firing an opaque gray missile. This is the first Omnicon with a launcher, second Energon Basic after Battle Ravage. Best to leave it unloaded while transforming or attaching, as the trigger is placed so that it's really easy to hit by accident. Transformation: The seat splits into arms, the fuel tank and kickstand area unfolds into legs, the front wheel pushes into the back, the windshield becomes a sort of skirt and the rear wheels split to go over the shouldes. The head pushes forward into place, the boot toes swing forward, and the hands...the hands are particularly clever. In cycle mode, they look like nothing more than some decorative details on the sides of the seat. They're actually on ball joints to flip out and turn around, revealing hands. If you leave the energon bits on while transforming, they can be rotated to become ankle rockets or something. Wile E Coyote style jetskates. Robot Mode: 3.75" (9.5cm) tall at the head, she's ready to hang out with GIJoes. She's pretty feminine in mold, with curvy legs, spike heel boots, slender arms, etc. Unfortunately, her chest sticks out too far and down too much, and combined with the spark crystal in her abdomen makes her look pregnant or something. Colorwise, she's pretty much the same as the cycle mode, but she picks up more pink on her helmet and in her collar (which is very clearly the G1 Arcee's collar). She has a silver face and blue eyes, and her "hairstyle" has changed to more of a "windblown short hair" look. The exhaust pipes become forearm blasters, and the handlebars are now on her butt. Okay, pervy designers. The graceful looks do cost her somewhat in pose. The shoulders are somewhat limited ball joints, and the elbows bend inward rather than upward. So she can try to cross her arms, but her chest gets in the way (um, she looks like she's grabbing her breasts when you try to cross her arms, more perv points for the designers). The legs, however, have full poseability. Limited ball joint hips, double knee hinges that are necessary for transformation also let her bend her knees all the way. The toes move for transformation, but are really only stable when fully deployed. The head can turn, but not the waist. The boots are posed a bit oddly, so that she has to lean forward a bit to stand stably. When assembled, the energon weapon is a crossbow launcher. The non-launching pod becomes some sort of advanced sight, and the bonus exhaust pipes becomes the bow arms. It's 4.5" (11.5cm) tall and 3.5" (9cm) long loaded, taller than Arcee herself. The peg holes on Arcee's arms are on the insides, and she can pretty much only hold this combined weapon out to the side. Disassembled, the exhaust pipes make nice stun rods (and her hands can be positioned to look more like she's holding them), with the pods staying on her legs as jetboots. Overall: I think I'll just let these pictures speak for me: http://www.protoformproject.com/dvd/images/enerarcee.JPG Dave Van Domelen, almost definitely gonna get a second Arcee for kitbashing, maybe reshape that troublesome chest area.