Dave's Combiner Wars Rant - Legends Wave 4 Rodimus (Blackjack retool) Skywarp (Starscream redeco) Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/LegendC4 No new molds this wave (unless you count Groove shipping with these and never saw wave 3). Yeah, this is the fourth copy of the Starscream mold, finishing off the classic Seeker Trio. http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/LegendC2 - Blackjack http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/Legend2 - Starscream CAPSULES $10.29 at Target. Rodimus: Original mold was recommended but in need of modding. Pretty much the same here, with the added amusement factor of being an armor plate for Optimus Maximus that might draw friendly fire. Recommended if you don't have Blackjack, mildly recommended otherwise. Skywarp: Original mold was recommended, but this IS the fourth time around. It works pretty well, although the rubbery tail fins kinda stand out. Mildly recommended. RANTS Packaging: Same as previous wave. AUTOBOT: RODIMUS Assortment: B2441 Component: Chestplate (Optimus Maximus) Altmode: Sportscar Transformation Difficulty: 7 steps Previous Name Use: Alt, Classics, RtS, Energon, DotM, Uni2 Previous Mold Use: Gen Weapon: Axe Function: Cavalier Motto: "I'm front and center on Optimus Maximus...naturally." Brash warrior has the makings of a skilled commander and honorable leader. Packaging: Four ties on the robot, one on the axe. Helps to take the axe off first. There's a rubber band holding the chest down. The package art depicts the actual toy, while the trading card is the G1 design. The blister has a sticker wrapped around the top left corner pointing out he's part of Optimus Maximus, with the same hard to read red on gray text of Wave 4 Deluxes. The instructions show how to put it into combiner mode, but since that's just "stick the car on Optimus Maximus's chest" it's not a big deal. Color Swaps: The very dark almost black from most of the vehicle bits becomes a slightly metalswirled dark red, purple becomes golden yellow. The actually black parts (wheels, some structural bits) stay black. Paint Apps: the face is silver with metallic medium blue eyes and a golden yellow helmet crest. The chest windows are also painted metallic medium blue...the design of this transformation prevent it from trying to fake a hood chest flame deco. The C-shapes on the upper arms are painted silver, and there's a small red and silver Autobot symbol on the right shoulder. The kneecaps are painted dark gunmetal, and there's bits of hood flame on the shoulders. In vehicle mode, the metallic blue from the chest window extends to all four windows. The silver of the toes ends up on the spoiler supports, and generally invisible when the spoiler is attached. The headlights are also silver, and yellow flames cover most of the hood. Oddly, no Autobot symbol, even though it would have been pretty easy. The golden yellow of the paint doesn't really match the golden yellow plastic. Mold Changes: New head. While it has to fit into the existing space, which rules out extravagant helmet crest designs (like in the comics), it looks similar to the Classics toy. Other Notes: Carving a little bit off Optimus Prime's combiner mode chest pegs where they start to widen makes for a more solid fit. There's really no practical way to put the spoiler on the back in robot mode. Overall: As amusing as it might be to see them try to fit this into the comic, this isn't one of the better retools. DECEPTICON: SKYWARP Assortment: B2442 Component: None Altmode: Fighter jet Transformation Difficulty: 8 steps Previous Name Use: Yes Previous Mold Use: Gen (three times) Weapon: Variable-caliber machine guns Function: Warrior Motto: "Strike where the enemy isn't looking." Teleporting flier can attack the AUTOBOTS from out of nowhere. Packaging: Wings are folded down to better fit in the blister. Four ties hold the robot in the blister. As with Rodimus, the package art is true to the toy, while the trading card is G1. The differences aren't as obvious this time, tho. Color Swaps: The rubbery plastic (nosecone, toes, tailfins) is Decepticon Purple, everything else is black. Paint Apps: The torso core is dipped in silver paint, and the face is silver (somewhat sloppily applied) with red eyes. The wings have wide pruple stripes (a bit darker than the purple plastic) and narrower leading white stripes. There's a Decepticon symbol in cooler purple and silver on each wing. Much of each forearm is painted the same purple shade as the wings on the stripes (leaving the armor on the outer surfaces black), but it seems to have been painted on more thickly, and is therefore brighter. The cockpit on the chest is painted orangey copper. Other than completing the copper on the cockpit, no new paint visible in vehicle mode. The lack of paint on the tail fins makes them stick out like sore thumbs. Mold Changes: None that I could find. Other Notes: The thick paint on the hands makes the inner diameter smaller by a noticeable amount, so putting the arm guns in the hands results in a tight fit. Overall: And thus, the seeker trio is complete. No sign of mold degradation, at least. Normally, as the most recent version, I'd suggest that it's probably the cheapest and the one to get if you have no copies, but there were so many Starscreams at places like Big Lots until fairly recently that the secondary market is likely swamped with 'em. Dave Van Domelen, now on to the Deployers.