Dave's Japanese Transformers Rant: EZ Collection Constructicons
     
     01 Overload (Articulated Dump Truck, not reviewed)
     02 Decepticon Mixmaster (Cement Mixer)
     03 Decepticon Rampage (Bulldozer)
     04 Scavenger (Excavator)
     05 Scrapper (Wheel Loader)
     06 Long Haul (Dump Trick)
     07 Hightower (Truss Crane)

     Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Japan/EZConst

     No, I'm not skipping Overload out of a distaste for articulated dump
trucks.  Wonkimus Major got these for me in Tokyo, and he couldn't find any
Overloads outside of scalper shops.  Scrapper and Hightower were also very
hard to find, so while the distribution is theoretically even, the ones with
Deluxe or Voyager toys seem to be shelfwarming (Mixmaster in particular).
     Because these things (and their G1-styled redecos) are such scalper
bait, I won't bother listing prices in the Capsules, as it'll depend on what
your reseller wants to charge.  Mainly, I'm writing this review now so I can
refer back to it when the American release hits and only have to review
Overload and Devastator then (plus comments on any color tweaks, although it
doesn't look like they changed anything).


CAPSULES

     Decepticon Mixmaster: Pretty good vehicle mode, interesting
transformation, robot mode fairly awkward (in part because it drags
Devastator's head behind it).  Mildly recommended.
     Decepticon Rampage: Good vehicle mode, transformation tends to pop apart
readily, decent if kinda unstable robot mode.  Mildly recommended.
     Scavenger: Rather clever way around the limitations of the size class,
looks good in both modes although the top of the vehicle mode is open.
Recommended. 
     Scrapper: Good vehicle mode, clever transformation that hides the robot
bits well in vehicle mode, nice robot mode.  Recommended.
     Longhaul: Very good vehicle mode, transformation is simple but
effective, decent robot mode.  Recommended.
     Hightower: Very good vehicle mode, weird/interesting transformation and
non-humanoid robot mode.  Recommended.

     Overall: While I wouldn't recommend paying scalper prices and overseas
shipping at this point to get the Japanese versions, if you see the American
release before I get it (and therefore before I can write the complete review
for that), snap it up.  At $32 it's worthwhile even if Overload turns out to
be a total turkey.

RANTS

     Packaging: At first glance, these are in American packaging with
subtitles in Japanese, but there's a number of differences between these and
American Legends blister cards.  The most obvious one is that the back of the
card just shows photos of both modes (with labels in English and Japanese), a
photo of Devastator with the copy in English "7 Vehicles COMBINE to form the
Mighty DEVASTATOR!"  And then legalese stuff at the bottom.  No instructions,
no techspecs.  The card front is pretty close to the American style, but with
"EZ" followed by Japanese for "Collection" under the logo, and then a
translation of the logo, plus a few other bits of Japanese labeling.  In the
name label part of the cardstock insert, the number of the figure (01 through
07) is printed in colors evocative of the toy inside.  For instance,
Mixmaster's has white 02 on a gray background, while Scrapper has a black 05
on yellow. 
     Unlike American blister cards, the blister is entirely taped in place,
no glue at all (which is normal for Japanese blister cards).  This makes the
packaging a bit more reusable.  The bottom of the cardstock insert folds out
to show a tiny set of pictures of all seven figures in both modes plus
Devastator.  Magnifying glass time here.  The instructions inside are folded
up loose.  The front side of the sheet has transformation from robot to
vehicle and then vehicle to component, while the back shows all the steps
needed to make Devastator (mostly assembling the head and torso, then just
plug in the limbs).

     For reference, here's which character becomes what part of Devastator:
     01 Overload - Lower torso and spine (legs connect to him)
     02 Decepticon Mixmaster - Head
     03 Decepticon Rampage - Left leg
     04 Scavenger - Upper torso (arms and head connect to him)
     05 Scrapper - Right arm
     06 Long Haul - Right leg
     07 Hightower - Left arm

     Amusingly, while most of the G1 vehicles are echoed here (Hook to
Hightower is a bit of a stretch, since Hook is a non-truss crane), none of
the RotF Constructicons is in the same part of Devastator as their G1
counterparts.  
     None of these toys comes with anything I can recognize as techspecs or
bio notes, none are licensed, and none of these molds have been used before,
so I'll be leaving out most of the header material I usually include.

     Common Elements: All six of mine, presumably all seven total, use the
same very dark slightly brownish gray plastic for their wheels, and nowhere
else.  If they have other dark gray plastic, it's a cool gray (same on all
those that have that, too).  Treads are not brownish gray, just the wheels
hidden inside.  Scavenger's big wheels are included in this.  All three
yellow vehicles are the same shade of yellow, at least within reasonable
batch variation.
     The arms and legs use different sizes and shapes of pegs, so you can't
"Scramble City" Devastator.

     While they're packaged in robot mode, I'll lead off with vehicle modes.
Also, I'll discuss specifics of connector pegs in my review of the complete
U.S. set, where they'll be more relevant.

     Overload Note: in the movie, Overload is played by a non-articulated
truck much like Long Haul.  The toy uses a different model of truck.


DECEPTICON: DECEPTICON MIXMASTER
Altmode: Cement Mixer
Previous Name Use: RotF ("Mixmaster" alone is also G1, G2)

     Packaging: A single twist-tie holds the robot mode in place.

     Vehicle Mode: One of the longer vehicles at 78mm (a little over 3"),
made mostly of a medium warm gray plastic.  There's a lot of seams in the
mixing drum and obvious ball joints at the delivery end, but otherwise it's a
pretty good cement mixer truck.  Real cement mixer trucks vary in size, but
this is pretty close to 1:144 scale as near as I can tell (scale length of
11.3 meters seems to jibe with the trucks I found online), give or take).
All six wheels roll freely, but the mixer drum does not turn.  The movie had
a Mack cement truck play Mixmaster, 37.75 feet (11500 mm) long, for a scale
of...yeah, about 1:144. 
     All of the plastic visible in this mode other than the wheels is a
medium slightly warm gray.  There's a wide silver band around the mixer drum,
with negative space forming a Decepticon symbol on either side.  The windows
are painted lavender, but there's a bit at the bottom of the side windows
that's neither painted nor molded where the sides of Devastator's head are
visible.  A little silver paint slop from Devastator's face is visible on the
seam there.  
     Once it's all snapped together properly, it's very stable.

     Transformation: The cement drum unfolds into gangly arms, the lower can
becomes the legs, and the top of the cab drags behind as a skirt.  It all
unfolds very easily, although getting all the panels back in place for
vehicle mode can take practice.

     Robot Mode: This is probably the most awkward of the six robots I have,
due both to the Devastator face sticking out the back and the weird way the
arms are set up.  If you follow the instructions, what look like upper arms
lock together above the head (there's a tab and slot for this) to become
really wide shoulderpads, with the "true shoulders" being way out to the
sides and slightly above the head.  And if you want to balance him in this
mode, it helps to raise the Devastator face up like a bee's abdomen in back
rather than trying to use it as a tripod foot.
     67mm (2.75") tall in total, 57mm (2.25") to the top of the head.  The
shoulderspan is 82mm (3.25") when you have the shoulderpads locked in place.
The face sculpt is kind of "melty" and looks like a relative of Skids and
Mudflap, although given the small size I suppose it's possible I got a minor
defect that slipped through.  The eyes are red, and that's the only new color
for this mode.  However, if you look on the back, there's a neon green used
for circuit details on the strut that holds Devastator's face, and also on
the piece of the face behind the mask.  The mask itself is airbrushed with
silver.  I did take the face apart to make sure there wasnt' actually a piece
of green plastic inside, but it's just the underside of the cab top painted
green.  
     The true elbows are restricted ball joints that don't allow for very
natural posing, the hips are ball joints with a more natural range of
motion.  If you unclip the shoulderpads, they can swing down on hinges.

     Overall: On the one hand, if this weren't part of a combiner I wouldn't
recommend getting it.  On the other hand, if it weren't part of a combiner it
wouldn't be designed to include a huge face piece and might be a better toy.
Still, in such a small combiner, at least one figure's going to have to carry
an unfair part of the burden of combination costs, and Mixmaster's
shouldering that load.


DECEPTICON: DECEPTICON RAMPAGE
Altmode: Bulldozer
Previous Name Use: RotF ("Rampage" alone is also G1, BW)

     Packaging: Three twist-ties hold the robot mode in place.

     Vehicle Mode: 64mm (2.5") long bulldozer mostly in yellow with some
uneven gray.  It's pretty close to the Deluxe version in details and shape,
but the treads are wedge-triangle shaped with the rear side slanted backwards
(unlike the Caterpillar D11 which has the rear of the triangle slanted
forward, and Deluxe Rampage which has more oval-shaped treads).  The D11 is
10.9m long, so we're looking at more like 1:170 scale (close enough to N
scale to fake it).  There's a bit of robot kibble that looks like a weird
exhaust pipe out the back, it's the jackhammer bit.
     Mostly yellow plastic, although the blade section is a slightly more
golden yellow...could just be batch variation.  The top sides of the treads
and some obvious robot joints on the sides of the cab are medium cool gray.
The rest of the treads are painted dark gray, but it's a bad match to the
gray plastic and the coverage isn't great at the seams.  The front and side
windows are painted robin's egg blue, and there's a very dark gray Decepticon
symbol printed on the top of the cab.
     It rolls on the usual hidden wheels under the treads.  The blade is on
movable struts, but it can only swing down for transformation and robot mode
stuff, the pistons above it don't move out of the way to let it lift.  

     Transformation: The tread tops fold up to the sides, and one or both
will pop off in the process.  The bottom half of the vehicle swings down to
make the jackhammer mono-leg, although if you want more stability you can
fold the lower tread pieces down to combiner mode and give him a big foot.

     Robot Mode: It's easy to see how this one becomes a leg, especially if
you fold down the toes to improve stability.  But, all things considered,
they did a pretty good job of making this robot mode capture the essence of
the character's jackhammer mode, including little bits of tread coming off
the arms as whips (although they're not flexible).  And even if you don't
cheat with the feet, it stands pretty well so long as the surface is flat.
     75mm (3") tall at the head, 85mm (3.25") at the shoulders, another of
those hunchbacked designs (but not as bad as Mixmaster).  The face has some
gunmetal details, with red eyes surrounded by gunmetal shadowing.  The
shoulders are ball joints with a tendency to pop out, the head can tilt up
and down and the waist has some freedom to fold forward and back.

     Overall: It's damning with faint praise to say I like this better than
the Deluxe version, but faint praise is better than none.  I'd like it even
more if the arms didn't keep popping out, maybe the US release will fix that
(yes, this is known as "unfounded optimism").

     [Later note: I tried dye to make mine red, but only the blade pieces and
the gray tread pieces took up any dye...and not enough to really be red, in
any case.  Ah well.]

DECEPTICON: SCAVENGER
Altmode: Excavator
Previous Name Use: G1, G2, BW, BMac, Universe, Armada

     Yes, this is also Demolishor.  Apparently the red excavator that forms
part of Devastator is officially named Scavenger, since Demolishor gets
killed early in RotF.

     Packaging: Two twist-ties hold the robot mode in place.

     Vehicle Mode: A bit wider, proportionally speaking, than the Voyager,
and with a big gap in the top where the robot mode wheels are visible, it's
red, gray and white with a width of 33mm (1.25") and a body length of 44mm
(1.75"), although if you stretch the shovel out horizontally the maximum
length is about 80mm (3.25").  Given that the Voyager Demolishor was already
1:160 scale as near as I could tell, this one is WAY out of scale with the
rest of the Constructicons.  If you assume the door on the side of the cabin
(that's molded on the left side top) is 2m tall to scale, the fact that it's
actually 4mm tall means this is roughly 1:500 scale.  The door might be more
of a hatch and only 1.5m tall, but that's still around 1:375 scale.
Remember, these guys were all hiding in a regular work site, so they can't
plead Armada cartoon Mini-Con "not a very good disguise" scale issues...a
door molded onto one has to be one that a human could conceivably use.
     On the other hand, an O&K/Terex RH400 played Scavenger in the movie, and
it's 32 feet wide.  At one foot equalling about 300mm, that nails it down to
1:290 scale, so I guess the hatch is molded too small.  It also means Voyager
Demolishor is more like 1:100 scale.
     The treads and some internal struts are the standard dark cool gray, the
body and shovel are medium red plastic.  The "forearm" section of the shovel
is simply painted over almost entirely in white, leaving only the combiner
pegs on the "elbows" unpainted.  White paint is also used on most of the
control cab (a bit sloppy around the edges) and in stripes on the sides.  A
white Decepticon symbol is incorporated in each stripe.  A little bit of
Scavenger's face paint is visible at the root of the shovel.
     It rolls pretty well on the two hidden tread wheels and the big robot
mode wheels.  The shovel is hinged at the elbow but not at the shoulder or
wrist.  

     Transformation: For the most part, it splits down the middle and folds
open, but the side panels then rotate along angled hinges to bring the outer
faces to the front, the hidden big wheels inside separate to put one on top
and one on bottom (either can do top or bottom).  The treads officially just
fold back up behind the panels to get out of the way, but you can improve
stability by folding them down behind the lower wheel.  This also frees the
arms up from acting as legs.

     Robot Mode: There's an old saying to the effect that it's not a question
of how well the bear dances, the fact that the bear dances at all is pretty
impressive.  This robot mode is a dancing bear.  It is recognizably
Demolishor/Scavenger, complete with over and under giant tires and shovel
half arms.  The articulation is pretty limited and it takes some imagination
to get it to look good, but it's possible.
     63mm (2.5") from wheel bottom to wheel top, head pretty much in the
middle.  The twisting panels let most of the side panels face front, although
the parts with the Decepticon symbols remain hidden, oops.  The face has
gunmetal on the mouthparts and as rings around the eyes, the eyes are
yellow.  The shoulder joints can swing in and out, but not move up and down.
The elbows bend backwards in hinges, but are blocked from bending the "right"
way.  The head does not move, so while the wheels can be rearranged for
"motorcycle mode", the head will be looking straight up.

     Overall: I think the bear actually dances pretty well, especially if you
use the treads as guide legs.  There's lots of compromises in the design, but
they work better than you might expect.


DECEPTICON: SCRAPPER
Altmode: Wheel Loader
Previous Name Use: G1, G2 (Universe was Decepticon Scrapper)

     Packaging: Three twist-ties on the robot mode.

     Vehicle Mode: A wheel loader is the sort of wheeled "kinda sorta
bulldozer looking thing" that G1 Scrapper was.  The rear end sticks out a
little too far past the rear wheels due to the needs of the robot mode, but
they hide the robot claws reasonably well in the front end.  76mm (3") long,
maybe the back 3mm is excess booty-age.  It was played by a Caterpillar 992G
Front Loader, which is 51 feet (15600mm) long, so the toy is about 1:200
scale.  
     All yellow plastic, but like Rampage the shovel is a slightly more
golden shade of yellow...maybe it's a different kind of plastic that's less
likely to cause a safety hazard?  There's a dark gunmetal paint on the rear
flanks that's clearly meant for robot mode detailing, a black Decepticon
symbol on the roof of the cab, and windows the same shade of blue as
Rampage's.  The whole front and sides of the window section is painted, they
didn't leave the borders of the windows yellow.  The wheel hubs are painted
yellow. 
     It rolls nicely on its four wheels.  The bucket can wiggle up and down a
little.  (MAH BUKKIT!  Sorry.)

     Transformation: The wheel sections split apart to become the legs, with
the bucket halves as feet.  The robot arms split apart from the middle with
hinges causing their upper sections to fold out as shoulderpads.  The cab
section then flips up to the top of the shoulders, with the head molded on
the underside of the cab.
     It pegs together very solidly, so you may need a pry tool to get the
arms apart.  
     Fanmode: leave the cab pointed straight out rather than flipping it all
the way up.  This bears a resemblance to the AgroMech and other converted
civilian 'Mechs from the original set of the clicky BattleTech game.  :)

     Robot Mode: You can tell they had pretty free rein on this design,
because it's not a hunchback or otherwise horribly misproportioned in the
BayFormer fashion.  Okay, he has weird claws instead of proper hands, but all
the general body parts are in the right places for a humanoid.  His
smokestacks become disturbingly large nipples, however.
     90mm (3.5") tall, although only 85mm (3.25") at the top of the head...
part of the cab forms a sort of hoodie.  The slightly more golden plastic is
also used on the back and pelvis, as well as on the shoulderpad pieces.
There's dark gunmetal on the "tie" section of the chest, and the gunmetal
bits from vehicle mode become shoulder spikes and look pretty good.  The
eyeslit is a stretched out W shape painted red.  Perhaps this is Wonderella's
personal Decepticon?
     Shoulders and hips are ball joints, ankles are restricted ball joints.
The shoulderpads can slump on transformation hinges, but it doesn't really
add anything to the figure's articulation.  

     Overall: Probably the best standalone toy of the six I got, it's helped
by the fact it doesn't really have to do much to be part of Devastator, being
an arm. 


DECEPTICON: LONG HAUL
Altmode: Dump Truck
Previous Name Use: G1, G2, Universe, Classics, RotF

     Packaging: Three twist-ties on robot mode.

     Vehicle Mode: This is the same sort of large unarticulated mining truck
as Voyager Long Haul, played by a Caterpillar 773 in the movie.  At 61mm
(just under 2.5") long, that would make it 1:150 scale.  This means I rather
overestimated the size of the vehicle in my Voyager review (off to amend it).
The top of the tilt-bed is flat, you can't really fill it with anything, the
lip around it is less than a millimeter high.  The rear lip has an odd gap in
the middle, but that's because of concessions made for the combined mode, the
tilt bed becomes a foot and they wanted to get some toes in there.
     Mostly made of the same color of green plastic as most versions of
Skids, it's a bit brighter than most other Long Hauls.  The front chunk of
the cab area is painted black, the wheel hubs are painted green (good match)
and there's a black Decepticon symbol printed on the left side of the tilt
bed.  
     While there are transformation joints in the tilt bed, they don't let it
tip up in vehicle mode.  It rolls very nicely on its big tires, though.

     Transformation: Pull the bottom half down as legs, the top half splits
apart and the dumper part halves fold down as arms, then just fold down
toes.  This is the one that feels most like a Mini-Con in transformation.  On
the other hand, the simplicity does make it sturdier for combined mode.

     Robot Mode: Squat and powerful-looking, not exactly hunchbacked but his
head is way below the high point of the toy (which is the shoulderpads).  If
this version appeared in anime or manga, you just know that at some point
he'd swing his arms together to use his dumper as a shield in robot mode.
     60mm (2.5") tall at the head, 80mm (3") to the tops of the shoulders.
The rear pelvis is dark cool gray plastic, while the front is painted in dark
gunmetal that blends well with the gray plastic under reasonable indoor
lighting conditions.  The central chest and the kneepads are also dark
gunmetal, and the tiny little eyes are red.  They sort of mold his "behind
the head fringe thing" in, but the hinge on the right side prevents it from
being symmetric.  The hinge is to lift up the front end of the truck for leg
mode, it doesn't really look like anything intersting if you flip it up in
robot mode. 
     The hips are ball joints, the shoulders are hinges that only lift to the
sides.  The roots of the shoulderpads can swing forward, so you can sort of
have him point forward with one arm, although he partially blocks his face in
so doing.  The toes are hinged for transformation, but they can give you some
useful articulation, letting Long Haul stride forward by having the trailing
to bent up a bit.

     Overall: Pretty much the definition of an "okay" Legends Class figure.
No real problems other than lack of articulation, it's sturdy and looks good
in vehicle mode.  And if it doesn't inspire, it at least doesn't frustrate or
enrage either.


DECEPTICON: HIGHTOWER
Altmode: Truss Crane
Previous Name Use: RiD, Universe, Classics

     Hightower seems to be the official replacement for Hook in the
namespace, as even "Decepticon Hook" is apparently not trademarkable.

     Packaging: One twist-tie holds his somewhat mooshed down mech mode in
place. 

     Vehicle Mode: Played in the movie by a Kobelco CK3500 Truss Crane, this
toy is a reasonably good approximation of that.  I can't find a listing for
its real size (and just about every google hit is a reference to Hightower),
but pictures of it suggest that the cab is about 2m tall, and since the toy's
cab is about 1cm tall, a 1:200 scale seems reasonable.  The base is 50mm (2")
long and 43mm (1.75") wide, and the high point of the crane is 65mm (2.5").
     The truss and cable pieces are the "usual" dark cool gray plastic.  The
treads and the rear side pieces are made of dark gunmetal plastic.  The
vertical support of the truss is golden yellow, the rest of the body is the
lighter yellow plastic seen in Scrapper and Rampage.  The cab is painted all
white, the outward-facing surfaces of the rear gunmetal plastic bits are
painted yellow (so-so match) and there's a gunmetal Decepticon symbol on the
right side.  I almost wonder if the gunmetal plastic is really just gray and
totally dipped in paint.
     It rolls so-so on the little hidden wheels.  The hanging hook part is
hinged to swing up, but the truss can only move as part of transformation.
You can deploy the robot mode tail claw as a line in this mode, replacing the
hook with a three-fingered claw.
     Note, this vehicle supposedly contributes one of Devastator's "wrecking
balls", but the toy has no option for that.  Of course, as Dev's arm, it's
not like the wrecking ball would be in the right area anyway.

     Transformation: Pull the tread pieces up to the sides, and then the rear
section rotates to bring the "head" up from under the vehicle.  Rotate the
treads to be flat on the table, and swap the hook with a larger grabber
claw.  The struts for the treads slide into a gap in the treads so that they
lock in place, ensuring that the two treads will be even (although limiting
articulation). 

     Robot Mode: Well, the packaging calls it robot mode, but it's more of a
beast mode, a kind of robotic scorpion with treads on struts instead of legs
and a grabber claw (replacing the hook on the truss) for a tail.  There's a
cockpit cage in front with a humanoid-looking robot head behind it instead of
a little pilot, which is kinda creepy.  Tiny claws hang off the bottom of the
cockpit, furthering the impression that this is some sort of life support
carriage for a human.
     75mm (3") high in total, although the head is only 32mm (1") above the
tabletop.  The width is 62mm (2.5"), with the vehicle mode treads now on the
ends of outrigger-style struts.  The outrigger struts are made of the same
plastic as the treads, and the cockpit cage/claws piece is the same color
plastic as the truss.  The section of cockpit that doesn't move is made of
the golden yellow plastic, but the part that lifts is lighter yellow.  The
robot face and a strip the same width as the face running down to the bottom
of the cockpit piece are painted dark gunmetal, and the eyes are red.
     Articulation is minimal.  The claw piece is hinged at the top and where
the claw meets the shaft.  The cockpit cage is hinged to lift up, and the
robot face piece below it is also hinged to lift up (revealing nothing much
of interest).  

     Overall: I definitely get a freaky 1970s cyborg B-movie feel from this
guy, especially given his very human-shaped face.  I wouldn't want to see a
lot of Transformers with this aesthetic, but it makes for an interesting
fringe case.

     Dave Van Domelen, hears that some Walmarts are already putting out the
gift sets.