Dave's Prime: Robots in Disguise Rant - One-Step Changers Wave 1 Bumblebee (not reviewed) Sideswipe (not reviewed) Strongarm (police SUV) Underbite (car/griffin) Weird, all four have the same number of letters in their names. I *might* pick up Strongarm later if it goes on sale or clearance, but Underbite seems to be the only one not likely to get a Warrior version (in fact, I picked up the Warrior Class Bumblebee and Strongarm, and Sideswipe is pretty inevitable). [Later note: I got Strongarm using a 25% off deal at Target. Not doing a full review, but I will add a Capsule.] Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/PRiD/OneStep1 CAPSULES $10 price point. Bumblebee: Not purchased Sideswipe: Not purchased Strongarm: Clever transformation, solid in vehicle mode, but the robot mode reminds me of Gift Card Optimus Prime...very flat, like a bas relief, and while the arms do move at the shoulders it takes excessive force to get them started. As with most of the better One Steps, it's mainly fun to transform back and forth, but the robot mode isn't worth the bother. Despite the almost comically large heel spurs, it barely stands up. Almost worth the $7.50 I paid, though. Underbite: Interesting idea, but execution was pretty bad. Only buy if you absolutely must have a toy of this character. RANT Packaging: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/PRiD/TradeDress has my comments on the general trade dress and classes. DECEPTICON: UNDERBITE Assortment: B0068 Altmode: Cybertronian car/Griffin Transformation Difficulty: 1 Step Previous Name Use: None Previous Mold Use: None Weapon: None Function: Make inattentive people think Shockwave is driving up Motto: "I will get you, Rusty Venture!" Packaging: One sock-tie holds the vehicle mode in the blister. Vehicle Mode: A dark purple "it's a car because it has wheels" vehicle that's vaguely reminiscent of Shockwave, only with wheels instead of treads. It vaguely feels like a Vehicon from Prime crossed with an extended cab pickup truck, actually. The cockpit is droopy and fails to conceal the beast head. It's possible I messed up something in the gearing early on and everyone else's cockpit will work fine, but I somehow doubt that. The wheels are the snap-on type. 4.75" (12cm) long, predominantly dark purple with some silver and black. The wheels and some of the gearing in back are black plastic, otherwise it's all a very dark purple plastic. The cockpitk windows are painted faintly metalflake black, there's silver bits on the front genders, and silver and red paint on the beast head visible. The app-based faction symbol is printed in purple on a white circle on top of the beast head. [Correction: it's printed in purple on a white sticker.] Not terribly stable, thanks to the droopy cockpit piece, only rolls so long as you manually hold the cockpit back, else it drags. Transformation: Squeeze the rear wheels together and it turns into beast mode. I have no idea how it's supposed to stay in beast mode and still look like the package photo, though. I could get it to stay by swinging the vehicle cockpit up under the chin. I can see some ridges that might be intended to catch on something to lock the rear legs together, but I can't feel them engaging. A leftover clear rubber band from another toy's packaging ended up being the best solution for mine. Beast Mode: Sort of a leftover dragon from Beast Hunters, but fed into a more simplistic TF:Animated sort of design. While it has no wings and is much darker, it does call to mind the Giant Purple Griffin from the G1 cartoon. It may be a closer homage to Birdbrain's inner beast mode from the G1 Monster Pretender Combiner team, though. [Later note: to judge from the online game, this mode is closer to being in scale with the Legion class figures than with the other One Steps. Biiiiig doggie.] 4.5" (11.5cm) from snout to rump (no tail), pretty much the same colors but with more of the beast head colors visible. The eponymous lower jaw is made of black plastic, the jaws are painted silver, the eyes and some details on the jaw hinge are painted red. The legs can move a little, although they're stubby and my inability to keep it in beast mode renders most of the articulation moot. There's a tab sticking out the back of the head, pulling it up makes the jaw open, and it snaps closed with a spring when you let go. If you're using the cockpit under the chin trick to keep it in beast mode, this gimmick won't work. Overall: Eh, while it's a cute idea, the execution is as bad as the worst of the Activators in terms of being so loose for ease of gimmick that it just doesn't hold together in any mode. A novelty, no more. [Later note: While most people I talked to with this toy had the same problems I did, at least one person got one that holds together properly in both modes. So it may well be a case of a design that left too little room for error, meaning it's a crapshoot whether you get one that works.] Dave Van Domelen, hopes this is a case of starting weak and improving, as he goes on to the other classes.