Dave's Transformers Prime:Robots in Disguise Rant - Mini-Con 4-Pack 1 Scorch Strike Undertone (cannonball) Blizzard Strike Backtrack (cannonball) Scorch Strike Beastbox (buzzsaw) Blizzard Strike Swelter (torpedo) Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/PRiD/Quatuor1 "Quatuor" is the French translation of "4-pack" and sounds like it should be the name of a non-standard combiner. Judging by the colors of the characters on the package art, these seem to all be alternate color schemes, making this a pack with one redeco and three "predeco" Mini-Cons. So, not a lot of motivation for me to rebuy the three new molds as singles, unless I really like how they look in person. http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/PRiD/MiniCon2 - Beastbox mold CAPSULE $17 at TRU. Going to give individual capsules and the overall set, since I may want to just refer back to this review when the "original" decos come out. Scorch Strike Undertone: Decent enough mold, with nicely integrated accessories. Arms actually move a little. Somewhere between mildly recommended and recommended on its own, depending on how it actually looks in person in the single-pack. Blizzard Strike Backtrack: Nice spherical and smooth altmode, clever and somewhat articulated robot mode. Recommended. Scorch Strike Beastbox: Original mold was recommended, although that included the accessories, which this lacks. This is an okay redeco. Mildly recommended. Blizzard Strike Swelter: While it uses the same engineering as Divebomb, I like the looks of this in both modes a lot better. It's more of a Cybertronian combat car than a torpedo. And in proper colors as it will be as a single-pack, I expect it'll be quite good. Recommended. Set overall: While the Mini-Cons still suffer from a general lack of articulation, it's getting slightly better, and the two accessory sets work fairly well. Also, it's four Mini-cons for a little less than the price of three and a half. Recommended if you have any interest in Mini-Cons, mildly recommended if you're curious and haven't bought any yet. RANTS Packaging: Sold in a window box 10" (25cm) wide, 8" (20cm) tall, and 2" (5cm) deep. All are mostly in robot mode, although some bits (such as Swelter's feet) are mistransformed to better fit into the box. The top row is Swelter and Beastbox without accessory sprues, the bottom row is Backtrack and Undertone attached to their sprues. A single instruction sheet in black, white, and aqua shows all the transformations, and the attachment points for the accessories of the two cannonballs. The boundaries of the box front show character art of all four characters, but in their "original" colors (more or less, Beastbox looks more gray than dark brown). The box declares these all as one-step transformations, but really there's often two or three. The right panel of the box has closeups of the two Autobots (Undertone and Beastbox), the left panel has the two Decepticons (Backtrack and Swelter). The back shows photos of both modes of each (with accessories attached in the case of the cannonballs) and a picture of the Deployer they are meant to go with. As of the original review time, these characters were in the system for the app game, but without character information like fighting style and master. I've listed the health and attack from the app and made up my own Master and Fighting Style entries in the spirit of the originals, since it seems like the app has given up on providing that info. Note, while the app calls the cannonballs in the Battlepacks or sold singly "Cyclones," it refers to these as either Blizzard or Scorch. The Mini-Cons have changed from being generic helper characters like the Kreons to being partners only playable if you're using a Deployer. The tutorial stuff on that will hang if you make the mistake of trying to play the game without having unlocked Deployer Fracture, BTW. Assortment: B5844 for all of them. AUTOBOT: SCORCH STRIKE UNDERTONE Altmode: Cannonball/Robot Transformation Difficulty: 1 step (more like 2) Previous Name Use: None Previous Mold Use: None (sort of) Weapon: Arm blades Fighting Style: Very, very quiet. Master: Whoever brings the sick beats. Health: Moderate Attack: Moderate Packaging: two ties on the Mini-Con, two more on the sprue. The art on the box is of "Cyclone Undertone," mostly white with blue accents and light gray innards. Robot Mode: The package art pose suggested this is supposed to be a ninja, to complement the samurai buzzsaws. The head does evoke a ninja mask, the rest of the toy not so much. A somewhat hunchbacked appearance, in part due to the large round shoulderpads. 2" (5cm) tall, and mostly a warm (orangeish) light tan. The arms and some internal struts (shoulders and pelvis) are caramel colored plastic, the rest is light tan plastic. Bright blue paint is used for stripe accents on the shoulderpads and chest, and the package art suggests the bright blue should also have been used on the forehead channels. The "dual mohawk" on top of the helmet is painted yellow. The faceplate is painted silver with bright blue eyes. The code circle is on the right shoulderpad. The arms are hinged at the elbows, mostly a transformation joint, but this does make this one of the few Mini-Cons with useful articulation. The Mini-Con port is on the back. Accessories: Amber clear plastic, and all the parts fit snugly and blend into the figure itself. Armor panels on the shoulders and boots, chestplate with faceplate, and arm blades. If anything, they may blend in too well, making it so they don't add much. No sign of an energy critter component, either they're dropping that idea, or the singlepack version will come with a different sprue. Transformation: Fold the arms back all the way, then push the shoulderpads together or lift the legs up, either will do. Transforms properly with the accessories included. Cannonball Mode: Or Cyclone mode, I suppose, but I find cannonball to be more evocative. Twin rows of small teeth rung around parallel to the prime meridian, making this look like a hybrid of cannonball and buzzsaw. Fat buzzsaw? About 35mm in diameter, with a little bit of caramel plastic visible (arms and some snap-tabs for the shoulder struts). The twin lines of teeth keep it from rolling easily even with the accessories removed. With the accessories, it's only a little bit bulkier, as all the armor parts hug the surface and emulate its look. Overall: Suffers the usual big shoulderpads of the cannonball design, but the accessories don't look awkward on it. Not sure I'd want the singlepack version, but it's close enough that if I were in a sufficiently grabbyhands mood upon seeing it on the shelf, I'd probably get it. DECEPTICON: BLIZZARD STRIKE BACKTRACK Altmode: Cannonball/Robot Transformation Difficulty: 1 step (2, really) Previous Name Use: None Previous Mold Use: None (sort of) Weapon: Dual cannons, chest cannon Fighting Style: Chaotic Master: Hahahahaha none. Health: Maximum Attack: Nearly zero Packaging: Three ties on the Mini-Con, two more on the sprue. The art on the box is of "Ransack Backtrack" according to the app, mostly green with blue accents and joints. Robot Mode: This is one of the Cyclones seen in the online-only episode (well, a redeco of it), with a chest blaster, shell-section arms, and four shell-section legs. However, in the interest of stability, the actual toy only has two leg pieces, with the front and back leg on each side being connected by a strut at the bottom. At first glance, this looks like it should keep the figure from being able to stand up, but there's a slight flattening at the bottom that's usually enough to keep it stable. Unlike other cannonballs, it actually uses almost all of the shell parts in a meaningful way, not just as big shoulderpads or wings. Only 1.75" (4.5cm) tall with its head rather below that height, it's mostly metalflake teal-blue with some darker blue and bits of red and silver. Most of the internal struts are darker blue plastic, the shell parts are teal-blue. There's dark blue paint (decent match) on the "visor" over the face, on the pelvis, and stripes on the legs. The chest cannon aperture is painted bright red, the face is painted silver with red eyes. The code circle is on top of the head cover. The arms can lift up to the sides and swing forward on hinges (but have to be straight down for transformation). The leg sides can swing in and out a bit, for a sort of crabwise walking style. The Mini-Con port is on the back of the pelvis, opposite the chest cannon. Accessories: Reddish orange plastic. Uncommon in that it lacks a faceplate, although it does have a hat and a backpack. The shoulder cannons are improperly pre-weakened at their sprue connection points, and susceptible to having the tip of the barrel snap off unless you use a knife to carefully cut them from the sprue. The leg armor bits do make the robot mode a lot more stable. Transformation: Make sure the arms are out to the sides, push the legs in and up, then bring the arms down to the sides. Reverse that to get to robot mode. Transforms quite easily with the accessories in place, since they're all external to the shell. Cannonball Mode: The first one I've seen that's almost purely round, with minimal protrusions or gaps. Which, of course, means it can roll away very easily. The code circle flattening is the only spot stable enough to avoid this (the cannon is just a little too small). 35mm in diameter, with all the dark blue plastic hidden inside. The stripes on the legs continue as molding on the shoulders, but aren't painted. The stablization effect of the leg accessories is muted in cannonball mode. It won't roll, but it will list to one side. Hm, with the accessories in place, it feels like an update of the Gundam "Ball" mech. Overall: Okay, I've been holding it in long enough...BAKUGAN BAKUGAN BAKUGAN. There. (But without the automorphing and magnets, of course.) I probably will get at least one more version of this mold, since I like the Cyclones from the cartoon. And this is a fairly decent little toy. AUTOBOT: SCORCH STRIKE BEASTBOX Altmode: Buzzsaw/Gorilla Transformation Difficulty: 1 step (more like 2) Previous Name Use: None Previous Mold Use: PRiD Weapon: Shoulder cannons (built-in) Fighting Style: Going Ape. Master: Anyone who knows not to call him a monkey. Health: High Attack: Low Packaging: 2 ties secure it in the blister. The art on the box is "Buzzsaw Beastbox," the original color scheme seen in my wave 2 review. Color Swaps: Dark brown becomes a warm tan, orange becomes medium brown. Reminiscent of a Jedi color scheme. Paint Apps: Metalflake brown on the forearms and forehead, gunmetal face, bright blue eyes and cannon tips. Mold Changes: None. Other Notes: No accessories. Overall: I prefer the original color scheme, but if I'm going to end up with two copies of any Mini-Con mold, this is one of the better ones to be stuck with. Now I have one for the office and one for home. DECEPTICON: BLIZZARD STRIKE SWELTER Altmode: Torpedo/Robot Transformation Difficulty: 1 step Previous Name Use: None Previous Mold Use: None Weapon: Arm cannons (built-in) Fighting Style: Running hot and cold. Master: Anyone who can keep up with his moods. Health: A bit above halfway Attack: A bit below halfway Packaging: Only one tie, but really hard to get at to cut. The art on the box is of "Torpedo Swelter" (there's also a different blue "Glacius Swelter" deco...what's up with all these ice decos of a fire-themed character?), which is mostly black with yellow parts and flaming hair. Robot Mode: Same type as Divebomb, but almost all the parts are entirely new or heavily retooled. The part behind the head looks to be the same, and the spine is the same except for the addition of a tail (in-computer retool). I guess the idea behind the original mold is to evoke a desert reptile, like a gila monster. There's twin autocannons molded onto each forearm, with air-cooled machinegun slits running along the barrel sleeves. 2.25" (5.5cm) tall, mostly light silvery blue (a little lighter than Anvil) with dark blue bits and a little bright blue. The feet and back pieces (including the tail) are dark blue plastic, the rest is light silvery blue plastic. There's metalflake blue paint on the arms (raguly if you know from heraldry) and a Y-shape on the helmet top. There's no paint on the flames molded into the top of the helmet. The face is silver with red eyes. There's some bits of bright blue on the insides of the shin fronts. The code circle is in the center of the chest, as with Divebomb. Zero articulation (the ankles bend for transformation, but this is not useful here). The hands can hold 3mm pegs. Accessories: None. It can use some of Divebomb's gear, notably the chestplate and the guns. The shin flames have the same kind of I-beam connector, but in a different size so Swelter can't use Divebomb's flames. Transformation: Pretty much the same as Divebomb's. Torpedo Mode: Almost more of a Cybertronian racing vehicle, thanks to the bright blue bits on the shins coming together to look like a cockpit. Add on the arm cannons as side-mounted weapons, and this is a cool looking mini-vehicle on its own, without any accessories. 2.75" (7cm) long and mostly silvery blue with a dark blue nosecone. The cannons just have enough clearance to fire without shooting the boots, and the tip of the tail keeps the front end lifted slightly. I think I'm going to paint a few extra details on this mode, like the cannons and the hair flames. In fact, here you go: http://www.dvandom.com/kitbash/blizzardswelter.JPG Overall: I may actually buy this one again in black, it really looks nice as a vehicle rather than as a torpedo. Especially if the regular version paints the head flames, which end up as a thruster on the vehicle. Dave Van Domelen, has three of the four Combaticon limbs, hoping to find Swindle before doing a review, though.