Dave's Microverse Rant: Orcanoch

     Thanks to Hex's Christmas Spirit, I now have one of the Microverse play
sets, which have yet to show up in the mass market, but seem to be
well-stocked in Hex's area.  

CAPSULE

     Nice enough little toy which is complex enough to take a bit of fiddling
to figure out (not everything you need to know is in the directions), but of
limited play value until/unless they release sets of other micro figures.
Some parts are kinda cheesy, overall Neutral recommendation.  If you can find
it for less than $10, though, pick it up.  Presuming you can ever find it in
your area.

RANT

     There are no tech specs for Orcanoch, just a back of the box blurb:
"The mysterious planet where the Maximals have crashed contains a number of
oceans swarming with single-cell organisms at the onset of evolution [my
comment: Bwah?].  Within these darkened depths swims the mighty Orcanoch, a
giant Maximal who converts to a heroic mobile battle station complete with
missile launcher cannon, mini escape pod and high-tech defense arsenal.
Optimus Primal commands the station in search of underwater sources of
Energon and fights off invaders like Predacon Arachnid, who is desperate to
gain access to Orcanoch's internal secrets!" 
     I'm sure you'll all agree this is a rather turgidly written piece, yes?
And I think they mean Tarantulas when they say Arachnid, since the picture on
the back of the box characterizes him as an "evil Predacon invader."  It's
not totally clear from the quote above whether Orcanoch is a living Maximal
or just a big vehicle.

     Box: The front of the box shows a rather one-sided battle scene with the
upcoming Predacon Razorclaw (crab) being shot at by Primal from the missile
launcher, Cybershark and Snapper (someone goofed) manning the blasters and
shooting at unseen foes, Armordillo at the computer center, Airazor (upcoming
hawk) in the escape pod and the as-yet-unnamed Squid character on the top
level.  Based on inclusion of Snapper in the Maximals here, I'm not going to
assume squiddy's a Maximal.  }->
     The instructions are printed on the bottom of the box, which I think may
be a first for a boxed Transformer.  They're not complete, as they don't show
where to stow all the various kibble in orca mode.

     Orca Mode: A reasonably good facsimile of a killer whale, pretty much
unposeable except for the flippers.  About six and a half inches long in orca
form, with green eyes.

     Transformation: The tail folds down and apart, the head fires off (all
of two inches on a good shot) and the middle sections swing out.  The lower
two sections also need to be pulled out radially to clear the top section,
something I didn't realize until I actually read the instructions.  All
things considered, pretty complex compared to what it could have been.

     Base Mode: So-so.  Makes Micromaster bases seem large and spacious, but
it has places for as many as eight micro-figures to hang out...not that there
*are* that many.  I suppose you could invade it with Imperial Trooper
Micromachine toys, though.  There's three little blue pieces (two arms, one
console) which can be placed in various positions on the base (eight or ten
available holes, depending on whether you want to mount things upside down)
and contribute to a feeling of Prime's original trailer base.  The flukes
fold out to form a pretty stable base for the toy.

     Micro-figures: Pretty sad, really.  Each is formed of three bits of hard
plastic, two sandwiched together for the torso/arms/head and one for the
legs, which can swing at the hips.  Small Targetmaster Nebulon-level
poseability, basically.  Primal has grey legs, black chest and arms, and blue
back and head with a splat of silver paint on his face.  Tarantulas has grey
legs and copper everything else (and mine came apart and required regluing,
somewhat low production values).  Either figure can sit in the cockpit or
escape pod, but only Primal will fit well in the prison, ironically.
Tarantulas's claws are a little too long for the lid to close on him, but you
can sorta wedge him in far enough to sorta close it.  If Tarantulas weren't
such an oddball color to start with, I'd probably try to touch him up with
some paint, and I may eventually put a dab of grey on Primal's chest while
painting his back black.  They *are* molded with a decent amount of detail,
just not painted.

     Gimmicks: The head launches from the cockpit, flying about an inch or
two, oh well.  The four missiles that come with the toy fire a more
respectable five feet.  I suppose if the head launched far enough to be
impressive, the missiles would pose a serious hazard.  Touted in the
instructions as a gimmick, the lid of the prison can "flip" a figure through
the air in theory, but doesn't actually do so.  The toy also has a rubsign
"Energon Chip."

     Stowing: Here's how to fit everything into the orca mode smoothly.  The
console piece sits on the floor next to the "SCAN" console on the middle
level (there's even a hole you can peg it into, but don't push it all the way
in).  The two arms go in the middle level on the other side.  Primal goes in
the brig, and Tarantulas into the driver's seat.  The lower level defense
guns stow easily as per the instructions, and the four missiles store on a
post in the tail section.  They're not as firmly held as I'd like, but they
pretty much stay.

     Play Value: Mediocre at the moment.  Once you figure out where
everything goes, there's not a whole lot more you can do with two
micro-figures, eh?  Might be slightly improved with the addition of more
figures, might not.

     Dave Van Domelen, hopes eyrie stays stable long enough for him to post
this....