Dave's Robots In Disguise Rant: Spychangers Optimus Prime Ultra Magnus Scourge X-Brawn Wow, it's been a long time since I found something before any reports started coming in. Another local fan beat me to the store, but left enough for me to get a complete set. I did not leave a complete set, however. Here's some pics until someone else gets around to posting better ones: http://www.protoformproject.com/dvd/images/spythird1.GIF http://www.protoformproject.com/dvd/images/spythird2.GIF CAPSULES Optimus Prime: Decent vehicle mode, simple transformation, decent robot mode. Good for a Spychanger, a bit iffy for a Basic, though. Looks pretty show-accurate, though (Battle Mode). Recommended. $4.96 at Wal-Mart Ultra Magnus: Shares Optimus's qualities for the most part. Can carry one Spychanger on its back, more or less. Recommended. $4.96 at Wal-Mart Scourge/X-Brawn: The only two-pack of the bunch. Both are a bit smaller than normal Spychangers, but with unique transformations and good show- accuracy. Strongly recommended. $4.96 at Wal-Mart Note: none of these come with gun accessories. Nor do they have techspecs, no surprise there. RANTS AUTOBOT: Optimus Prime Altmode: Firetruck Singlepacked on a Basic blister in vehicle mode, with instructions on a single folded sheet. No twist-ties, instead there's a tray-top to keep it in place. And no tape, either, so it's easy to open. Oh, and the instructions were very complete, if a bit unnecessary for me. Vehicle Mode: 4" (10cm) long and almost 1.5" (a little over 3cm) wide, this is a faithful if low-detail reproduction of the Super version's vehicle mode. The paint is limited to metallic blue windows, silver details near the ladder base and Autobot symbols on the side, plus the fake wheels painted black. Yeah, fake wheels. There's two sets of rolling wheels on three axles (the front wheels are on separate axles as the front half can separate into legs, more on that in a bit). The front wheels are regular Spychanger rear wheels, and vice versa. The first pair of rear wheels are just molded into the frame and painted black. No silver details, something I plan to remedy in a bit. The ladder unit can raise up to almost face 180 degrees the other way. Its base has free movement about 30 degrees either way, then ratchets to 45 degrees and 90 degrees either way as the base comes in contact with a joint. This rubbing means that would-be kitbashers will lose some range of motion if they paint this part. The base is riveted on rather than screwed, so it can't be taken apart. Transformation: The front end pulls down and splits into legs. The arms and shoulders telescope out from the sides, and the rear part folds down, with the ladder rotating and bending to end up at the robot's side as a third leg (necessary as the heels of the robot mode are rounded). The rear section is normally held on via a peg that inserts into the back of Op's head, and the ladder has two stable "snapped" positions that require a bit of force to get it into. The shoulders are quite clever. Entire shoulderpad units slide out from the body so that it's not just the usual peg shoulder of a Spychanger. Robot Mode: Stands 3.5" (9cm) tall at the head, the ladder adds another centimeter. While a bit bland, it does have blue forearms and the orange and yellow "bandolier" thing Battle Mode Prime has. The arms move at the shoulders, the head turns (new for a Spychanger) and the legs spread apart. That's pretty much sums up the useful poseability. The ladder can move, but unless it points straight down you can't stand the figure because of the aforementioned rounded heels. However, if you're willing to lean him against something, you can get the ladder under his left arm for water cannon mode (not over his shoulder no matter what, though, and under the right arm is slightly impeded by a non-symmetric bit). There are no pegholes in the hands, so he can't borrow other Spychanger guns to make of for his own lack. Overall: Well, compared to other Spychangers, this is quite nifty, and it's impressive that they got so close to show-accuracy with such a small model. However, compared to, say, the Tank Drone, it's kinda lacking. Granted, it's a $5 toy when the last pre-RiD Basics were $7-8. Worth getting if you find it, but not worth paying a premium to get online, I think. AUTOBOT: Ultra Magnus Altmode: Car Carrier Packaged pretty much the same way as Prime. Vehicle Mode: While Prime looks more or less to scale with the other Spychangers if maybe a little small, the 3.5" (9cm) long car carrier mode is clearly nowhere near the same scale as the rest, being nearly half as big as it should be to be a car carrier for Spychangers. It can more or less hold one Spychanger on top, but with no real blocks to keep cars fom rolling off. The detailing and colros are nicely done, though, with two exceptions. The yellow Autobot symbol on front looks pathetic compared to the gold it is on the Super toy. And four of the fake wheels aren't painted at all! The front pair of wheels are regular Spychanger rear wheels on a single axle. The next two pairs are just molded on, and left the base blue of the plastic (something that needs to be fixed on my workbench). The next pair are regular Spychanger front wheels on separate axles as with Prime, and the final pair is another set of fake molded wheels. This last pair is painted black and silver, though. The silver is not in the same pattern as the hubcaps of the real wheels, though (both Prime and Magnus have the wheel style seen on Daytonus, Prowl 2 and Side Swipe). A hole near the back of the top of the vehicle suggests the possibility that a weapon had been designed for plugging into the toy (I just wedged a RoboWheels cannon into the hole, heh). Robot mode shows no signs of an attachment point for the twin cannons, though. Transformation: Pull the legs down and separate, flip out the wings and fold back the cab, pull the arms out to the sides. The shoulders come out like standard Spychanger arms, and the cab forms a big scooplike backpack. The knees have some sideways give, though, so the lower legs can be made parallel while separate. Robot Mode: 3.5" (9cm) tall, pretty show-accurate and comparable to the Super toy to the extent that the lower legs are HUGE. As others have commented on seeing the pictures listed at the top (as I wrote this review, a bazillion comments were posted to various web boards and IRC channels), the torso is a lot more solid than on the Super toy. Of course, Super Ultra Magnus was designed to be a God Armor more than to be a robot on its own, while the Spychanger does NOT have to deal with that extra mode. Poseability is the usual Spychanger shoulders, legs that split at the hips and have a little sideways knee motion, and a turning head. And the wings can be moved up and down if you want. There's a lot of nice little details molded into this toy, and it comes out more clearly here than on Prime. Overall: Better than Spychanger Prime in some ways, worse in others, overall about as good. Again, worth buying if you see it in the store, but probably not worth the $10+ online (including postage). X-Brawn/Scourge Pack: Packaged one over the other, with Scourge to the left top and X-Brawn to the lower right. Oddly, the label has X-Brawn to the left and Scourge to the right, which may confuse some less-involved buyers. The pictures on the back of the package make it clear, though. Otherwise, packaged the same as the other two, with no twist-ties or tape. AUTOBOT: X-Brawn Altmode: SUV Vehicle Mode: At just under 3" (7cm) long, this is shorter than the other regular Spychangers. It's pretty close to the Deluxe X-Brawn in molding, but there are differences (such as in the headlights, which I note because a designer friend of mine will surely give me crap if I don't }->). Oddly, the paint job doesn't quite match the mold, with the paint making the headlights round instead of the parallelogram shape of the molded ones. Also, the lines are a bit marred by the big joint on the passenger side. Detail bits aside, the paint job is good. There's an Autobot symbol on the hood, for those who care about such details. Oh, and both driver and passenger doors can be opened, although they open on robot kibble. Transformation: Legs transform like any other Spychanger, although the upper legs are molded differently. Open the passenger door and then pull the front end over and around to end up as the left arm (southpaw lariat, dude). The right arm is folded up(!) underneath. Robot Mode: 2.5" (6cm) tall, only a hair shorter than previous Spychangers. Decent paint job, unusual layout, and quite poseable for a Spychanger. The right shoulder is a hinge sideways, with a hinge elbow in the normal direction. The left shoulder is actually universal, and the left elbow bends sideways (i.e. not the same direction as the right elbow). The oversized left hand is a separate piece, but it just rattles around a bit instead of moving as a joint. Neither hand has a peg hole. The head does not turn, but it is "complete" (rather than blank in back to fit against the windshield). You kinda have to be careful where to pose the left arm, or the figure will fall over. Overall: A very cool variation on the Spychanger theme. Not as poseable as RoboWheels robots, but all the bits remain attached and it's not just a shellformer like them. DECEPTICON: Scourge Altmode: Semitractor Vehicle Mode: At 2.5" (6cm) long, this is the dinkiest of the Spychangers, another victim of scale shifting. Just the tractor front half of Scourge, but it looks very good. The paint job is very spiffy, including the Decepticon symbol on the hood. The fake wheels are so well-molded and painted that they look real at first glance. The real wheels are on a through-axle in the rear and on half-axles on the front wheels (since the front half splits to form the shoulders). As an added bonus, the screw hole on top of the cab can hold some of the original Spychanger guns in it (REV for sure, X-Car's with some modification). Tranformation: Pull the legs down, like normal (it initially looks like they should spin around because the "toes" are so big on the heel end). Then pull the front half apart. Scourge's head is inside the torso, and needs to be flipped up, helps to have decent fingernails. Robot Mode: 2.5" (6cm) tall at the head, almost 3" (7cm) at the shoulders. The detailing and paint on this one are excellent, it almost looks like someone took a shrink ray to the Ultra version. Of course, the poseability is a bit less. Okay, a LOT less. }-> The shoulders have some side to side give, and the arms bend at the elbows. That's it, unless you count the fact that the head can fall back. Overall: VERY cool-looking, and the transformation is almost identical to that of the Ultra version. Between X-Brawn and Scourge both being really good, this two-pack is definitely something you want. Dave Van Domelen, also has Choro-Q Megatron now, which is cute but he doesn't feel like doing a separate review for it. It rolls along on its side in gun mode, whooo.