Dave's Revenge of the Fallen Rant: Scout Wave 2

     Scalpel (Microscope, 92177)
     Reverb (Motorcycle, 92178)
     Dune Runner (Dune Buggy, 92179)

     Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/RotF/Scout2

     Officially, I think this may be wave 3, with the large "wave 1" I
reviewed being two waves compressed by the street date.  I do not care.
     Reverb is a redeco of Knock Out, originally reviewed here:

     http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/RotF/Scout1


CAPSULES

     Scalpel: Not for smaller kids or the easily frustrated, as it's a
finicky mess until you decipher it (the instructions aren't terribly
helpful).  If you're willing to deal with the learning curve, though, it's a
fairly nifty little toy.  Mildly recommended.  $8.44 at Walmart.
     Reverb: Original deco was recommended with the caveat that you had to be
willing to do a little work to fix its problems.  Same thing applies here.
Of course, with Scouts being the price they are now, you probably want to
only get one of this mold unless you really like motorcycles.  $8.44 at
Walmart.
     Dune Runner: Solid vehicle mode, complex but only sometimes frustrating
transformation, very good robot mode.  A little hampered by the brittle
plastic typical of the new movie toys, though.  Recommended, and it's really
just the plastic quality holding it back from strongly recommended.  $8.44 at
Walmart. 


RANTS

     Packaging: Same as wave 1.  As before, I'll review altmode first,
despite these being packaged in robot mode (more or less, in Scalpel's
case).  And I'll supply function and motto.


DECEPTICON: SCALPEL
Altmode: Microscope
Licensor: None
Previous Name Use: None
Previous Mold Use: None
Function: Medic
Motto: "Ach, mein DIGITS!"

     SCALPEL has a massive database of anatomcial data for millions of
creatures across the universe.  He can disassemble anything that doesn't
struggle too much in a matter of minutes, and usually puts it back together
with only a few parts in the wrong place.  He serves as medic to the
DECEPTICON army, but most DECEPTICONS prefer to suffer in silence rather than
allow SCALPEL to work on them.

STR 2  INT 10  SPD 6  END 2  RNK 8  COUR 4  FRB 4  SKL 8  Avg 5.5

     Twist-ties: One tie holding him into the blister, and a blister piece
that the insect legs are wrapped around as if he were curled up and dead on
his back.  It's otherwise in some weird halfway position between modes,
making the instructions more useless than they already are.  At the very
least, from package mode, you need to swing his gray "spine" around under the
body 180 degrees and move the things that look like shoulderpads around back
to form his, well, back.  And even that's a sort of fan mode that pushes his
torso up and back so that he can come close to standing up.  The official
mode is even less intuitive, and requires some bits to move in ways they
don't wanna move.
     Note, there's a variant with shorter antennae, to better fit inside the
microscope housing in altmode.  I got the long-antenna version, so I had to
use a knife to tuck them back in before I could snap things shut.

     Microscope Mode: Some fiddling is necessary to get it in the right
position, since there's a lack of pegs to guide things.  Just make sure the
objective lens (the one with the Decepticon symbol on it) is pointed straight
down.  Unfortunately, this makes the binocular eyepieces point downward a
bit, to get the eyepieces to point upward you pretty much have to have the
objective point up as well.  Other than that problem, it's a pretty accurate
binocular stereomicroscope rig, with coarse adjustment dials flanking where
the top part connects to the vertical "spine" (that's not the technical term,
but I do avoid jargon once in a while) and fine adjustment dials on the
body.  There's even molded and painted clips on the base for holding
microscope slides.  Assuming that the eyepieces are 6-7cm apart at scale (a
reasonble eye separation), then this is around 1:10 to 1:12 scale.  If that
feels a bit big, keep in mind that stereoscopic microscopes are larger than
the typical single-eyepiece model of stereotype.
     [Later note: http://www.sciplus.com/itm_photos/90313.jpg shows the type
of microscope, although this link may rot eventually.]
     The base is 2" (5cm) deep, 5cm wide (it seems wider than it is deep
because the front slopes down) and 0.5" (13mm) tall.  The whole thing is up
to 3.25" (8.5cm) tall, although the top piece can be slid down the spine.  At
scale, the base would be 20-24" (50-60cm) wide.
     The base is made of very dark gray plastic that's nearly black, a
plastic also used for the eyepiece section.  The upper body is mostly very
light gray plastic that's almost white, while the spine connecting them (as
well as a few joints visible on the sides) is made of medium gray plastic.
The middle half of the base is mostly painted light gray, with silver on the
slide clips.  Nearly-black paint is used on the coarse and fine adjustment
knobs and the housing of the objective lens.  A purple Decepticon symbol is
printed on the objective lens itself, and there's some tech-tattoo details in
purple on the upper body.
     The upper body can slide up and down on the spine, ratcheted a little.
The spine can also turn for transformation, not something a stereomicroscope
normally does.  Even if you transform the legs properly, it's a little
wobbly, although you can force the side panels of the base down a little on
their hinges to stabilize things some.

     Transformation: What's really weird here is that there's two mutually
incompatible ways of assembling the torso!  In the version shown in the
instructions, the two "shoulderpad" pieces that hide the robot eyes in
microscope mode connect under the chest so that they form a peg that plugs
into the top of the microscope "spine".  This is really unstable, and the
ball joints that hold the now-abdomen pieces pop easily before the halves
completely mesh.  This version also has a center of gravity farther forward.  
     On the other hand (or claw), there's a peg and a peg hole on the
adjustment dials on those pieces that are clearly meant to go together, which
inverts the pieces.  In other words, you can either peg the dials together,
or you can peg the abdomen into the spine, but never both.  This second
configuration is used for the package photos, and while it's a bit looser of
a fit, that can be fixed with nail polish.  The torso sits higher and farther
back, so the figure can actually stand up on its own.  Plus this looks more
like a preying mantis in stance (although it has too many limbs for a
mantis). 
     When going to microscope mode, getting the little forelimbs into the
chest can be tricky, but it's harder to get them back out.  :)  To transform
the legs, first make sure each "shin" segment folds over the "thigh" so that
the hooked bit on the thigh fits into the hollow side of the shin.  Then
rotate the whole thing so that when the leg folds onto the underside the
painted purple part of the shin faces the table.  This should let everything
fit inside nicely.
     Between the uselessness of the instructions, the contradictory robot
modes and the tendency of several of the ball joints to pop off at the
slightest provocation, this is a hard toy to like, at least at first.

     http://www.dvandom.com/images/scalpeltorso1.JPG - package photo
     http://www.dvandom.com/images/scalpeltorso2.JPG - instructions

     The second picture isn't quite accurate to the instructions, though.
There's another place where the instructions and package differ, the dark
gray covers on the legs can fold all the way up to meet in the middle and
then slide back a bit, which helps with center of mass.

     "Robot" Mode: Okay, I'm going to go with the torso in package photo
mode, but the rear section with the panels folded all the way up, since it
makes for the best stability.  Once I figured out this combination, my
opinion of the toy went up a bit since it is fairly stable in this
configuration, but the learning curve is unpleasantly steep and I really
wouldn't recommend this toy for a kid.  
     There's a definite mantis feel to the design, although his preying limbs
are stunted and he has 8 limbs overall.  He's mostly shades of gray, although
his lightest gray is almost white and his darkest gray is almost black.  The
objective lens with his Decepticon symbol ends up on the small of his back.
     Standing up as tall as his legs will unfold (which isn't a whole lot),  
the tips of his clear antennae rise to 5.5" (14cm) above the tabletop, and
he's 3.75" (9.5cm) long.  Using the instructions-style torso connection makes
him less tall but more long.  He's not quite insectoid in layout, even
discounting the extra legs.  His "thorax" is a fairly standard humanoid chest
and abdomen with a thin pelvis at the bottom.  Then the insectoid abdomen
sticks out the back of the pelvis, but the legs are attached to this rather
than to the thorax as in a proper insect.  I will call this not-abdomen his
butt.  With the butt folded up all the way, there's molded spikes that are
probably meant to evoke a line of pointy bits along his spine.  If they were
painted and the box-shape frame ignored as background, it would work a little
better.  I may paint mine later.
     He unfolds weirdly enough it's worth going over what parts are which
plastic in full for this mode.  The majority of the torso and pelvis are a
very light ghost gray plastic, as is the insectoid mouthpart piece on the
underside of the head.  The head, which is shaped like a pair of binoculars,
is made of very dark gray plastic, as are the panels that make up the butt.
The antennae and stubbular arms are made of flexible clear colorless plastic,
while the "glasses" on his face are rigid clear colorless.  His neck and
legs, the spine running down the butt piece and some connector joints on the
torso are medium gray plastic.
     The purple paint from the microscope mode is now more prominent as chest
detailing, and his eyes are painted red behind the glasses.  Most of the
other microscope mode paint is covered up here.  If you transform him with
the adjustment knobs together for his abdomen, there's plenty of unpainted
tech details molded onto the shell pieces.
     Articulation is iffy.  Oh, each of the six hips and six knees is a stiff
ball joint, but none of these joints have enough range of motion to
straighten out, so they really only serve to get his legs under him and then
not move much.  The shoulders are ball joints that pop pretty easily, and the
elbows are hinges.  The head can look up and down on a hinge, and the
mouthparts and antennae have their own hinges.  Careful with the antennae,
they pop off easily as well.  The glasses can be removed, they just peg onto
holes in the eyes.

     Overall: Along with the upcoming Ejector, this is about as close as
we're getting to Real Gear Robots this time around (not surprising, since RGR
were actually designed independently of the movie and folded into the movie
as a late decision, from what I've heard).  The transformation is a real pain
to figure out the first few times, and the robot mode doesn't have much in
the way of useful articulation.  It has novelty value, but might be a design
that would have been better served with a Deluxe budget.


DECEPTICON: REVERB
Altmode: Motorcycle
Licensor: None
Previous Name Use: Cybertron
Previous Mold Use: RotF
Function: Galaxy's Worst Tourist
Motto: "Dude, monuments explode real good!"

     REVERB loves being a DECEPTICON.  Since the war began, he's got to
travel from one end of the galaxy to the other, meet hundreds of interesting
beings, and help to annihilate them.  All that violence has been nonstop fun,
as far as he is concerned.  The other DECEPTICONS seem to enjoy being gloomy,
but that doesn't bother REVERB.  He's not going to let them ruin his fun.

STR 6  INT 3  SPD 7  END 6  RNK 5  COUR 6  FRB 5  SKL 4  Avg 5.25

     This toy is an homage to Dart from the Tonka Go-Bots.  See it here:
http://www.tfu.info/Gobots/Renegades/Dart/dart.htm 
     The photo on the front is mirror-flopped, ignoring the fact that the
numbers and so forth on the toy would make that point clear.  Oh, and
speaking of inversions, the font used for the 97 on his front end has a weird
curly 7 that, when turned upside down for his chest, makes it look like he's
number 26 instead.

     Twist-ties: Packaged with the cowling halves on his legs, as per the
instructions rather than the wing version that the designers intended (see
Knock Out review).  Five twist-ties.

     Color Swaps: The wheels remain black, and the medium green becomes
bright red.  Medium gray becomes a slightly lighter gray.  The black of the
head, forearms, chest halves (windscreen) and front fender becomes bright
red.  The other black pieces become brownish red.

     Paint Apps: Medium blue stripes down the middle and on the cowling on
either side, with white bordering the blue.  Pale white "97" is printed on
either side of the rear chunk and on the middle of the windshield.  The wheel
hubs are bluish silver and the headlights are robin's egg blue.  No paint on
the tailpipe. 
     In the blue stripes on the side are white Decepticon symbols and a
racing logo that is split in half by vents so I can't tell what they're
supposed to say.  On one side it's Ca-auy (and I'm not sure about the u) and
the other it's Cala-y.  Maybe Calauy?  It's definitely not Galaxy, or
Calamity.  The google results for calauy seem to mainly be mis-OCRs of words
like calumny or Calais.  Calany could be a result of bad penmanship, but to
get to Galaxy would require some serious errors on the graphic designer's
part.  Assuming some "engrish" gets carauy, but the hits for that are
apparently mainly user names for someone named Cara Uy.
     [Later note: Auggie Cahnay is a race driver from G1 and RiD, see
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Auggie_Cahnay for more details.  I can certainly see a
non-English-speaking graphic designer having trouble with the script font and
mangling Cahnay into Calauy.]  
     The only robot-specific paint is on the facemask, which is mostly bluish
silver with black on the "horns" and the hoses leading to the mouth.

     Mold Changes: None that I noticed, although a different set of bits are
loose. 

     Other notes: The tabs for putting the cowling pieces on the back as
wings are even looser than on Knock Out.  Of course, to better differentiate
them, I may just leave the cowling halves on the legs as per the
instructions.  
     Others have pointed this out, but it bears getting into this file: Knock
Out is an Autobot in Decepticon-like colors (and a general Waspinator feel),
while Reverb is a Decepticon in red white and blue...Autobot colors.  (Too
much red to be Gundam colors.) 

     Overall: Well, it looks nice, but shares the same brittle-feeling
plastic issues with a lot of the new Scouts.


AUTOBOT: DUNE RUNNER
Altmode: Dune Buggy (not really, see below)
Licensor: None
Previous Name Use: Armada
Previous Mold Use: None
Function: Desert Patrol
Motto: "I don't know what quicksand is, but I bet it helps me go fast!"

     Back on CYBERTRON, most rolling surfaces are flat, lightly textured
roads - perfect for speed and traction.  It wasn't until he got to Earth that
DUNE RUNNER experienced anything like sand or shale.  He can't say he enjoys
his new vehicle mode, but he appreciates that it lets him patrol the deserts
and mountains, where many DECEPTICONS have taken to hiding.

STR 8  INT 6  SPD 7  END 8  RNK 3  COUR 6  FRB 4  SKL 2  Avg 5.5

     Twist-ties: 4.  The feet are mistransformed to fit into the blister.
There's a secondary shell over his guns to keep them from being bent in the
package by rough handling, and a rubber band around the chest.

     Vehicle Mode: This is a Desert Patrol Vehicle, not a dune buggy
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Patrol_Vehicle) or a sand rail (although
DPVs are like sand rails).  Real DPVs are about 4m long, making this a
roughly 1:40 scale toy (by comparison, most of the Deluxe cars are around
1:32 scale).  Due to the bilateral symmetry of the robot mode, there's two
tribarrel cannons attached to the roof (one for each shoulder) and twin
engines in front.  The interior is fairly open, and there's molded seats on
the robot arms inside, plus a molded dashboard, for an interior that would be
impressive on a Deluxe, much less a Scout.
     [Later note: the actual prop vehicle has gone on eBay.  It's a sand rail
that has been modified to look like a Chenowth DPV.]
     4" (10cm) long and mostly olive drab with some light blue-gray bits and
some gunmetal, plus black balloony tires.  Most of the body shell is olive
plastic, but the front and rear bumper pieces may be gunmetal plastic.  Or
they may be olive plastic dipped entirely in gunmetal paint, I can't tell
without disassembly or destructive testing.  The rear bumper is probably
metallic blue-gray plastic, as are the tribarrel cannons.  The wheels and
some of the visible underside are black plastic, while the interior and the
cannon struts are light blue-gray.
     The front bumper and the windshield framework are painted gunmetal, with
the windows being painted the same color as the cannons.  The trunk lid (with
exhaust pipes), engine superchargers and gunner roof hatch are painted
silver, and there's a silver Autobot symbol printed on the roof next to the
hatch.  There's four front headlights, three roof lights and a bumper-mounted
swivel searchlight (it doesn't actually swivel) all with yellow lenses.  The
four taillights are painted dull red.  On the doors are printed a small
version of the NEST insignia (as described in my Ironhide review) in black
and silver and a black stencil-font "0318".
     It's a bit tricky getting all the panels pegged into place properly, but
once you have it this mode is very solid and it rolls very well on its
off-road tires.  The cannons can elevate, but it makes part of the rear
window section lift up as well, so it's not really an intended point of
articulation.  

     Transformation: Rather complex for a Scout, at least in going from robot
to vehicle.  Heck, certain aspects of it are complex for a Deluxe.  Lots of
interconnected bits and panels, especially the rear wheels being linked to
the arms.  The cannons will probably pop off when you transform it, they
certainly did for me, repeatedly.
     Going from vehicle to robot is a fairly simple unfolding process,
though.  

     Robot Mode: Huh, it's movie-style Scattorshot, to go by the head lamps.
:)  The face is kinda movie-styled in some ways, and has a shade of Kirby in
the lines of the faceplate.  The roof is the chest and the front end becomes
the legs, but with the hood being on the calves rather than the shins.  The
guns end up on his shoulders...as in, connected to the arm part rather than
the torso part.
     3.75" (9.5cm) tall, making this military vehicle Transformer just right
for hanging out with older GIJoe figures as a sort of Robo-Joe (the movie
Joes are a centimeter or so taller).  Sadly, his open-palmed hands can't
really hold their weapons (I tried giving him one of the movie Joes' missile
launchers to no avail).  More black comes out in this mode, and more of the
light blue-gray, but no significant amount of new colors.
     The head is green plastic, but so painted-over that I had to take it
apart to check.  It's built to have lightpiping, but the back piece is opaque
green rather than clear.  The abdomen front is the same metallic blue as the
cannons.  The forearms and lower upper arms are the light blue upholstery
bits.  The pelvis, thighs, inner upper arms and some other internal bits are
black plastic.
     The only new paint for this mode is on the head, but they went whole
hog.  The main color is a metallic sheen version of the underlying olive
green. with silver on the faceplate.  The goggles are sky blue with little
gold dots at the bottom of each "eye" section, and there's a gold stripe
slightly off center from front to back on the top of the helmet.  There's a
headlight on either side of the helmet top, painted yellow.  Like I mentioned
above, it evokes Cybertron Scattorshot in a number of ways, plus he's kinda
short like Scattorshot.  :)
     The neck is a restricted ball joint, and it's designed to not pop off
unless you loosen the screw holding the head halves together.  The waist
turns smoothly, and the chest panel (roof) can move out of the way of the
hips if necessary.  The shoulders are ball joints with sockets about a third
of the way from the top of the upper arm, plus there's forward to back
transformation hinges that increase the range of motion.  There's a
transformation hinge at the biceps that only bends backwards, you can't use
it to move the effective elbow up.  The real elbows are also hinges, with the
forearms a touch too short.  The elbow hinges don't quite make it to being
bent 90 degrees.  Ball joint hips, hinge knees, hinge ankles, adjustable and
nicely stiff heel spurs.  The shoulder guns are on hinged struts, mainly
useful for minor adjustments (they can't reach forward enough to put the
cannons on his hands).  As mentioned above, they're liable to pop off during
transformation, or if you move the arms too extremely.

     Overall: I often complain about a design that was executed at too small
a size class, but this isn't one of those cases.  While this design would
have been satisfying as a Deluxe, it works quite well as a Scout.  If they'd
made this with the plastics typical of Transformers Animated toys, I might
even call it strongly recommended, but some of the fussiness of the new
plastics does count against it.


     Dave Van Domelen, thinks he'll do middle-finger-launching Mudflap next.