Dave's Stealth Force Rant: Cycles Wave 1 High Wire (street bike) Knock Out (hammerhead trike) Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/RotF/StealthC1 This is going to be a short one, more like my recent Star Wars Crossovers reviews. See my review of Silverstreak for line comments: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/RotF/StealthS1 CAPSULES High Wire: Fairly realistic vehicle mode, dramatic and simple conversion, a decent "proof of concept" if you've been reluctant to drop $10 on one of the cars in the line. $5.99 at Target. Knock Out: You'll probably want this or not want it based purely on the vehicle mode. The transformation isn't as impressive as High Wire's, but it's just as involved. $5.99 at Target. Yeah, I didn't put a recommendation level on these. They're not really standard Transformers, which is an automatic turn-off for some, but they're cheap enough to be worth checking out if you've been curious about the Stealth Force line. And the lower price point excuses the lack of paint detail (a more serious fault in the $10 and larger toys). RANTS Packaging: Same basic style as Silverstreak had, but a little smaller. There's robot mode art for the characters, useful given that these are new characters who lack robot-mode toys. The bio note is isolated, there's no function or motto, etc. So I made my own, as usual. AUTOBOT: HIGH WIRE Vehicle: Street Motorcycle Trigger: Pull back rear wheel Function: High Speed Recon Motto: "Say hello to my leetle friend!" HIGH WIRE has a problem with authority. He resents having to stay in disguise all the time, just because somebody in charge thinks humans can't handle the idea of a bunch of big robots stomping around. He takes every chance he gets to pop out his weapons, just to shock whoever happens to be around. This motorcycle looks a LOT like the red Arcee motorcycle included with Human Alliance Skids, and is clearly no relation to the AEC Mini-Con of the same name. Placed next to Human Alliance Arcee, it's about the same total length, but the wheelbase is about a centimeter longer, putting it around the 1:20 scale range. A bit small for a 1:18 scale bike, but it'd do for that scale. Basically, it's not too far off from 3.75" action figure (GIJoe) scale, but does look a little too small next to figures of that size. The underbody is black, with bright red aerodynamic cowling, a mix of red plastic and red paint. The windscreen, headlights and wheel hubs are silver. Opening it up reveals more silver and a bunch of gold on the weapons. As seems to be sadly typical of Stealth Force, several of the weapons are self-inflicted wounds waiting to happen. The cannon that pops up out of the gas tank will shoot off the top of the windscreen, and the quad-barreled thing that's under the seat bears only on the gastank. The rotary cannons under the cowling "wings" and the small blasters under the sub-wings that fold down at the bottom can fire normally, at least. For deploying, grab the front and rear wheels and pull apart or press together. The action is pretty smooth, although the engine cover bits don't always go up unless you snap the cycle together firmly. There's a small kickstand. It's a pity they didn't sell this as Arcee, it'd probably be the least disappointing one aside from the Fast Action Battler. :) AUTOBOT: KNOCK OUT Vehicle: Motor Trike Trigger: Pull back rear wheel Function: Reconnaisance in Force Motto: "I'll fight 'til the cows come home, then I'll fight the slaggin' cows!" Anger is like fuel to KNOCK OUT. It keeps him going, and when he's able to focus it on an enemy, it's what helps him win. The rest of the time, he stays away from anything that might set him off. He prefers to be out on patrol, where his anger might find an outlet against the DECEPTICONS. This Knock Out is not 2009's Knock Out (green Autobot motorcycle from the RotF line that's been redecoed as much as a Seeker mold), nor is he Knockout (Armada Mini-Con or G1 Micromaster). And he's a vehicle mode I don't think we've ever seen before as a Transformers toy, a reverse or "hammerhead" trike: two wheels in front, one in back. The general look is a street bike with an ATV-style front end. [Later note: it looks a lot like the Can-Am Roadster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRP_Can-Am_Spyder_Roadster] At 4.25" (11cm) long, it's probably 1:24 scale., definitely too small for GIJoes but too big for Human Alliance. The underbody is black and most of the cowling and fenders is painted silver, but there's some pale gold plastic that's revealed in deployed mode. Deploying is a little tricky, as much of the front end moves, so it takes a little work to find a firm grip on it. The actual deployment is a bit less dramatic than on High Wire, though, since the hammerhead format lets the flipped up cowling on the sides blend in a bit more. Some barrels poke out a bit at the front end, the wheels in front move forward and out a bit, the side cowlings flip up, the gas tank top pops up and a bit rotates up behind the seat. The under-cowling rotary cannons do have a clear line of fire between the fenders, but whatever is supposed to be under the gastank fires straight into the speedometer. The thing behind the seat may be a thruster, I'm not really sure. Still, it's a freaky enough vehicle mode to begin with that it doesn't need to change a lot to be interesting. Dave Van Domelen, goes into the new year with a bunch of 2010 toys still to review.