Dave's Rescue Bots Rant: Basic Wave 6 plus bonus Blades the Flight-Bot (jet) & Dani Burns Bumblebee (motorcycle) & Morbot Titan Heroes Blades Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/RBBasic6 This wave is weird. It's not really Rescue Dinobots yet, but it's no longer Energize either (no Energize Gear), and neither altmode has appeared on the show so far. But hey, we finally get Dani, as well as a comically undersized Morbot. CAPSULES $7-8 price point for Basics, $10 price point (but I got it 30% off) for Titan Hero. Blades & Dani: Good chunky figure, worth the price of admission on its own, but it also has Dani Burns. Recommended. Bumblebee & Morbot: Not quite as as good a set, and the Morbot really needs to be done at a larger size. Mildly recommended. Titan Hero Blades: Okay, I just got this so Dani would have a version to ride in. Much better than previous Titan Heroes, which makes this mildly recommended. RANTS Packaging: Same basic packaging as previous waves, but with the Energize stuff removed. The art on the front is recycled from the Energize wave, though, showing Blades as a helicopter (same as the Scout class jet) and Bumblebee as a car. The group scene on the back is the Rescue Dinobots wave, with Blades as a jet rather than as a dinosaur. Amusingly, Bumblebee is posed with his arm raised, as if he's trying to slyly put it around the Morbot's shoulders. The Titan Heroes toys aren't labeled as such on the box, but these are the big rotocast toys. Unlike the previous movie and Prime ones, the proportions are actually pretty good (Boulder is too skinny and tall, but the box size is inflexible), and the chests open up so that human companion figures can ride inside. Interestingly, the box back points out "rescue tool ports" on the hands, saying the tools are sold separately. They must mean the energize gear sold with the Deluxe-size figures, since I haven't seen any indication of separately-available gear. The non-transforming robot is held into the cardboard tray by rattan strings colored to match the part they're wrapped around, so they're less obvious, a nice touch. Unfortunately, like the previous Titan figures, the boxes are shallow so the feet end up smooshed flat. Partners: Once again, unarticulated statues, and the Morbot is way too small (just as T-rex and the Scrapmaster were). If we could get a bunch of 1.5" tall (35-40mm) Rescue Bots microfigures, they'd be to scale with the various non-human partner figures in this line. Main Figures: Articulation remains the same, legs moving as a single piece at the hips, universal shoulder joints, turning head, rotating wrists. RESCUE BOT: BLADES the FLIGHT-BOT Partner: Dani Burns Design: This is the jet mode also seen in the Scout class. The fists are curled inward with the arm-mounted intakes molded to look a lot more like missiles. Because of the inward-curl on the fists, Blades can hold Dani under one arm, or wrap her up in a big bear hug. Plastic Colors: Very very light gray, you'd almost mistake it for white until putting it next to something that's actually white, like the Titan Hero Blades. Paint Apps: Unlike the Scout version, this one doesn't cheap out. Pretty much every color that should be there is there, except that the jet intakes on the arms are entirely unpainted (the Scout has the tips silver). Energize Blue cockpit, yellowish green goggles. There's gunmetal on the fists, upper arms, thighs, pelvis, and shin vents. Orange on the "ears", helmet top, shoulders, and appropriate patterns on wings, forearms, and lower legs. A white Rescue Bot symbol is printed on the chest. Really, if I were to do any customization, it would be to darken the goggles and then add the bright eyes as in the animation model. The silver bits on the forearms would actually be a bit distracting in this case, I think. Partner: Dani's in her usual flight suit, with mostly correct colors, if slightly sloppy paint boundaries. Some have compared her to the Joker, and the face sculpt is a little extreme. It's like when they chibified her the head got a little too warped. Made from olive green plastic. The straps and kneepads are mustard yellow. The belt, eye pupils and eyebrows are black, but the hair is warm brown. The gloves are very dark gray, while the face and exposed wrists are caucasian fleshtone. Her teeth are painted white, and her lips pink. The boots are unpainted, the most significant bit of off-model-ness. (The gloves and boots should be dark brown.) Overall: Nice chunky action figure that does a good job of representing a version of the character who hasn't actually appeared on the show, but would probably look pretty close to this if/when he does. And FINALLY we get a Dani, if only a statue version. AUTOBOT: BUMBLEBEE Partner: Morbot Design: This is the motorcycle mode seen in the first wave of the new Scout class. There's big non-turning wheels on the forearms, exhaust pipes on the legs, and a motorcycle windshield backpack. The head on mine was actually fused in place, perhaps some errant glue, but it took excessive force to get it to start turning. The arms are molded weirdly, with the elbows bent backwards. Plastic Colors: Yellow, of course. Paint Apps: Lots of black, of course. Tires, shoulder stripes, ears, chest stripes (which might be intended to be headlights, so kinda the wrong color), forearm stripes, handlebars. Silver is used on the face, upper arms under the armor plates, hands, thighs, exhaust pipes. Energize Blue is used for the eyes, chest window and backpack windshield. A white Rescue Bots symbol is printed on the chest. Partner: The Morbot looks pretty good, but is laughably small (if a little too big to fit in the Titan Blades's chest) at 2.5" (6.5cm) tall. Other than the chibification, it's pretty much on-model in terms of design and colors. The thrusters on the soles of the feet do make it a little unstable. Made of dull brown plastic. Silver paint covers most of the arms, torso, and head. There's also a bit of silver on the knees. Black paint is used on the thighs, shoulder not-wheels, and a strip around the right forearm. The antenna top is purple, and purple is airbrushed onto the front of the cannon as an energy effect. The visor slit is orange. Overall: Yeah, it's another Bumblebee. And the arms are kinda weird. But it's otherwise a decent figure. We really should get a Titan-sized Morbot, although it'd be a bit narrowed to fit in the box. RESCUE BOT: BLADES the FLIGHT-BOT The Titan version is big, non-transforming, and ironically better- articulated than the Deluxe version. It uses the original helicopter altmode design, and has a spinning rotor on the back. As with most (if not all) Titan Hero Transformers, the feet are almost nonexistent, a sort of bas relief suggestion of feet. 11.5" (29cm) tall, mostly orange and white with some dark gray, yellow, and blue. The arms and the rotor on the back are orange plastic, the chest window is clear aqua blue plastic. The head, torso and legs are white plastic. Not really sure about the fists, which are entirely painted over, but clearly separate pieces from the arms. I don't want to scrape at the paint to see what's underneath. Oh, the head is a softer plastic than the rest of the toy, probably so they can get away with cartoon-accurate molding of the slightly pointy ears. The upper arms are painted white, an okay match with the plastic. There's orange paint on the ears, helmet top, pelvis front, and kneecaps. The visor is painted blue, not green. The pipes on the torso are painted dark gray, as are the fists. The top of the cockpit piece is painted white, but no extra paint to pick out the Rescue Bots symbol molded there. There's no orange on the bits flanking the head, but the fronts of those parts are painted yellow. There's swivel articulation at the neck, shoulders and hips. The hips are V-joint style, so the legs swing forward and out. The rotor on the back spings freely, but only if the shoulders don't get in the way. The chest opens up to admit a human figure (or a blindbag pony). There's "tool ports" on the fists and the sholders. The tool ports are actually combination peg holes, 5mm outer radius and a deeper 3mm radius hole in the center. There's not a lot of 3mm pegs long enough to reach into those holes, but hey, options. Overall: If you can find these on sale for $7, they're definitely worth that much. Full price of $10, maybe. Other than the feet, they don't suffer the problems of the earlier Titans, and giving the molded human figures somewhere to go is a nice touch. Dave Van Domelen, got to spend Thanksgiving sick, with a significant stomach ache that made eating anything at all unpleasant. Whee.