Dave's Kiddie Transformers Rant: Robot Heroes Best Buy Exclusives Optimus Prime (Battle Damaged) Cliffjumper Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/RHX2 A friend of mine decided he wanted the 2-disc edition but none of the store exclusive gimmicks really interested him, so he agreed to get the Best Buy pack and sell me the figures. :) These are both recolors of Movie Robot Heroes figures (Optimus Prime and Bumblebee), http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/RH3 for the review. CAPSULE Very nicely done repaints of two of the better molds from their wave. Of course, odds are you won't be able to get these for anything resembling a decent price unless you held off on buying the movie and your local Best Buy still has some sets in stock, so really only recommended for the completist. Improved paint jobs mean that even if they did sell separately, they'd have to be a little more expensive than normal RH sets. RANTS Packaging: In a little window-box thing next to the 2-disc DVD, Best Buy just took the normal 2-disc edition and stuck it in a cardstock box with the toys. I didn't consider the packaging important enough to ask my friend to send it along, though. :) [Update: I checked out the box at the local Best Buy. It's light silvery gray cardstock, and the pictures on the back explain why it was initially thought by many (including me) that this would be an Ultra Magnus repaint. The picture of Prime on the back is of the regular version, with no black wash or char marks, and is overexposed to the point that the silver looks white.] Pegs: Thin pegs, same as the originals of the molds. Sigh. AUTOBOT: OPTIMUS PRIME Same pose as the original, same height and jointing. Made of a slightly darker blue than the original, but most of the tone differences come from the paint job. Start with the paint job on the original, and add a black wash on all the silver parts, stronger on the abdomen and feet than on the hands. Also add black char areas on the gun barrel and the left ribcage. Then add silver paint details to represent scraped off paint on the right chest, right shoulder and the fronts of both boots. Silver cracks run across the left chest window. The windows and eyes are a slightly darker blue, although that may be an effect of the black wash. There's silver paint on the left elbow (which is unpainted on the original), and the Autobot symbol on the left shoulder is silver instead of red. The two big solid black scorches are a bit inelegant, with overly sharp edges. Otherwise, a very nice repaint, and definitely a more expensive paint job than most Robot Heroes get to have. AUTOBOT: CLIFFJUMPER Again, same pose, size and joints as Bumblebee. Made of bright red plastic, as one would expect for a Cliffjumper. Most of the metallic light blue paint apps are replaced with black, but the black paint covers more of the thighs and "jetpack" piece. The eyes are still blue, but the windows and headlights are black. The face and license plate are still silver, but the side barrels on the gun are gunmetal. The toes are black, as are the kneecaps. There's extensive gunmetal details, including the forearm circles (that are gold on Bumblebee), the hubs of the wheels on the feet, the nozzle on the backpack and the heel spurs (which are painted on the bottom too, unlike on Bumblebee). The black stripes on the chest are a little wider then on Bumblebee. The forehead dot is black, and the Autobot symbol on the gun arm is gunmetal. The shin strips (gold on BB) are silver. Basically, Cliffjumper has more paint applications in every respect, and they connect together better (BB often has small gaps where it would require a separate mask to fill in a small area, such as between thumb and forefinger). About the only way Bumblebee is better is in having non-black windows and headlights. Really, the only downside of this toy is that it suggests we won't be gettign a mass-market Cliffjumper Robot Heroes figure to go with the recolored Concept Camaro BB Deluxe. A nice little set, but not worth paying the likely aftermarket scalpage to find them separately online. I suppose you could get the set and then give the spare DVD as a present if you wanted a different release (like the Target transforming case). :) Dave Van Domelen, pleased to see the new prototype pics of wave five (G1 and BW figures) Robot Heroes.