Dave's Transformers Artifacts Rant: Alt-Modes Wave 1 Nemesis Prime Prowl Megatron Ultra Magnus Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Artifacts/Alt-Modes1 I may expand this if I pick up any more boxes. These are blindbox toys, and I bought four boxes initially and got two copies of each of the two figures listed above, d'oh. My TRU had them with the regular Transformers rather than with the other blindbag/blindbox toys, probably because they're Hasbro products and not made by license with one of the usual blindbox companies. This wave is entirely G1 characters with the exception of one redeco, 8 total figures from 5 different molds: Optimus Prime and Nemesis Prime (the lone not-strictly-G1 figure), the three original Seekers, Megatron, Ultra Magnus, and Prowl. If a second wave comes out, it'll probably redeco the Prowl mold as Bluestreak and/or Smokescreen. [Later note: took a flashlight along and got Ultra Magnus and Megatron. I think the way the collation works now is that there are 3 of each, with each layer front-to-back being a complete set.] CAPSULE $7 at TRU. Alt-Modes: Just going to give a line-wide evaluation here, since they're blind boxes and the only way to know what you're getting will be to go through a reseller who'll have to charge more. It's a cute gimmick, and the sort of thing that'd probably cost significantly more through one of the usual blindbox licensing companies, worth picking up one or two if you see them on the shelf. RANTS Packaging: These come in blind boxes 3.25" (8cm) tall, 2.75" (7cm) wide, and 2.25" (6cm) deep. The point of purchase display boxes contain 24 blind boxes, and the collation seems to be symmetric (I grabbed the top layer middle front four and got doubles of both), so if you see a fresh box I suggest grabbing from just one side. I also suspect that rather than 3 of each per box, there may be 2 each of some and 4 each of others. The box front and top is decorated by line art of the eight characters. The left side (as the front faces you) has vague instructions for transformation, the right side has photos of all eight figures in vehicle mode and a hole so you can theoretically see which one you're getting. I didn't have a flashlight with me, though, so it wasn't too helpful. The back and bottom are legalese. Inside, the figure is in a clear plastic bag. These are made directly by Hasbro, not licensed out to someone like Funko. No other company has its logo on the box, and the legalese elements and general trade dress are standard Generations stuff. As of July 22, 2016, they are not listed on HasbroToyShop.com, and searches of hasbro.com reveal nothing as well. Sort of a stealth release...there was a little advance publicity, but they don't seem interested in promoting them on the official webpages yet. Common elements: Each toy has two modes. They're packaged in "vehicle" mode, which is a giant head riding on top of a tiny version of their vehicle mode, which has wheels and can sort of roll along. Robot mode replaces the vehicle with a tiny and marionette-floppy robot body...it's possible to get them to stand on their own in robot mode, but really really unstable. Each toy has a molded faction symbol on top of their helmet, pulling it up makes a mechanism spin around to swap vehicle and robot bodies, with the faceplate hinged to flip out of the way and then spring back down. It doesn't always exactly get the mode switched, sometimes it's not quite all the way, sometimes a little too much, once in a while it'll go 360 and return to the same mode. The tab is not removable, but it is hinged to fold back. You can also just manually spin the unit forward if it refuses to stop at a reasonable spot. The heads are all about 1.5" (4cm) tall not counting the tabs on top of a strange little flange on the right side of the bottom of the helmet, which holds an internal gearing piece but is longer than it has to be and has a slot in back that serves no obvious purpose. It almost looks like that slot is there so that the toy can attach to a rack or even a larger body. Or it could just be something that makes factory assembly easier. The transformation tabs/faction symbols are about 2cm tall. From the packaging, only Prowl and Ultra Magnus have red tabs, the rest are gray. Vehicle modes are around 1" (2-3cm) long and roll on little black wheels. The two I have are quite stable in this mode. In robot mode, ignoring the tabs again, they're 2.75" (7cm) tall. The legs swing as a single unit at the hips, and the arms are connected through the torso by a loose axle, the elbows molded as bent 90 degrees. Not really articulation so much as transformation joints, and they have to be very loose to avoid gumming up the autotransform. Unless they're planning to see stands for these that use those helmet flanges, you can't really display these well in robot mode. I might drill holes through the tabs and hang them via Christmas ornament hooks, though. DECEPTICON: NEMESIS PRIME Wave: 1 Altmode: Cabover Semitractor Moldmate: Optimus Prime Getting a little more mileage out of the Optimus Prime mold, as usual these days. This is the standard black/silver/red scheme, rather than the older one that included teal. Plastics: Gray pulltab, otherwise black. Well, a really dark slightly metalflake brown, actually. But it looks black under normal room lighting. Paints: Silver on the faceplate, crest vents, forearms, abdomen, pelvis, thighs, bumper, grille, headlights, and truck stripes. Dark garnet red on the eyes, real front windows, and chest front windows. Pretty close to being all that the figure really needs, but the non-rolling fake wheel pair could stand to have the hubs painted silver to match the pins holding in the wheels. Other Notes: It's actually a pretty good mold and decent paint apps, but it's not a plastic color that can be dyed into anything else, so I don't really have any use for a spare (thus I'm handing it off to a local TF fan I know). It's refreshing to see such sharp paint masks from Hasbro. This is very much the G1 Optimus Prime in design. Overall: I have a suspicion this may be one of the easier ones to find at minimal markup on the secondary market, if you're curious about the concept but can't find these in stores (i.e. if you read this review after 2016), this'll probably be a decent one to pick up. AUTOBOT: PROWL Wave: 1 Altmode: Police Car Moldmate: None I'm a little less annoyed at getting doubles of this one, since white plastic is easy to dye another color. Might go for a blue Bluestreak scheme, although I'd need to remove some of the paint before dyeing. The standard bent arm pose is also ideal for "about to flip a table" setups. Plastics: The pulltab is deep red. The wheels, the underside of the car and some of the internal strutwork are the same "black" plastic as Nemesis is made of. Everything else is a slightly pearly white. Paints: The helmet wings are painted red, a tiny bit sloppy compared to NP's masking. The faceplate is silver with medium blue eyes. Gloss black paint is used on both the real and robot chest bumpers and the Japanese highway patrol hood markings in both modes, plus on the pelvis front and on the fake windows on the shins. The real windows in vehicle mode are unpainted, and the headlights and taillights are unpainted. There's a tiny Autobot symbol molded on the hood, but not painted red. Lack of paint is a definite problem on this one. Other Notes: Since the only thing that makes this a definite police car is the lightbar, and that's not present due to the giant head on top of the car, redecoing this as Bluestreak would be trivial. The mold is a little less crisp than the Nemesis Prime mold, but there's still enough detail to help with painting stuff on yourself (and to make it clear that this is a chibi 280-Z). Overall: Cute mold, but really needs more paint. [Later added Megatron and Ultra Magnus:] DECEPTICON: MEGATRON Wave: 1 Altmode: Tank Moldmate: None Well, a gun wouldn't have fit with the theme. Plastics: Light slightly shiny gray on everything. Paints: The eyes are gloss red, they didn't bother painting his forehead triangles. The only paint on the tank part is gloss very dark brown (looks black under normal lighting) on the bottoms of the treads, which bleeds over a bit onto the sides. In robot mode, the fists are the same color as the treads. There's some red lines on the abdomen, and a purple Decepticon symbol printed on the center of the chest. Other notes: No molded arm cannon, it wouldn't have fit inside the transformation scheme anyway. His face has rather full lips, reminiscent of Destro. Overall: Not too bad, but suffers from blandness. AUTOBOT: ULTRA MAGNUS Wave: 1 Altmode: Car-carrier truck Moldmate: None While the cab of the truck has some elements in common with Nemesis/ Optimus Prime, there's subtle differences (like the shape of the headlights) that mark it as a distinct mold. Still has the "four real, two fake" wheel trick, though. Plastics: All metalflake medium blue except for the pull-tab, which is red. Paints: The face and antennae are painted silver. The cab of the truck is somewhat sloppily painted white (which bleeds over onto the tips of the otherwise unpainted side missiles), with silver on the grille and bumper, and bright blue on the windshield. Robot mode suffers by comparison, with just a red "girdle" and that's it, almost as bad as a Tiny Titan. Other notes: Pretty stable standing up in robot mode, as befits an Autobot with a camshaft up his skidplate. His expression is pure disapproval at your malarkey. Or maybe he just thinks a chibi form is unbefitting a duly appointed enforcer of the Tyrest Accords. Overall: Of the four I got, I'd say this is probably the second best in terms of coloring, at least. Dave Van Domelen, waiting until he can find Stripes before reviewing the Titans Return Legends wave 1, but got a Hyperchanger Megatronus at Ross he might review while he waits.