Dave's Universe Classics Rant: Deluxe Wave 3 Ironhide (SUV) Silverstreak (Sportscar, Prowl remold) Sideswipe (Sportscar, Sunstreaker remold) Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Classic/UDeluxe3 Wave 3 also includes re-ships of Galvatron and Acid Storm. The case I saw put out seemed to shortpack Acid Storm and Ironhide, with two each of Galvatron, Silverstreak and Sideswipe. http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Classic/UDeluxe1 has reviews of the Prowl and Sunstreaker molds, and as noted there, Sideswipe takes advantage of some flexibility in transformation to further set it apart from Sunstreaker. Of course, while I was waiting for my order from HasbroToyShop to show up, I spotted these at Wal-Mart. So I grabbed a spare Ironhide for kitbashing purposes (Classics Channel). There have been reports of sticky paint on Silverstreak and Ironhide, looks like whatever curing process they normally use on the paint isn't going through properly. CAPSULES Ironhide: A really good design hampered by poor tolerances (aka Galvatron's problem) and some ugly panel lines in vehicle mode that could have been alleviated by a different color of plastic. Recommended overall, it's worth the hassle that the flaws will cause. $7.77 at Wal-Mart, $9.99 at HasbroToyShop.com (but $7.99 after the coupon I used). Silverstreak: Original mold recommended. The engineering problems have not been fixed, and there's also a problem with sticky paint just like Prowl (but not on all instances). But the color scheme is very nice. Recommended. Same prices. Sideswipe: Original mold recommended. Red plastic works so much better than yellow, though, especially on the color matching, and the overall color scheme works better. Recommended. Same prices. RANTS Packaging: Same as wave 1. Co-sells vary, not just the other two new figures. They have the same catalogs as wave 2. In case you're curious, all three use the same techspec numbers as their G1 versions, albeit with Fireblast taking the place of Firepower. Mottos and functions are my creations. And just a reminder, when I list previous name or mold use, I only mean U.S. mass market...I leave out Japanese and convention-exclusive releases. AUTOBOT: IRONHIDE Altmode: SUV Function: Autobot Security Weapon: Converting Cannon Previous Name Use: G1, G2, BW, RiD, Armada, Energon, Universe, Movie Previous Mold Use: None Motto: "Ahm gettin' too OLD fer this slag!" IRONHIDE was built at a time when armor was thick, and circuitry was simple. He is the oldest of the AUTOBOTS, tested in thousands of battles over countless centuries. He has been injured many times, but never deactivated. For every scratch and scar that he bears he has a tale to tell, and most of the younger AUTOBOTS are all too eager to hear them. Gruff, and sometimes grumpy, he is also naturally protective of the other AUTOBOTS. He is tough, rough, and nearly impossible to damage. STR 7 INT 7 SPD 3 END 9 RNK 7 COUR 10 FRB 7 SKL 7 Avg 7.125 The original Ironhide was a Nissan Onebox van, BW Ironhide was an elephant, Armada Ironhide was a snowcat/plow, Energon Ironhide was an offroad SUV, and the rest have been pickup trucks. The Classics version is probably the least "rugged" altmode since the Onebox, being mostly a Suburban Assault Vehicle sort of SUV. :) I've heard tell of at least one case where Ironhide had two right hands. This at the least suggests that somewhere out there is an Ironhide with two left hands. However, this isn't something you can really check without opening the package. Packaging: Two twist ties over a secondary bubble shell hold the vehicle mode in. One more tie holds in the weapon. Co-sells are Sideswipe and Galvatron. The art is non-zombie, but is halfway between anger and, um, constipation. Still some expression is preferable to none. Vehicle Mode: Your basic suburbanite SUV with a brushguard (and yes, I've seen SUVs with brushguards that do nothing but push aside garbage cans left in the driveway). My car expert friend thinks it's a mix of Escalade (mainly the front), M-Class Mercedes (at the rear) and Lamborghini LM004 on the sides and some of the front. She's developed a theory that the designers are deliberately looking at "exotics" and concept cars for inspiration, just as a lot of the old Diaclone cars were (i.e. Wheeljack the Lancia Stratos, the Lamborghini brothers, etc). 5" (13cm) long, mainly red with blue windows and silver trim, black wheels. You can see in through the front and back windows, but there's just kibble in the front and the robot head top in the back. Paneling is really weird here, as they decided to get clever with the transformation. There's all sorts of angled panel lines, and some odd interfaces between plastic types. Unfortunately, it's a design that does badly with a mid-range color like red. Something really dark like black or dark blue would conceal the lines, something really light like white or yellow would reduce the shadows in the lines. The windshield and front windows piece (including frame) plus a little of the front doors are clear blue plastic, as are the center hood (fully painted over), the rear windows (but not frame), taillights and headlights. The brushguard and moonroof chunk (which is clearly modular to allow for the Ratchet redeco) are light gray plastic. The rear bumper is medium gray plastic. Both types of gray plastic are visible on the underside as well. The wheels are black plastic. The rest of the toy is bright red plastic...two colors of it. The difference is slight, but you can tell. Might just be a batch variation, though, not an intentional difference in materials. The side rear windows and moonroof are painted robin's egg blue. The clear plastic cab area and center of the hood are painted red, but it's not a great match and it's chipped in several places, notably the side mirrors. The front grille and the molding along the bottom of the sides are painted silver. The rear license plate is printed on, purple-pink mountains against a blue sky and the vanity tag "OREGON". Odd, that. There's no paint on the hubs. No action features other than rolling, which it does nicely. The weapon stores under the rear section, but you pretty much need to untransform the vehicle at least a little to get it into place properly. Transformation: Well, his rear window becomes his chest, something we rarely see. A really clever bit has the rear bumper fold in and up, pushing a plate in behind the window (this plate has a half a hinge at the top, suggesting the original plan was to have a second plate that would be behind the window in vehicle mode). The right and left thirds of the front end become the legs, the side panels origami out into arms, and a lot of stuff folds cleverly into a backpack. However, you're gonna get pieces popping off right and left. Clip hinges, ball joints, pegs. The waist pops apart really easily during transformation, in fact, and one of the feet just keeps dropping off. On the plus side, one you've done it once or twice, it's not too hard to keep things from detaching during transformation. You just have to be careful about moving certain things and do them in the right order. Robot Mode: 5.5" (14cm) tall at the head, add a little bit more for the roof chunk behind the head. More black shows up in this mode, and there's some piston-like detailing on the chest behind the window, along with an Autobot symbol. This is a very nifty feature, and balances out the big backpack. His head is a more detailed version of the G1 "mohawk" helmet, and it has faint crest antennae molded into it as well...they may just leave the head mold alone for Ratchet and simply paint those bits red on a white helmet. The head is two pieces of red plastic with a clear light blue lightpiping chunk all held together by one screw. Taking it apart is a bit tricky because it's sunk into a "collar" area. Yes, I took it apart, I'm planning to make one of these into someone else. :) The forearms and outer hip pieces are black plastic (the swivel of the hip is red). The lower thighs are red, but the inner part of the shins are light gray, as are the pelvis and spine. The hands are medium gray on red wrist pieces. The elbow joints are light gray. The weapon is medium gray, with medium gray on the cannon section and clear light blue on the blade. Not a lot of paint dedicated to this mode. The face is sky blue (looks gray under some light, it's kinda weird), the inner chest panel is silver. The Autobot symbol on the inner chest panel is red with white border. Robin's egg blue is used on the front of his "mohawk" crest (which is molded back into the lightpiping as well), it's a darker blue than the face. The head turns on a swivel, while the waist turns on a peg where the spine meets the ribcage chunk (to use gross anatomical analogies). He can also lean back at the waist on a transformation joint, but it looks wonky. The shoulders are smooth universal joints, and while there's no upper arm swivel, the shoulders themselves can swing on transformation hinges to provide much of that articulation. The elbows are smooth hinges and almost make it to 90 degrees. The wrists are struts with ball joints where they meet the forearm and palm-inward hinges where they meet the hand. These combine to give Ironhide the same articulation as a human wrist, and more. Smooth universal hips, mid-thigh swivels, hinge knees, ball joint ankles that remind me of a Stickfas or Xevoz. The big stompy feet combine with the ball joint ankles to give the figure pretty impressive leg articulation and stable standing poses, especially given the bulk of the boots. The "converting cannon" is a block 1.5" (4cm) long with a sliding center. Push the center out one way and you get a 6-barrelled rotary cannon. The other end is a short triangular blade. Officially, the hands fold away before attaching the weapon, but you can get the hand inside the weapon if you're careful. This agrees with the packaging photo, which has the hand inside rather than folded over. In either case, this is an homage to how G1 Ironhide would retract a hand and have some weapon emerge from his forearm, although I don't recall him ever using an energy blade and I *know* he never had a rotary cannon. :) The cannon will fit on either hand and holds securely. One of my Ironhides has a spring inside the cannon that causes the blade to retract if not being actively pushed out, the other has the spring connected wrong somehow. The screws are tiny and I don't feel like trying to open the non-springy one up to try to fix it (I can feel the spring if I push the blade WAY in, so I do know it's there). Plus my tiny Phillips head screwdrivers are at work. Modification: Okay, one of the complaints people have about this mold that doesn't really bother me is that the neck is a bit sunken into an armored collar. But I was curious what it'd take to fix this and let the head pop up, so I spent an evening analyzing the toy. There are, in fact, several places where the figure blocks the head from popping up further: http://www.dvandom.com/kitbash/clasironmod1.JPG Now, if you're willing to leave the rear wheels down as hip flaps, all you need to do is remove a LOT of the spine (more than shown in the pic above). While this does let the head pop up another millimeter, it forces the pelvis to stick out almost obscenely, and the head is still looking down, it's just further out of the chest: http://www.dvandom.com/kitbash/clasironmod2.JPG Suffice to say, learn to deal with the deep neck if it bothers you. I spent an hour dremeling and cutting and disassembling and reassembling and for almost no real improvement. But since this one was kitbash fodder anyway, it was good practice on the disassembly part, at least. Overall: This has two main flaws. The ugly panel lines in vehicle mode, and the tendency for pieces to pop off. No real way around the first, although for reasons outlined above it might not be a big deal on Ratchet. And it's not too hard to get used to the second. Those aside, it's a really nifty robot mode and a clever transformation. AUTOBOT: SILVERSTREAK Altmode: Sports Car Function: Warrior Weapon: Volt Beam Blasters Previous Name Use: Commemorative, Alternators, Universe Previous Mold Use: Classics Prowl (remolded) Motto: "Why certainly! You don't think I'm the type that would keep on blabbin'? Some people never know when to stop. When I'm told to shut up, I shut up..." There's not a lot to be said about SILVERSTREAK that he hasn't already said himself. In fact, there's not a lot to be said about anything that he hasn't already said, because he never stops talking. Ever. He talks to his partners on guard duty. He talks during his charge cycles. When he's alone, he talks to himself. In battle, he chats with his opponent. Despite his formidable weaponry, DECEPTICONS prefer not to fight him mostly because they get sick of talking to him. STR 6 INT 6 SPD 7 END 9 RNK 5 COUR 2 FRB 9 SKL 7 Avg 6.375 Bluestreak was the first Transformer I ever got, a Christmas present in 1984 (yeah, I was 14, but my parents were willing to accept that I wasn't going to outgrow toys completely). Named not because he was blue, but because he talked a blue streak (which generally connotes swearing, but the meaning doesn't require "working blue"). Sadly, it's one of the names Hasbro lost trademark to, bringing the character back as Silverstreak. This toy's color scheme is more based on the Spychanger Silverstreak than any version of Bluestreak that was officially released...ironically, a less silver color scheme. As with the originals, Prowl and Silverstreak are mold-mates, with only minor differences. This is what we call "tradition". :) As a reminder, this is more or less a Nissan 350Z in vehicle mode, although the spoiler is non-standard (there's a few 350Zs in town here, so I've had a chance to check the model out from all angles). Packaging: Two twist-ties on the car, none on the weapon folded up in a depression in the blister. The card art is almost just a color swap on the Prowl art, but the facial expression is tweaked a tiny bit, with just a hint of a sneer added. His co-sells are Sideswipe and Ironhide. Color Swaps: Very much a non-trivial swap. The black in the legs, pelvis, ascot, wheels and the door panel hinges stays black. The black on the gun, forearms, chest underside, spine and the roof support becomes a silvery gray plastic. The white on the shoulder cannons, shoulders and thighs becomes a brick red. The white on the head becomes silvery gray. The remaining white becomes black. All the clear plastic is colorless except for the lightpiping, which I think is light blue (same trick as on Prowl). Paint Apps: A nice automotive-style silver paint dominates the flanks of the car, the bits that become the wings and boot sides. It's also used on the missiles, headlights, front grille, shoulder vents and pelvis grille. The face is white. The tail lights (which are silver-bordered to change their apparent shape), helmet antennae and the wheel hubs are a slightly metallic brick red. Matte black paint is used on the roof, rear windows and a little bit behind each front wheel. There are reports of this paint being sticky like the black paint on Prowl. The rear bumper is gloss black paint. A darkish red Autobot symbol is printed on the hood/chest center front, in the pentagonal depression there. There's bright blue on the flattened waist hexagons, and transparent light blue over the clear windows. Mold Changes: The lightbar piece has been replaced by a moonroof panel, as expected. There do not seem to be any other intentional changes, just the minor variations that come along with the loose quality control the line suffers from. Other Notes: The gun holds into its place under the hood in vehicle mode a lot better than on my Prowl. Unfortunately, the fender panels are just as likely to pop off, and the central hood piece (the bit with the head attached to it) keeps coming off its clip. This seems to be based on "Anime Bluestreak", available in Japan in 2002: http://www.tfu.info/2002/Cybertron/Bluestreak/bluestreak.htm Weirdly, I think the tail lights are still a separate clear plastic piece, again painted over completely, as with Prowl. Overall: Looks really cool. It doesn't really fix the problems the mold has, I expect the better gun fit is purely within normal variation. AUTOBOT: SIDESWIPE Altmode: Race car Function: Warrior Weapon: Flare Launcher Previous Name Use: G1, G2, Alternators, Armada (RiD as Side Swipe) Previous Mold Use: Classics Sunstreaker (remolded) Motto: "I'll fight 'til the Bovo-mechs come home, and then I'll fight the slaggin' Bovo-mechs!" SIDESWIPE is a natural-born fighter. He's had little formal training in the arts of war, yet he has an instinctive nature that makes him one of the most dangerous warriors among the AUTOBOTS. He is not as self-centered or cold blooded as his brother SUNSTREAKER, but the two are nonetheless close. When they fight side by side, they are truly a force to be reckoned with. STR 7 INT 7 SPD 7 END 7 RNK 5 COUR 10 FRB 3 SKL 6 Avg 6.5 In G1, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker both turned into Lamborghinis, so the writers decided they were brothers. However, the two toys had different transformations, and were not redecos of each other. This is the first time a Sunstreaker has been remolded into a Sideswipe (or vice versa). Of course, the mold is a hybrid of two kinds of Lamborghini, unlike the G1 ones which were one or the other. :) [Later note: I forgot that Alternators Sunstreaker was a recolor of Dead End which was a remold of Sideswipe, so "vice versa" has happened. Of course, the fact that I never wasted money on Alt.Sunstreaker helped me in that forgetting.] Packaging: Two twist-ties on the car, none on the gun core. A single rubber band keeps the engine chunk secured. The instructions continue to not mention how to combine the engine chunk with the gun, and while the art shows him with his gun on the shoulder, the instructions omit that too. On the topic of the art, his expression isn't really zombie-like, but neither is it showing any emotion. And they mirror-flip it for the back of the card, switching his launcher to the other shoulder. Color Swaps: Yellow becomes faintly metallic and slightly swirly red plastic. Silvery gray becomes white. Clear plastic seems to be the same. The black of the fists, door struts, elbows, pelvis, feet, knees, jetpack core, driver's comparment and some of the internal torso stuff stays black. The black of the upper arms, ankles and the collar area becomes white. Paint Apps: There's black paint with a red Autobot symbol on the part of the hood at the top of the chest (that's covered in car mode), reminding me of Alternators Sideswipe's coloration. Black is also used on the rear of the car, detailing stripes along the sides, some bits on the shoulders and the core of the gun. The roof is mostly red, a bit darker than the red plastic, but not as jarring a difference as Sunstreaker's roof. The face, jetpack thrusters, jetpack fan details, wheel hubs, belt buckle and the bit behind the clear plastic headlights are silver. The windows are tinted about the same as Sunstreaker's, sort of brownish. The clear bits on the thighs are tinted about the same blue as Sunstreaker's. The taillights are painted red. The license plate is white with black "SWIPE" on it. The front turn signals are yellow. Mold Changes: They've swapped out the head entirely. The new one lacks the spring-loaded ears trick, being narrow enough to fit inside the chest without folding. It's very closely based on the G1 head, but the horns stick out a bit more and the bottom sides of the helmet are narrower. It's made of black plastic with bright blue lightpiping. Same ball jointing as on Sunstreaker. Additionally, the fists have been swapped, so that the chest-reversed transformation can be pulled off. Making the hood the chest and the roof the back also leads to things like different shoulder details facing front, the arm doors being oriented differently, and the open sides of the disc swivels on the upper arms being visible from the front. However, the legs transform identically to Sunstreaker (there's a fan-mode that rearranges the legs some, but it's not as stable). Other Notes: Getting the gun into one of the shoulder holes is rather difficult. On the other hand, I found it easier to get the turbo unit to fold around the gun, which I chalk up to normal mold variation. Put the backpack unit on upside down from how the instructions show it, and it looks more like a jetpack, something G1 Sideswipe was shown to have in the cartoon. Hence, I've been calling it a jetpack all along. :) If your door panels are floppy on the forearms in robot mode, pop the doors off and try tightening the screw holding their black peg to the forearm. The panels may be spinning around on a loose screw. If that doesn't help, use the usual superglue/nail polish tricks. Overall: Well, they definitely pulled off the twins look. Same vehicle mode, noticeably different robot modes with minimal remolding. You can see how most of the new Classics are molded for modular swapping to create new characters, but this was definitely the best of breed in that respect. Dave Van Domelen, thinks his repaint of Ironhide into Channel worked out pretty well.