Dave's TF: Cybertron Rant - Voyager Wave 2 Leobreaker Mudflap The Mega/Voyager size class has always had problems, starting with Polar Claw back in Beast Wars. There's been some good ones, but something about being halfway between the simpler Deluxe and the tricked-out Ultra leads to a lot of half-***ed designs. Too complicated to work given the resources made available to the toy, or merely ill-considered no matter the size. I think of this as the "Mega Curse." Way too many toys of this size are just disappointing. While wave 1 of the Voyagers had two good (if not great) designs, and Energon seemed to be getting away from the Mega Curse, Leobreaker shows that it's still possible to get bad Megas. CAPSULES Leobreaker: Disappointing. Badly proportioned in both robot and beast modes, and the third mode is an overall minus, not a plus. Clear example of the "Mega Curse". Neutral. $19.76 at Wal-Mart. Mudflap: One of the best I've seen in this size class. Solid in both modes, good gimmicks, interesting transformation, and only a few quibbles. Strongly recommended. $19.76 at Wal-Mart. RANTS Packaging: Standard Voyager class packaging. No new Planet info on the outside. Leobreaker and Mudflap both have Scorpinok (not listed as "Dark") and each other as co-sells. Leobreaker also has Optimus Prime and Vector Prime. Mudflap has Scourge and Jetfire. Leobreaker combines cardboard blocks, bubble trays and 9 twist-ties (including one that is inaccessible until you remove the rest of the ties and pull out the bubble...and not very accessible even then), plus a rubber band around the middle. Mudflap has just bubble tray, plus 5 twist-ties on the toy and 2 more on its missile, and a rubber band around the front. Both have extra bits of tray in the corner to hold their Keys. Both have the Speed Planet map, with no changes to the catalog side. However, it's possible that later shipments of these two will have the next map. Leobreaker requires two AAA batteries that are not included. Mudflap does not require batteries. AUTOBOT: LEOBREAKER Planet: Jungle Altmode: Lion (Yes, I know Ligerjack was a liger, but Leobreaker is a lion, see the bio note.) Planet Key Code: vg08 After learning some tough lessons at the ruthless hands of the Jungle Planet's dictator SCOURGE, OVERHAUL found greater strength in himself than he thought possible and morphed into the mighty LEOBREAKER! His new lion mode is a nearly unstoppable hunter, perfectly adapted to life and battle on the Jungle Planet. Teamed up with the Jungle Planet rebels, he's determined to bring the fight to the evil dragon-bot and his DECEPTICON cronies in a final battle for freedom and the Jungle Planet Key! STR 8 INT 8.5 SPD 7 END 7 RNK 9 COUR 9 FRB 8 SKL 8 Avg 8.06 Key code info: When Leobreaker came back to Earth after living on jungle Planet he learned about sports and Leobreaker got the great idea of competition by skill rather than fighting. He tried to get his Autobot buddies to form a Cybertronian softball team - and he even made shirts, caps and over-sized bats and balls! One day, his teammates Snarl and Backstop found his new equipment and the two beasts used the new bats to sharpen their claws and horns, and then they used the over-sized softballs for target practice!! (Cute, Backstop comes by his name from baseball. Also includes a cel-shaded CG model of the beast mode.) Key: Standard Jungle Key. Beast Mode: Well, it's a cyborg lion, 10" (25cm) from snout to tail tip. The front shoulders are big, blocky and dark gunmetal gray for no readily apparent reason. The lower legs (both front and back) are very light gray, and all four paws are the same dark gray of the shoulders. The rest of the toy is the golden brown tawny color used on Overhaul, including the flip-down claws. The mane is painted brown with some bluish silver cables running through it. There are metallic green accents on the front and back shoulders, as well as on a "Superman S-Shield" shaped button on the lion's forehead. An "animated series" Brainiac-like symbol is molded onto the button. The muzzle and chest are detailed with white paint, and the eyes are painted red. There's gunmetal paint on the rear spine and along the belly (much of the belly is also gunmetal plastic). There's ratcheting hip and "knee" joints (actually ankles) on all four legs. The paws are on hinges (double hinges on the front, single on back). There's a hinge in mid-upper foreleg that lets the legs splay out to the sides in a manner reminiscent of Galion from GaoGaiGar. There's also a rotation ratchet between the "elbow" and lower foreleg. Unfortunately, the proportions are pertty bad, ranging from subtle problems to blatant ones. The upper rear legs are way too long, the chest is weirdly malformed to accomodate the transformation scheme and the location of the battery compartment. The shoulders are too big and bulky. The head looks too small, although some of that is simply comparison to the huge shoulders and the weird square belly front. The lower forelegs each have a Key slot, but you don't really need the Key to make the 1.75" (4.5cm) claws stowed against the forelegs pop down. A little pulling will do the trick, or bending the "elbow" too much. The other gimmick is activated by pressing the forehead button. A rather good wildcat snarl is emitted...too bad this is a lion. I suppose lions might make this sound too, but a roar would have been a lot better. Transformation to Robot Mode: Flip open panels covering the midbody, rotate the main torso around on some arms and click into place, pull the head out from the mane, and then mess with the limbs to make them look more like humanoid ones. A heel spur that's blatantly obvious and out of place in beast mode flips down, but the legs don't otherwise change proportion. The "swing out to the sides" joints on the upper arm are there because the arms can't rest at the sides. The tail has to be removed, leaving it on prevents the figure from standing. Robot Mode: 8" (20cm) tall and oddly proportioned. The head is dark gray plastic with gold "brow" paint, red on forehead and eyes, and silver face. The basic design is the same as Overhaul's, but with more detail and a generally more savage mein. Part of the mane forms a sort of mullet. The head can turn a little, but is blocked by the mane sides. Poseability is otherwise about the same. The forearm swivels are more useful in this mode, of course, as is the one-click ratchet that lets the legs spread apart. The hands have movable thumbs, but can't really close to hold anything. Thus, there's a peg-hole for holding the tail whip. Yeah, yet another feline beastform where the tail detaches to become a whiplike weapon, whee. The hands do not have any intentional 5mm pegholes, but do have square holes in the palms that will hold a 5mm peg firmly, although not all weapons look good held in the paws. The flip-out claws are actually proportionally smaller on Leobreaker than on Overhaul. The snarling sound gimmick is the same in this mode, no change to a spoken phrase or anything. The knees are too low, but otherwise the proportions aren't as bad in this mode. Transformation to Awesome Arm Mode: Pretty simple. Starting in robot mode, stow the head, remove the forearms (with claws deployed) and plug them into the bottoms of the feet. You have to untransform the Optimus Prime arm that you want to replace, and plug the joint chunk on Leobreaker's arm into the shoulder hole. It takes some work to get the backapck over the untransformed arm, and even more work to attach the LeoArm. Awesome Arm Mode: It's big, but doesn't hold together very well (resulting it really becoming two arms with a common elbow), and generally doesn't look very good. So much was sacrificed in the other two modes to make this possible, and it was a waste. I wouldn't quite say "piece of crap," but it's in the neighborhood. It could have been a much better toy if they'd ditched the gimmick from the word go. Overall: Disappointing. Between the pointlessly crippled shoulders and the damage done to the overall design by the arm mode, it's almost like they TRIED to make it bad. Beast Machines Snarl does the basic beast stuff much better...a retool and enlargement of that with no new gimmicks would have been a superior toy. DECEPTICON: MUDFLAP Planet: Earth Altmode: Crane Planet Key Code: v6t7 There's nothing Mudflap likes more than demolition. A DECEPTICON agent planted on Earth even before the arrival of the AUTOBOTS, he managed to disguise himself well enough to infiltrate the construction industry. He uses his position to see to it that the projects he works on ultimately fail, collapsing into theor foundations, their load-bearing beams mysteriously cut through. Still, as much as he enjoys destroying construction projects, he's only too glad to join the fight once the AUTOBOTS arrive on Earth! STR 8 INT 5.5 SPD 6 END 6 RNK 5 COUR 9 FRB 9 SKL 7.5 Avg 7 Key code info: Mudflap is one ANGRY dude. When he was back on Cybertron he used to be a boxer, and he would knock out any and all Transformers that stood up to him. He never really wanted to be an Autobot OR a Decepticon but eventually he decided to be an Autobot. But one day his anger, indecision and frustration finally drove him to the dark side and he switched sides! Will Mudflap ever see how evil the Decepticons really are? (Also shows the back of Demolishor's package...Demolishor is the character's name in Galaxy Force.) Before I go into the details, I'd like to say that there are only three things I dislike about the toy (there were four, but I found one was my fault, I'd mistransformed it). 1. The spring that pops the missile launcher forward is too weak, and won't keep it in place in robot mode. 2. The crane support clip at the front of the vehicle mode does not actually clip on, and the crane drifts away from it. 3. The energy saw is a bit droopy. And these are really just quibbles. Only #1 is even marginally significant, and may just be a problem with mine. Planet Key: Standard Earth Key. Vehicle Mode: This is a heavy lift construction crane with 12 wheels in three chunks of 4, evenly spaced. 9" (23cm) long and 2.5" (6cm) wide, it is vaguely reminiscent of G1 Onslaught. The main color is light blue (G1 Hot Spot, more or less) with silver paint and black wheels. Parts of the driver compartment and crane control section are dark gray, as is the upper section of the crane arm. The lower part of the crane arm is white, with a medium blue slider painted mostly dark gray. The windows, crane hook and hydraulic inner support are clear yellowish green. Some medium blue and white robot bits are visible. The other bits of color are a Decepticon symbol printed on the crane control cockpit, red triangles on both Key slots, and gold headlights. Stabilization jacks are molded on the middle sides, but do not deploy (as on, say, Erector, the G1 Micromaster). I would call this about 1/72 scale, to judge from the seats inside the cockpits. In other words, gaming minis scale. :) "Sir, the Tau seem to be deploying some sort of construction vehi...BY THE EMPEROR! It's turning into a TITAN!" All 12 wheels roll, although the middle set dislodges upward pretty easily on transformation joints. The crane can elevate to straight up on weak ratchets, and rotate 360 degrees on stiff ratchets. A hydraulic cylinder connects the front of the crane to a point about 4cm ahead of the main hinge. The stowed length of the crane is 7" (18cm), but after pushing past a single click it will extend to 11" (28cm) and click into place there. The hook does not move, being part of the energon blade piece. If you extend the boom at least a few inches, there's a clip on the roof of the driver's compartment for it to settle into (but as mentioned above, it doesn't snap into place). There are two Key slots on this toy. The first is on the right side of the driver's compartment, and triggers the flipping-forward of a light blue misile launcher that is loaded with a clear yellow-green missile. It has a dark gray trigger. The second slot is rather clever. It's on the slider for the crane, and there's a locking piece that prevents insertion or removal of the Key except when the crane is fully extended. It's just a little bit that sinks out of the way when the crane is all the way out. Inserting it flips out an energon sawblade made of soft clear yellow-green plastic. I expect the drooping mine experiences is a result of the spring tension warping the soft plastic over time. With the blade deployed, the full length of the crane arm spear is 15" (38cm), one of the longest weapons seen on any Transformer (and just shy of the ladder and crane on Choryujin, the GaoGaiGar symmetric docking combiner). Insert your own jokes about being popular with the femmebots. Pointed straight forward, it extends 6" (15cm) past the front of the vehicle's front bumper. With the Key inserted, it is not possible to fully retract the crane arm. Transformation: The normal "long truck" transformation has the front or back become the arms, the other end become the legs, and the middle form the torso. Well, the middle is the torso here too, but the left side becomes the arms and the right side becomes the legs! Maybe not a unique transformation, but not one you see a lot. There's a lot of folding panels, and the weapon chunks (front and rear cockpits) move on very stiff joints to become better centered on the forearms. It helps to deploy the missile launcher, or at least remove the missile, before transforming. Robot Mode: "Merely" 6.5" (17cm) tall at the head, he's dwarfed by his own insanely large weapon. His head, torso, upper arms and thighs are molded from a darkish medium blue. Parts of his torso are also dark gray plastic, it's sort of a box that normally holds the head and has some hinges. The shoulderpads are white plastic mostly painted darkish blue, and the hidden shoulder joints inside are dark gray. The knees are also dark gray. There's red, silver, gold and light blue paint accents symmetrically scattered about. The face is silver with yellow-green lightpiping (which also involves a clear crest in the middle of his helmet, nice effect). There's also silver on the vents on the sides of his helmet. The feet are long, but this is necessary to let him stay standing while swinging about his crane weapon. Poseability is good, with most joints being stiff ratchets. The head turns, and they put a twisting joint between chest and abdomen (the way the pelvis folds together prevents a regular waist joint). The shoulders and hips are universal. There's upper arm and above-the-knee swivels. The elbows and knees are hinges. The hands are molded into the forearm pieces and have no poseability. The feet have swivels (transformation joints) to let them swing around, but no useful other joints. Their overall length of 3" (7.5cm) allows for a surprisingly wide range of stable poses. The missile launcher and crane are mounted on the undersides of the forearms, and the crane can still turn on its base. The vehicle panels that make up his backpack have some articulation from transformation joints, which can be used for cosmetic monkeying. As mentioned above, his missile launcher spring isn't strong enough to hold the launcher up in robot mode, unless you turn his arm weirdly. Overall: Dude, his weapon is as big as Unicron is tall. And he's just mean enough to shove it somewhere unpleasant on Unicron. Or right through Primus's planet mode. And it's attached to a very solid toy overall, one of the best Mega/Voyager class toys ever. Get this baby. Dave Van Domelen, putting Mudflap on the Big Toys shelf with Starscream, Optimus and Megatron.